yasinnazeer

Pranaya Vilasam (2023) is a beautiful and refreshing take on the first love category. The movies features the three love stories focusing on the father, mother and son in the family. Characters are relatable and the interactions between family members are realistic. The dynamic between father and son is especially compelling. Manoj K as the father plays a very genuine and realistic character who is nostalgic about meeting his first love after twenty or something years.

The story changes drastically after an important plot point in the first half of the movie. The climax is quite unpredictable which is a rare in the romance genre. All the actors have done quite well in their respective roles.

Music by Shaan Rahman is beautiful and enhances the quality of the movie significantly. The cinematography is also very gorgeous and well done.

Although some of the humor in the movie is slapstick or references to viral reels and class movies, the movie mostly evokes genuine comedy. It starts off quite well with a captivating plot and good writing but gets predictable once the plot points fall in place. Prithviraj and Basil are at their comedic bests. Basil excels in such roles where he comes across as a realistic character we meet in our daily lives. He may be naive at heart but is no way overtly pure or innocent. Prithviraj as Anandan feels like a character we have seen him play before and pulls it of with ease. Anaswara and Nikhila play their roles well if you exclude some of over and under acting respectively. Nikhila in particular has very few lines and comes across as stoic despite having a major role in the movies plot. This is not her fault as the character development is lacking for all characters.

Despite some subpar writing and forgettable songs,"Guruvayoor Ambalanadayil" is a good family watch for the weekend.