Chattambinaadu - review

For this Christmas, once again you have a movie plotted at a remote Tamil Nadu border, with all that colorful camera friendly costume worn dumb village people, two strong families at war for more than two decades, the entry of the hero to settle the war with some mysterious personal interests, the loud mouthed villain with that big moustache and another hundreds of regular features that you come across in almost all the hits of decade. Yes, this is an overall idea of ‘Chattambinaadu’- the new Mammootty movie in theatres, strictly made on the formula stuff with that very old wine story in another new bottle. What really makes a difference is the megastar adorning another sharply different look and slang for his protagonist character, who amuse, confuse and impress the viewers with dialogues that are more Kannada than Malayalam.

n a potpourri of recent hits from Rajamanickayam, to Madambi and Mayavi, the racy narratives and fast cuts has managed to hold the movie without any big harm atleast till interval. But the final hour becomes increasingly predictable, with not much fresh surprises in store. But it is the one-man show of Mammootty, the megastar who really shows how he can hold a movie with a regular lame storyline with his charismatic performances. Even with a regular singular white pajama- kurtha dress code, he is eminently handsome throughout, with his acting credentials once again coming to the fore. Watch out for the two sentimental scenes where he manages to impress everyone, even with heavy Kannada dialogues. Vinu Mohan as his trusted aide Murugan, is in another role that the youngster can treasure. Lakshmi Rai and Mythili manages through the characters they are in while others from Vijayaraghavan, Manoj K Jayan, Siddhique, Janardhanan and Co are all in their regular roles.