Yoddha

Yoddha (1992) : Brief Review -

Bringing that action-packed Chinese Blockbuster in regional Indian Cinema. The Golden Child gets Action-adventure adaptation. Yoddha is inspired from Eddy Murphy's The Golden Child but has different conflicts to share in commercial entertainer. Mohanlal plays the lead role of Thaiparambil Ashokan, the saviour destined to rescue the Rimpoche of a Nepalese Buddhist monastery from sorcerers practicing black magic. Seeing Mohanlal in such a mass friendly role and especially in a mass friendly movie is a pure delight. Kireedam and Spadikam had action but those films had high philosophies included in the narrative while Yoddha is simply made for out-an-out entertainment and nothing else. If you remember watching those late 70s and 80s Chinese Films which became popular in India too then Yoddha might seem like an Indian Version of those films. Instead of Martial Arts, Karate and other combat forms, you get to see hand-to-hand combats+traditional Nepali/Buddhist Sword fights. It also reminded me of Indiana Jones and Mortal Kombat, rather i would say it looked a mix-up of these two. Bollywood Movie 'Chandni Chowk To China' was spoofy adaption of it but here things looked highly entertaining and engaging considering early 90s of Indian cinema. Actually, we were missing such films, i mean exploring this action-adventure genre didn't really happen as expected. Indian Audience was waiting for film like Indiana Jones to be made in India and Yoddha fulfilled that wish even though it was a decade late. Mohanlal does fine as always, Jagathy is hilarious, Madhu looks beautiful, that child Lama was adorable yet relatable and Puneet Isaar played a great muscular villain. Sangeeth Sivan gives a proper mix of action, Adventure, drama, romance and comedy in this terrific entertainer.

RATING - 8/10*

By - #samthebestest.

A highly entertaining movie which has an adequate blend of action and comedy. Though the basic plot has been 'inspired' by Eddie Murphy's olden Child' this movies has enough in it to keep the viewer engaged.

To summarize the plot - Mohanlal is a happy-go-lucky youth leading a carefree life in a small village in Kerala. His trysts with his dim-witted cousin Jagathi form the initial half of the movie. Fate brings him to Nepal where he gets embroiled in the stereotypical battle between 'good and evil'. The second half of the movie is focuses on how Mohanlal protects the Lama incarnate child from evil forces led by Puneet Issar.

The movie has a great comedy track between Mohanlal and Jagathi which runs throughout the length of the movie without ever derailing the main plot. Jagathi has been given some excellent one-liners and provides very good support to Lal's superb comic timing. The action scenes are the highlight of this movie, especially those where Lal is being trained in martial arts. The child artiste Siddhartha comes up with a wonderfully endearing performance especially his call of 'Akosotto'. Mohanlal delivers another effortless and flawless performance proving that he is simply the best when it comes to roles like these. Music is hummable and nothing extraordinary except the duet 'Padakali' between Yesudas and Sreekumar. On the downside, the villain, Puneet Issar appears unrealistic and story-bookish and also tends to overdo the snarling bit. But this does not take anything away from the overall content of Yodha.

All in all, this movie is worth a watch any number of times and is a good option when one just wants to be entertained.

The most important factor in the film is: AR Rahman is the first Malayalam film to be Yodha

Asokan arrives in Nepal, he knows that Apukkutan lives there in his name. Ashokan accidentally sees rim and joins him. Ashokan is trying to inform Aswathy that he is Ashokan and that he is the father of the house. Ashwathy is researching the ancient customs of Nepal. Ashwani, who appears in the camera, knows that Ashokan belongs to Mala Repos. In front of them, the repatriation goes away. Ashokan and Aswathi are trying to stop them. Appukuttan followed by them is in the grip of adivasis

Thorougly entertaining!mohanlal and jagathy with flawless perfomences one of my all time favourites! rahmans music is another plus point

Purely a remake of Eddy Murphy's Golden Child, this movie had a minor (yet important) flaw which made it humble at the box office. The 'lovability' of Murphy's character is missing from Asokan, his counterpart played by Mohanlal. Asokan is an arrogant character and is a winner in all the one-on-one competitions he has with his dim-witted cousin while Murphy's character is a humble and innocent one. Viewers tend to sympathise with the cousin instead.

Best thing in this movie is the camera wielded by Santhosh Sivan and the captivating music by none other than A. R. Rehman (his first movie, I believe).

On a positive note, it's more humorous than Golden Child. And the performance of 'Rimpoche' is excellent.