Oru Muthassi Gadha

While Ganesh Raj's Aanandam (2016) was a total entertainer relevant for people of all ages, this comedy drama is mostly directed at married folks.

Leelamma (Rajini Chandy) is a grumpy old woman who lives with her married son Siby (Suraj Venjaramoodu) and his family at a sprawling countryside home in Kerala. She is annoyed by and annoying to everyone in the house - from her daughter-in-law Jean (Lena) to her granddaughter Alice (Aparna Balamurali) - everyone wants her out. Siby is the only person in who can sustain Leelamma's loud and unnecessary squabbling, considering his dilemma. As a viewer, even you will come to hate her in the first 10 minutes, which may be enough to turn you off. However, if you wait patiently for some time, and consider the "why" in Leelamma's actions, you may begin to relate with the story. The narrative then takes its viewers to her life story as she recites it to Jean's mother Soosamma (Bhagyalakshmi) and Babu (Krishna Prasad) while Siby and his family go out for a two-week holiday.

The first half is fun to watch, that is only if you sustain Leelamma's endless arguments. Why some people behave in a certain way often has a cause to it, and the film uses that form to construct the story. Director Joseph has carved a beautiful and well-written tale to convey an important message about how parents are mishandled and dumped in old age homes by their adult children. It has become a relevant topic in these recent years, and the film takes an amusing approach to convey few hard truths. However, the preachy climax which proves that the whole story was contrived to reach to that point, does affect its credibility.

The makers have used a comical container to drive the point home, and that should be enough for potential viewers to consider the film. Having said that, there is not a single scene in the film that induces boredom, which is a very rare thing in Indian cinema. With brilliant performances by Lena, Venjaramoodu, and Bhagyalakshmi, this one will ignite a sense of merriment in you. Balamurali and Vineeth Sreenivasan also do a good job, well-supported by the likes of Vijayaraghavan, Rajeev Pillai, and the director himself. It would be difficult to praise Leelamma, but her casting is nothing but perfect. Special mention to Krishna Prasad for nailing the role of Babu, a Bengali home caretaker with "intentions". His performance will make you cast in him your film even if you are not a filmmaker.

All in all, with a social message at the end, this second film by ace director Joseph does not disappoint. Try it out!

BOTTOM LINE: Jude Anthany Joseph's "Oru Muthassi Gadha" may not be at par with his 2014 hit film, but it definitely has a lot of heart in it, driven solely by the fierce protagonist whose bucket list also includes a wish of living a day as a man. Rent a DVD now.

Can be watched with a typical Indian family? YES

The film has a lot of heart. The title sequence was pretty innovative. It was amusing for the most part. But there were better family films than this one in the 80s and the 90s. Also, Rajni Chandi's role was the kind that KPAC/Kaviyoor Ponnamma/Philomena etc could have performed in their sleep back in the 90s. The role was quite ill conceived what with the character abusing random people on the road making me cringe. Jude Anthony Joseph's turn as the lecherous young man was quite pathetic and stood out like a sore thumb. The film never really rises above a certain level but it does pick up quite a bit in the second half during the road trip. It could have been a mini classic of sorts with better writing. Maybe Jude Anthony Joseph should have asked Sreenivasan (who plays a small role) to write the dialogs for this film. Afterall, Sreeni wrote so many classic films about middle class aspirations in the 80s and the 90s.

Positives-

1.) Direction and script

2.)Comedy scenes

3.)All actors and special mention to Rajini chandi(protagonist) and Jude anthany's cameo

4.) Bg score and some songs but not all

5.)Some realistic scenes

6.)Colourfull movie

7.)Cinematography and edits

Negative-

1.) Shaan Rahman's some songs looked repetitive.

2.)Cliche's scenes

Overall- Watch this movie with your family and it will be a perfect treat for all types of audience. There are lots of comedy scenes which may stay in your mind for a long time. Jude anthony's comedy role was hilarious and it was as hilarious as his role in thoppil joppan.

My rating- 3.5/5 (Well packaged movie) for more reviews on language movies go to-Ridinbal movie reviews

Jude Anthony and team bring out yet another comic-inspired emotional movie to the big screen. Added to the familiar faces this time the audience is introduced to two new characters as well - two fine AMMACHIs.

This film served as great entertainment to my family and hope that it lives up to the same for any other family. As some people have mentioned the film gets us to immediately call our old people and brings back nostalgic memories.

With its great location settings and colorful picturesque the film takes you on an awesome ride.

There was never a time when the movie felt drawn out. The movie with its quite impressive dialogue really held the audience's attention and kept time rolling, not to mention the excellent rendering of the songs - for my family they could keep listening time and again

Oru Muthassi Gadha is definitely an exciting, creative, and well worth a few hours of your time. We need more movies of such type to keep our feelings for each other together and make this world a better place. Our respect and reverence towards elders must definitely become more positive which is what this movie tends to have achieved.