Odum Kuthira Chadum Kuthira

Felt more like Njandukalude Nattil Oridavela. That too, when its time of release reception was kinda the same as Oodum kuthira. The kind of storytelling was good; it convinced me. Decent performance from Kalyani, Lal & Suresh Krishna was fantastic. A nice feel-good movie, some might not get connected as they expect more from a actor like Fafa, as an experimental film, Me & My 4 friends liked it.

The storytelling in Param Sundari has a kind of purity that is hard to miss. It never loses focus on the emotional thread that runs through the film, even while presenting visually stunning sequences. The balance between the grandeur and the simplicity of emotions is remarkable. You find yourself smiling in one scene, tearing up in the next, and then feeling completely uplifted by the end. It's not just a film; it's a beautiful reminder of how powerful good cinema can be when it touches both the heart and the mind.

This is the first time I am posting a review as I felt I should save someone else from watching this atrocity. The story line is completely baseless and doesn't make any sense. If someone tells you the movie is quote " quirky and not everyone's cup of tea", mind you, they are high as a kite.

In a gist, don't even watch this on streaming platforms.

A very disappointing movie. Poor direction, weak storyline, and extremely boring execution. I regret spending 1500 Rs on tickets and even walked out during the interval. I don't understand why Fasil is choosing such poor scripts. Overall, a complete waste of time and money - a total headache. Don't go; beleive me. Their production crew rated high at the beginning and fooled people. Now average is outing. You can't fake star rating with few votes.

If Althaf Salim brought eccentricity and quirkiness to a cancer-affected household in Njandukalude Nattil Oridavela, he gives depression and mental health deterioration the light-hearted treatment in Odum Kuthira Chadum Kuthira. Fahad's role was tailor-made for mid-2010s Nivin Pauly, and I do think Fahad added some manufactured expressions to keep his character as quirky as the rest. Yes, this is a universe that isn't easy to connect to or associate with, and the going only gets tougher as the film progresses.

Lal and Suresh Krishna are in top form here, and almost every scene with either actor is laugh-out-loud funny, especially in the first half. Some of Lal's one-liners were absolutely hysterical - we've seen him play different kinds of mentally affected characters in the past (Ormacheppu, One Man Show immediately come to mind) - though this one is definitely the FUNNIEST. And when we see actors like FaFa and Vinay Forrt struggling on the other end, it feels like a dish half-baked. There are LOL-worthy stretches, and there are scenes with no head or tail (or emotional hook). I'll still say the film is worth seeing for its first half, with Kalyani Priyadarshan occasionally adding to the smiles and cuteness quotient.

Once Revathi Pillai's character and a certain "cameo" unfold, the film starts losing its grip on viewers. While Revathi does a good job with what she's given, if we remove the character entirely from this story, nothing much changes ..and we may have gotten a cleaner, non-flabby dark comedy with a 2-hour duration at most. In its current state, it packs a bit too much with no satisfying payoffs at the end. Lal still shines, but I became uninterested in the main thread's conclusion.

FaFa still has miles to go when it comes to executing dark comedy, and while he's at ease in some portions, this brand of humor doesn't come naturally to him, unlike actors such as Mohanlal or Siddique. I liked the jerky edits (by Nidhin Raj Arol & Abhinav Sunder Nayak) that help convey the jarring mental state of the protagonists (and their dreams), while Justin Varghese's music is good in parts.

I think the lack of a solid emotional arc for the protagonist really hurts this movie. Sometimes (or most times), he's outshone by some of the supporting acts (..no, I'm not talking about the YouTubers). Also, naming several characters after the actual names of the actors gets tiresome after a point. OKCK might wholly divide viewers -- there's one section of the audience that enjoyed absurd (and partly romantic) comedies like Kanakam Kamini Kalaham, Iblis, and Chirakodinja Kinavukal who might take an eventual liking to this. Yeah, come to think of it, OKCK should've leaned heavily into magical realism.