Yoddha

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.

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.

The first time i watched this awesome movie was when i was 11 yrs and even after another 11, i still consider this movie as my personal favorite. Mohanlal has shown clearly how versatile he is as an actor and the flawless performance of the duo, Mohanlal and Jagathy makes it a perfect blend of action and comedy. The part to highlight is that Mohanlal in fact got himself trained in Martial Arts to perform some of the action sequences. Performances from Sidhartha (Rinpoche) is also commendable.

The story line is quite different from the usual themes that is portrayed in South Indian Movies. Further, the songs are good enough but not what one might expect from A.R. Rahman. But that does in no way affect the flow of the movie. The action sequences are also perfectly done and Sangeeth Sivan has given a good glimpse of his directorial skills.

If you are looking for a perfect entertaining movie to enjoy for 2hrs and 30 mins, never miss this one. After watching it, you'll surely love Rinpoche and Ashokan.

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.

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