Director Girish AD has a unique gift to extract nonchalant, effortless comedy from the most mundane and routine everyday narratives and he delighted us with this ability in the splendid "Thanneer Mathan Dinangal" (2019). "Super Sharanya" starts off in the same realistic, rooted and fun manner but meanders to a dull watch by the end due to an overlong narrative and a confused climax.
We are taken through the life of "Sharanya", an ordinary student who suffers from culture shock after moving from her rural Palakkad village to the urban confines of her engineering college. How she balances the stresses of her academics, ragging and a string of boys vying for her affection forms the rest of this well-intentioned comedy.
Anaswara Rajan is absolutely on-point and convincing as the high-strung "Sharanya", a far cry from the picture-perfect heroines we are used to in mainstream Malayalam cinema. Here we have an eccentric, moody, clumsy and foot-in-mouth leading lady who will leave us in splits in the opening sequences with her wacky antics. Mamitha Baiju also dazzles as her best friend "Sona", equal parts daring and over-the-top, and delivers some of the most rib-tickling sequences in the film all by herself.
"Super Sharanya" soars in its opening half with its natural, no-holds-barred take on the hostel life of college girls, something that has always either been completely ignored or patronizingly sugarcoated by Malayalam filmmakers. Rosna Joshi and Devika Gopal Nair join Anaswara and Mamitha to make a vivacious quartet that capture the essence of carefree young women, finding their place in the world.
Arjun Asokan is at risk of being typecast, delivering another role where he is an insecure, temperamental and fractious romantic, putting on a delicate balancing act of being endearing and wholesome on the one hand while also displaying shades of the "kalippan" guy making every relationship toxic. Having portrayed similar protagonists in "Wolf" (2021), "Madhuram" (2021) and "Jan. E. Man" (2021), it was downright tedious to watch him repeat the same mannerisms and tropes in this movie as well.
Naslen K Gafoor excels in another supporting role, making optimum use of his natural wit and comic timing. He dominates every scene that he is in, making the viewer wish that his role was meatier in the film. Vineeth Vasudevan is simply brilliant as "Ajith Menon" a splendid spoof of the toxic "Arjun Reddy" trope that has become all too normalized in Indian cinema today and delivers some much criticism of the uber-macho and toxic "forlorn/heartbroken loverboy" themes that dominate college romance films off late.
The music by Justin Varghese deserves praise for introducing us to unconventional tunes and voices and still creating long-lasting impact. "Asubha Mangalakari" and "Shaaru Shaaru" are also superbly shot, with the frames, laced with humour, providing more insights into our characters, while also taking the story forward, organically.
Despite these good elements, "Super Sharanya" squanders an excellent premise and a terrific cast with a shambolic and contrived final act that fails to entertain and justify its unnecessarily long runtime. A well-intentioned romantic comedy that delivers occasional laughs but fails to leverage its clutch of fabulous performers to the fullest. Set your expectations right and you won't be disappointed!
