Iyer in Arabia review: A political satire film with a cliched plot

Iyer in Arabia, as the name suggests, is a quirky family drama.

Inspired by true events, the Malayalam movie has the audience in splits.

Also a political satire, the story is set against the backdrop of two locations — Thiruvananthapuram and Dubai.

Director MA Nishad, who is often vocal about political changes, incorporates real-life incidents to make the film more realistic.

Synopsis

Iyer in Arabia is the story of Srinivasa Iyer (Mukesh), his son Rahul (Dhyan Sreenivasan), and his wife Jhancy Rani (Urvashi).

Srinivasa Iyer is a possessive father. Jhancy is a school teacher and is a popular YouTuber, too. Rahul wants to leave for Dubai to pursue his career as an architect.

However, Srinivasa Iyer does not want his son to visit Dubai because of certain cultural differences. The director presents the character as a supporter of right-wing politics.

When the story shifts to Dubai, Saira (Durga Krishna) is introduced as  Rahul’s girlfriend.

However, being a satirical movie, she does not have much prominence. But Durga Krishna plays her part well.

So, the movie is about the father-son relationship and how the ideologies followed by Srinivasa Iyer are not accepted.

Director Nishad does not leave any stone unturned to take a dig at the supporters of right-wing politics. For instance, the scenes referring to cow dung, Pramukh, and anti-Hindu sentiments.

It is interesting to see Mukesh, a lawmaker from the Left party in Kerala, playing a right-wing supporter in the film.

Iyer in Arabia also invests its time in showcasing Srinivasa Iyer’s problems with society.

Though it has some cliched elements, the treatment makes the audience engaged.

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Highlights

The satirical portrayal of the current political issues in the country is the major highlight of the movie.

Besides right-wing politics, the director also shows how the supporters of Muslims encourage religious conversions.

The combination of Urvashi and Mukesh is one of the takeaways of the film. The veteran actors, as husband and wife, remind us of their previous works together.

Director Nishad takes inspiration from the present generation to incorporate certain elements in the story, like YouTubers. But the movie is not critical of the Left parties.

The next highlight of Iyer in Arabia is humour. The director depends on slapstick comedy to engage the audience. This is probably the best comedy film from MA Nishad.

What doesn’t work?

However, at one point, the film lacks freshness. It becomes a typical story about the ego clashes between father-son and the generation gap.

The background music, too, is not apt in a few sequences. Sometimes, it is too loud.

Saira’s family is not presented convincingly.

Also Read: Tamizhaga Vetri Kazhagam: Tamil actor Vijay announces new political party

Performances

Iyer in Arabia has some splendid performances.

As mentioned earlier, Mukesh and Urvashi are too good and make us nostalgic.

Dhyan Sreenivasan, as Rahul, does not have much to do and is decent.

Shine Tom Chacko, as Freddy, did justice to his role.

Durga Krishna and Dhyan Sreenivasan’s combination scenes are good, but not exceptional like in their previous successful venture Udal (2022).

Final take

Iyer in Arabia is a satirical movie with a cliched plot. It is a time-pass entertainer.

(Views expressed here are personal.)