'Ividam Swargamanu' - ENCHANTINGLY BLISSFUL

A simple story, great performances, well fleshed out characters, play of emotions and technical finesse. Roshan Andrews bounces back with flare in his new film 'Ividam Swargamanu' which is indeed a worthy watch for all connoisseurs of good, contentful cinema. Roshan Andrews with his few films have earned a very special place in Malayalam movie scenario and his last two films got widely appreciated for the same. This movie had created a certain amount of buzz even before its release due to the dream combination of actors like Mohanlal, Thilakan, Sreenivasan and Jagathy Sreekumar. Expectations were obviously sky high and the question is whether it has liven up to that....??? And the Big answer is 'Yes'.

Mohanlal plays a farmer, while Thilakan plays Jeremias, his father. Mathews is trying to realize his fathers dream of setting up a huge farmhouse with cattle, vegetable and the like on the banks of river Periyar. But things go from bad to worse as a rich man by the name 'Aluva Chandy'(Lalu Alex) comes along. Chandy wants to buy his land but Mathews is not ready for the deal. The film narrates how Mathews resists Chandy's wily moves. This movie deals with the social scenario of the state where each of the Keralites are hell bound to settle every scores on ownership of land in legal battles with little acknowledgement on the emotional bonding of people with their lands. The movie is rich with with superb humor with a slight tinge of social criticism. Roshan Andrews as a director was able to get into the nuances of human behavior while doing comedy sequences and that deserves a special mention.

Mohanlal, Thilakan, Jagathy Sreekumar and Sreenivasan are actors who give great performances every time. Mohanlal and Thilakan had been the best father-son duo to have ever come up on screen. They were exemplary pair who made superhits like Kireedom, Spadikam, Chenkol and Narasimham. Thlakan, as usual was good. Mohanlal delivered an exceptional performance. He delivered mannerisms, smile, and nuances as a 'common man' with consummate ease and proved why he is called the best actor in India..! Lalu Alex as Aluva chandy was nothing but spectacular. This is arguably the best ever role played by Lalu Alex in his whole career. He lived as 'Aluva Chandy'. Jagathy Sreekumar illustrated what 'methord acting' is all about. His mannerisms, looks, gestures etc was quite supreme and he proved his versatility. Sreenivasan proved full justice to the role assigned to him and his 'one liners' was accepted and appreciated by the audience. 'Ividam swargamanu' has three heroines in Priyanka Nair, Lakshmi Rai and Lakshmi Gopalaswamy. This is the first big role in a commercial movie for Priyanka Nair, who won the Kerala state film award for the best female actor last year. She plays Betsy, a TV reporter who supports Mathews for his love for land. she did a commendable job. Lakshmi Rai disapponited me with her poor acting skills and that is the only negative i felt about the movie. Kaviyoor ponnamma and Sukumari also did justice to their jobs.

Now Coming to the technical aspects of the movie. Diwakar handled the camera work and he did it brilliantly. His cinematography was rich and expressive and he created frames of class and cult. James Albert the script writer of movies like Classmates and Cycle is the scenarist and believe me his script was just awesome. For me he is one of the most sensible script writers left in malayalam film industry today. BGM by Gopi Sundar was good. Roshan Andrews used his directorial skills to the maximum to make this movie a huge success.

All in all, this movie is a must watch for all who love that good middle stream movies propagated in the eighties and early nineties by Satyan Anthikad, Priyadarshan- sreenivasan, Siby - Lohitdas Combination. And i am sure the plight of no other movie protagonists could have haunted you like this in recent times. Hats off Roshan Andrews and James Albert for this beautiful, touching effort.

My Verdict : 4.5/5