Thinkalazhcha Nishchayam

Many films with unheralded, amateur casts have won the Kerala State Awards. But to do that with a comedy, director Senna Hegde has pulled the rabbit out of the hat and with some aplomb.

'Thinkalazhcha Nishchayam', the winner of the Second Best Film Award at this year's Kerala State Film Awards is a hilarious comedy seemingly plucked from the life of an average conservative family from North Kerala.

A stereotypical gulf-returnee dad struggles to marry off his younger daughter while still harboring resentment towards his older daughter who had the audacity to defy him and marry a man of her choice (shudder!).

Throw into the mix a wedding organizer who has eyes for the soon-to-be bride, a misfit younger brother, some snarky aunties and healthy servings of patriarchy and absolute chaos ensues.

How the director managed to assemble this crew of unknown actors of such quality is astounding. Ranji Kankol delivers some of the film's best comic sequences as the hopelessly romantic wedding organizer while Unnimaya Nalppadam excels as the troubled older sister of the young bride.

But it is Manoj KU as our main protagonist, the beleaguered dad who steals the show with an absolutely electric performance. From dancing drunk to fighting with loan sharks and finally dealing with a betrothal ceremony seemingly falling apart, he astounds the viewers, delivering the whole gamut of emotions with poise and gusto.

With a motley crew of carefully written supporting characters, a steady stream of unresolved family squabbles and petty skirmishes, the film movies delicious along and completely leaves you in splits with a ridiculously funny final act.

I haven't laughed so hard for a Malayalam film in a while. Highly recommended! An absolute must watch!

Once someone started to watch it they never stop until it finished. It is a complete entertainment movie, based on the things happening around us in a family. We are familiar with all the characters from the film and easy to figure out them in our family, neighbors, or friends.

Thinkalazhcha Nishchayam (Engagement is On Monday) starts, fires some truth bombs through a comical setting with an upcoming wedding ceremony as the backdrop, and ends. To make such a wholesome satire requires brilliant writing, and that is where the film shines. Each and every dialogue uttered by each and every character is worth pondering upon. And it's not like the characters are in the side line. You relate with each one of them like they are your own relatives back in Kerala. While many of these dialogues will give you a chuckle, it's those towards the end that make the message clear. Add tour de force of performances by a fresh cast and you have the laugh riot and social film of the year. Watch it.

The highlight of thinkalaazcha nischayam is its casting. There is not even a single familiar face(and don't know whether we will see any of them in any mainstream malayalam film in future), but all of them suited their roles perfectly.

Direction is in lines of dileesh pothan films. When the climax was about to be preachy, a fun twist was brought to make it a feel good ending. And the mid credit scene was hilarious.

On the whole, thinkalaazcha nischayam is one of the best comedy films in malayalam recently.

Senna Hegde's Thinkalazhcha Nishchayam is an almost satisfying satire. He manages to bring novelty to a story that's been told several times. The movie trips and falls sometimes. But those can be overlooked considering the overall writing. Almost all of the cast are debutants and most of them delivers. Especially the ones who played Suja, Surabhi, the father and Surabhi's husband. I enjoyed one song( after the ring exchange), but the rest of them were less appealing to me.

Overall, the movie's fun to watch although it's a bit overpraised.