Sethu's directorial gets engaging only in the second half; more scenes involving the Maruti car and Mahesh would have made it an entertaining watch.
Maheshum Marutiyum (Malayalam)
Is Mahesh (Asif Ali) in love with his Maruti 800 car or his girlfriend Gouri (Mamta Mohandas)? Audiences who watch Maheshum Marutiyum will get an answer to this only after watching the movie.
Director Sethu who also scripted the film hasn’t made any effort to make the viewers think about any twists or turns.
Maheshum Marutiyum is a new-age version of feel-good films, which was earlier helmed by Satyan Athikad. Even actor-producer Maniyan Pilla Raju didn’t take any risk in choosing a complex story.
The movie has slight similarities to the 2020-released Gauthamante Ratham which had the Tata Nano car as the major highlight.
An emotional bonding of the protagonist with the car in the aforementioned film is similar to Mahesh’s love for the Maruti 800 car.
The story mainly focuses on Mahesh, a well-known car mechanic in Cheruthoni Thuruth. His family isn’t well off and the Maruti car’s loan isn’t over even after this many long years.
Mahesh’s father Padmanabhan (Maniyanpilla Raju) buys the car in 1983 when Maruti Suzuki was first launched in India. Padmanabhan takes his Maruti 800 to Cheruthoni Thuruth, an imaginary village in Kerala, to fulfil his dream of owning a car.
Mahesh develops an emotional bonding with the car and the story develops with this element.
The movie depicts the struggles faced by middle-class men in the late 2000s well. It tells the story in flashback mode.
In the opening scene, Mahesh is a successful businessman. His way to success obviously will be the role of his girlfriend Gouri. But this part of love and the twist included in the climax isn’t convincing.
Now, this doesn’t mean that Maheshum Marutiyum is convincing otherwise.
Till the interval, Mahesh’s love for his Maruti has no feel. The comedy scenes also don’t work well in the first half.
In the second half, the film gets engaging with new ideas, romance, and references to the Maruti 800 preservation songs.
Kedar’s music is pretty decent. But the movie lacks a good direction as some scenes are forgettable ones.
There is no scope for good performances in the movie.
Asif Ali, being the hero, has some intense scenes to perform.
Mamta Mohandas, who appears in the second half, gets a normal role without much scope to perform.
Premkumar, Maniyanpilla Raju, and other actors did their roles well but nothing noteworthy.
Maheshum Marutiyum has an interesting plot. But some scenes give the impression that they have been written to forcefully laugh.
For instance, the scene that involves an illegal liquor capture from the Maruti car is badly-written.
More sequences involving the car would have made it an interesting watch. Also, the sequence when the car disappears didn’t work well in the theatre.
Gowri is an interesting character in the movie. She has two intentions; one is to win her boyfriend Mahesh and the other, if mentioned, would be a major spoiler.
However, this part is superficial. In the end, the movie ends up being a feel-good flick without making any impact.
Maheshum Marutiyum has an interesting plot involving a Maruti 800 car and its owner. Had the director developed it more, the film could have been more entertaining.
(Views expressed are personal.)