ED: Extra Decent

So sorry to mention that the movie ED produced by such a talented actor like Suraj Venjaramoodu fell really so short of expectations. Maybe it was mainly because of the poor story line of the writer??. The movie has left only a feeling of "Monotony" without much to feel that it's a commedy as shown in the ads of the movie. Like what the so talented Late Sri Siddique Sir told me when I was able to meet him and ask him why many films don't perform well, he gave me the important answer - "Lack of correct Judgement" as the main reason. I am sure there was really something wrong in the judgement by the people involved in production of the movie ED. Sorry to say that it would not run long in theatres. Dr K Madhav, Independent Social Researcher and an appreciator of Good Forms of Art, including Music, in which I have been involved for some time Thank God.

Rating - 2.75/5

A dark humour subject placed through a non linear narration.

The plot of the story revolves around Binu,a curious character among the neighborhood showing extra care for his family and the quirky secrets inside the house forms the base for the storyline.

The expectations derived from the trailer about the strange characterisation of Suraj was impressive but miserably failed in developing an engaging storyline when it came on screen. The screenplay and performance was very organic and failed in grabbing the attention of the audience. The idea of showing some inside thoughts running in the minds of the immediate family members was impressive.

Good performances by Suraj Venjaramoodu,Sudheer Karamana & Vinaya Prasad, but the central characters performances alone couldnt help the movie.

The poor execution,narrative style used and the rumpled screenplay makes it just a one time watch.

On the whole, the film worked for me based on the following:

1. Suraaj's performance as the psychotic Binu-exhibiting sadistic shades and cleverly concealing that persona-is spectacular.

2. Ashif Kakkodi's script keeps the proceedings engaging with instances of dark humour sprinkled throughout the narrative. Several "family cliches" are subverted.

3. Aamir Pallikkal's directorial treatment is a vast improvement from Ayisha.

4. Ankit Menon's music packs more to each scene - be it an underlining of dark comedy or emotions.

5. Great comedic timing exhibited by the supporting cast - especially Shyam Mohan, Vineeth Thattil David, and Raffi.

6. Vinaya Prasad aces her subtle-yet-crazy mommy role.

7. Not the perfectly packaged finale but it's apt as a concluding note.

8. This one is probably going to divide audiences based on their interest in / aversion to the genre. I liked it.

It was a decent attempt from the creators and the first half worked well for me. There were some moments of laughter, but the screenplay became sloppy after a while and didn't fully entertain the audience in me. The story was a creative one but it could have been developed a bit more by adding some more interesting, comedic contents and that's what this movie lacked.

Suraj, as usual has performed well and all the other characters have peformed well. The story could have been more engaging and it would have been a great dark comedy from Mollywood, many scenes in the second half was not necessary at all.

Other aspects like production design, cinematography were fine. The BGM was supbar.

ED: Extra Decent took me by surprise as I saw shades of rare black humour in a Malayalam film. The titular moniker is for Suraj Venjaramoodu's character where he dons the hat of the "most dysfunctional" in his small dysfunction family. The attempt at comedy is mostly tired but ED still manages to make you laugh here and there. But what definitely grabs your attention is Suraj's performance as the eccentric and weird grown-up who has scores to settle. I had a ball watching this with my family as we could ask each other if we would ever do something like what the characters in the film do to each other. A good watch!