Ever since "Traffic" released, we had a plethora of films where there are multi-narrations with the characters getting inter-linked at some point or the other. The latest to join the band wagon is debutant Lijin Jose's "Friday", which speaks about the happenings in Aleppey on Friday, November 11th, 2011. So will it reap rewards both critically & commercially as many of its predecessors hasn't been able to balance both.
Just as I had already mentioned, there are numerous tracks going on simultaneously & the first person to come into focus is Balu (Fahad Fasil), an auto-driver whose day has started on the worst possible way with a jackfruit crashing through his roof top. He is already reeling under a severe financial crunch & the jackfruit has just compounded his problems. At this very point, Aswathy (Nimisha Suresh) is in the city with her family shopping for her wedding garments while her fiance, Achu (Tini Tom) is in another part wrapping up the construction of their new house. Then the script focuses on four other stories, one which involves a college couple, a married pair who wishes to adopt a kid, a heavily pregnant beggar & a mother in law who is forced to take her recently delivered daughter in law back home owing to lack of beds in the hospital. Now how all these characters gets linked to each other forms the crux of the film.
Lijin Jose has definitely done an impressive job in weaving all the plots together in a natural & seamless manner. Much of the credit for that goes to Najeem Koya's script who has come into the limelight after a hiatus extending to "Apoorvaraagam". Though it lacks the gripping feel which many of the predecessors of its genre had, it still manages to keep us engaged without testing our patience. As for other aspects, Jomon Thomas's visuals deserves a mention while the music by Roby Abraham was fine especially "Sugandha Neerala" rendered by Najeem Arshad & Gayathri Ashokan.
In the performance department, all of the respective cast has done their acts aptly with Fahad Fazil & Nedumudi Venu being the pick among the lot. Fahad has already showcased his panache for portraying the modern day youth fiddling with the blackberry but here he has proved that he is equally comfortable essaying a commoner. Nedumudi Venu is an actor par excellence & this is yet another film which shows why he is considered as one.
Verdict: The film will have positive word of mouth going in its favour but the lack of a gripping tale will be its bane as the families are unlikely to flock to the theatres on a festive season for such experimental type of films. However, I would suggest that you guys should definitely give it a try!!!
Rating: 3/5
Regards...Ben