Somante Krithavu review: A message-oriented film with an underwhelming script

Vinay Forrt’s new movie, Somante Krithavu (Soman’s Sideburns) has the actor playing the titular role of Soman, who has a big sideburn that resembles the old hippie style in the 80s.

Directed by debutant Rohith Narayanan, the film deals with many issues as the male lead gets involved in civic problems.

Somante Krithavu reflects a society where the powerful people are the decision-makers and the common people are forced to abide by those decisions. This is the core idea of the movie.

It has many cliches and similarities with a few characters from old films where the lead character acts weirdly. For example, Soman protests against every issue related to Nature and bribery.

Everything seems exaggerated

The film has a message-oriented plot but everything seems exaggerated.

For instance, Soman only consumes organic foods.

In his protest against chopping trees in front of his office (the agriculture department), he erects a hut on top of a tree and carries out his office work from there.

Well, this scene is certainly inspired by the political leaders who launched similar protests.

This isn’t it! He also insists that his relatives and friends should follow in his footsteps.

Further, he decides to marry a woman whom he occasionally spoke to over the phone. He forces his wife to burn extra calories because she is overweight.

Also, he decides that his wife doesn’t need to be admitted to a hospital for delivery and instead, hires a birth attendant. Well, the list grows longer!

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Badly written

The film also highlights the bird flu outbreak that affected the duck farmers in Alappuzha.

When avian flu is reported, all the ducks in the region are culled as a precautionary measure. However, Soman protests against culling and prepares Duck Biryani. But he gets in trouble and faces some serious repercussions.

Incidentally, all his actions are targeted at Mysooran (Jayan Cherthala), a wealthy businessman.

In another instance, Soman’s 9-year-old daughter India (Devanandha), who has no proper schooling, gives CPR to a middle-aged teacher when he collapses.

The film fails to present clarity in such incidents due to which an average audience finds these sequences to be exaggerated and illogical.

On the contrary, the viewers are spoonfed by Soman in the climax scenes because of which the ending seems not-so-worthy.

In all, the writing by Ranjith K fails to do wonders for the movie, though it has an interesting premise.

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Performances

Vinay Forrt’s versatility is an asset for Somante Krithavu. His comedy timing leaves the audience in splits.

Seema G Nair is decent as Soman’s mother. Their combination scenes work well.

Farah Shibla, as Soman’s wife, is good. But her character lacks detailed writing.

Devanandha, as the couple’s daughter, gets a meaty role to play.

On technical aspects, Sajith Purushan’s frames are good. They capture the visual beauty of Allapuzha.

The music by P Jayhari is decent too.

Verdict

In all, Somante Krithavu could have been a good entertainer but is let down by bad writing.

(Views expressed here are personal.)