Oru Vadakkan Selfie

One always expects creative projects from this team who previously brought us films like Thattathin Marayathu (2012), Neram (2013), and 1983 (2014). Even this time around, they have unsurprisingly shoveled the story aside and focused on slapstick.

Umesh (Pauly) is a failure in life - failure in studies and failure in love. As a result, he hasn't earned respect from his friends or acquaintances, let alone his nuclear family. So to come out as a winner by leaving his failures behind, he tries his hand at his passion - cinema. While the story begins to move forward with a slow pace, it suddenly achieves a paradigm shift and changes track into becoming a pontificating drama about the internet life.

The screenplay starts with taking potshots at the lives and culture of today's youth that is more governed by the internet (read Facebook and WhatsApp, according to the film) and less by their conscience and life purpose. And that is the chief theme of the film. Umesh and his team (Varghese, Srinivasan) then get entangled in a cyber case involving Daisy (Mohan), a character that brings back the memories of a poorly made, Tamil, and Malayalam-dubbed film Asha Black (2014), which is about two young people who meet over the web and fall in love, of course with its parade of consequences.

Oodles of humor showers throughout the film, thanks to Srinivasan's good writing, coupled by some great performances by Pauly and Varghese. It is evident that the direction is amateurish and the actors have implemented heavy improvisation. Every time the film goes haywire, the screwball humor takes over. And that should be the deciding element if one chooses to watch it.

Engineering life is highly made fun of, which shows what the makers had in mind - to tell a story that will appeal to the youth and educate them about the perils of online presence and relationships. How Engineering students fail to understand the basics of life is another valid point the screenplay makes. But if one looks closely, there is no substance to hold on to in G. Prajith's debut feature. It is just slapstick, a brief, thrilling adventure, and a sermon. At the end, it becomes so obvious that the characters jump on your face and preach.

Pauly is a great actor and in here, he is back to what he does best - portray a middle-class guy with no purpose in life. Varghese is the comedian, while Srinivasan is the brains. It is real fun to watch Srinivasan's creativity unfold. Manjima Mohan looks like she rehearsed for the role watching VHS tapes of her debut film Priyam (late 90s), and thus, fails to impress. Music is good, but some songs looked out of place.

Adding to the cons is the fake production setup that lacks realism. There are numerous instances when the setup betrays the film of the conviction that it requires to make a point. The paradigm shift extends the comedy but it so works itself that the second half, which demands a serious turn of events, stumbles in its own wedge to eventually fall into a puddle. It cannot exactly be termed a drag, but the plot does stray outside its circle. Plus, it saddens one to learn that the comic journey was mounting up for a lowbrow inference.

BOTTOM LINE: While the world is battling self-inflicted solitary due to the web, this film comes as an old update with backward compatibility. All said and done, if you love slapstick humor then Oru Vadakkan Selfie is for you. It is a watchable comedy and does a good job, when it comes to comparing with other recent releases, and let's not get started on them. 5/10 - recommended for a one-time view.

Can be watched with a typical Indian family? YES

Easy going movie with malayalee humor at best. Story talks so much about how little things can become a big deal and how big deal can transform people. The way experience teaches nothing else does. Pretty realistic movie.

This is one of my favorite movies released in the 2010 plus years. It really entertained me - both as a comedy as well as a thriller. The theme in this movie is very relevant in the present day scenario where cyber crimes are becoming increasingly common. This is one of those movies that I would watch whenever it comes on the TV (provided I am free).

Even though the plot is 'stupid and flawed', and the movie looks 'listless and lifeless' at various junctures in the second half, there is no denying the fact that OVS offers an entertaining one-time watch. The main credit for the same should go to the pretty good first-half, loads of 'genuinely funny dialogues' throughout the movie and the wonderful Nivin Pauly - Aju Varghese combo supported very well by a 'bearable and decent act' from Vineeth Sreenivasan :)

Nivin Pauly's entertainers are usually devoid of any noteworthy plot to talk about ; but sadly the plot and the 'serious portions' are the main villains here:)

I went into the Cinema halls after hearing mixed reviews about the movie from my friends being judgemental about a mediocre second half,but I must say I enjoyed the movie thoroughly and felt it as the best entertainer to come out from Mollywood till now,the calendar year.

Directed by newcomer G.Prajith 'Oru Vadakkan Selfie' is a delightful watch filled with natural humor throughout the narration,showcasing the 'Kola Mass' combo of Aju & Nivin who manages to pull out their best as far as the humor sequences are concerned.A neatly packed entertainer that never bores you for the running time of 141 minutes,OVS is undoubtedly the best from the bunch of recent Mollywood releases and even succeeds in putting forward a worthy message to the society towards the end of the movie.

Even though aimed at the youth,the movie has enough and more to cater to all the sections including families looking to relax for sometime this holidays,with the rollicking humor element and Dasan-Vijayanish chemistry between Aju Varghese and Nivin Pauly being successful in evoking laughs right from the word go towards the climax of the movie. All the comic sequences are situational and Vineeth Sreenivasan advertises his expertise in handling natural humor alike his talented father profoundly making use of simple situations that we all come across in our daily life.Most importantly their was a consistency in the humor element which managed to elate the atmosphere at times it looked to turn monotonous.

The storyline took a u-turn with the onset of second half giving it shades of an investigative thriller with the suspense element being treated well resulting in some twists and turns towards the end which came out really well on the screen.The narration was a bit shaky half way through the second half,but managed to come back to the right track towards the onset of the climax where it stick to its motive of providing a valuable message for today's youth.

Coming to the performances,Nivin Pauly was impressive in the lead role and excelled with his comic timing alongside Aju Varghese who was at his best giving out counters and witty one-liners that evoked unanimous laughs throughout the movie.Manjima Mohan was good even though her performance towards the climax ,esp the dubbing part felt too mediocre and substandard for a lead heroine.Vineeth Sreenivasan was really impressive with his cool performance an played his part really well.Among others VijayaRagahavan ,Neeraj Mdhav etc gave good support to the leads.

Music and BGM by Shan Rahman was perfectly tailored for the storyline and boosted the energy of the narration.All the songs have been picturiZed really well and placed at proper junctures of the narration.The technical side too was solid with crisp editing by Ranjan Abraham and beautiful visuals by Jomon.T.John being notable.

Overall,Oru Vadakkan Selfie is a simple,feel-good movie which offers more than enough to call it a 'Paisa Vasool Entertainer'.

Verdict::'Oru Vadakkan Selfie' is a clean entertainer loaded with generous natural humor that can satisfy all the sections of the audience.Even though not a fool-proof product,OVS has enough and more reasons to call it a pretty good entertainer to enjoy this festival season.Go for it and you will not be disappointed. Ma Rating::7.5/10 _Afsal