Malayalam film starring Mohanlal, Meena and Sreenivasan. The title translates to Udhayan is the star.
Mohanlal-Sreenivasan combo is know for many super hit malayalam films. Sreenivasan incidentally has written many of these successful stories and scripts. Here he manages to deliver another super hit. Saw the film after 100 days and it was still packed. Mohanlal plays Udhayan, a struggling movie director, story, screenplay writer. Sreenivasan is a friend and also an aspiring struggling movie star still looking for his first break.
The story revolves around how Sreenivasan’s character steals Udhayan’s screenplay and story and becomes a superstar overnight by insisting on acting in the film. The rest of the story revolves around how Udhayan struggles and yet comes on top at the end. Meena plays Udhayan’s love interest and a leading actress in the film. The relationship between the two is particularly well handled. Mohanlal’s performance is simply fantastic. The various emotions he portrays with minimum fuss is simply fascinating. He is a class act. No doubt.
The movie has some interesting twists and turns and keeps you engaged. Sreenivasan’s tantrums are a little annoying but there are several comical scenes especially the reference to films stars diversifying into other business (selling parottas with their pictures on the packets). The songs are decent. Overall a good package, and hence a super hit. I hear that the malayalam films are on the decline and good movies are hard to come by. So when something even reasonable shows up a hit is almost certain. That’s the local theory.
Udhayananu Tharam is definitely worth watching. I enjoyed it. Won’t be surprised if a hindi version is in the works.
Pakora Korner 