Whodunit?. Review on Classmates - Malayalam Movie

This Diwali, when my sister insisted that we go watch Classmates as it was supposed to be a good movie, none of us wanted to really watch the movie, however we were in for a pleasant surprise.

Classmates was very much about college life- the jokes and the hostel and the little tiffs and big fights and the teachers and other staff all of which go to make that cocktail called college life, but it also went way beyond being just a campus story or romance.

The film starts with the reunion of a Chemistry batch of a college, brought about by the efforts of a retired lecturer couple in the same college, to commemorate the memory of their son Murali, the college singer who was one of the universally beloved students of this batch. Typically, the classmates are all asked to bring the rest of the group up-to-date with what’s been happening in their life since they left college. Sukumar (Prithviraj) the fiery SFK Activist and student leader is now a diamond merchant and divorced, Pius (Indrajit) the incorrigible flirt is married and settled in the Gulf, Satheesan (Jaisurya) the wily, cowardly DSK activist and student leader is an MLA , (as prophesied by him in his college days), Vasu (Vijeesh) his vaalu of old days is his PA now. Thara (Kavya) the beautiful, talented college dancer is now running a successful dance school and is unmarried and the last entrant is Raziya (Radhika), affectionately called Penguin because of her black burqua. But here the Professor Iyer (Balachandra Menon) steps in and says that Raziya had agreed to attend this reunion on the condition that no one would ask any questions on what transpired in her life after she left college.

The re-union party proceeds and the classmates are having a rocking good time. Pius’ kid is unwell and Thara is most insistent that she should be shown to a doctor that very night. Pius suspects that this might be because she wants to get Suku alone and attempt for a reconciliation.

Prof. Iyer requests the Principal ‘s permission to keep Murali’s guitar in college, as it was his very essence, and he would have wanted to be there with his classmates and the college he loved so well. Returning, he stops by Suku’s room (he was one of Murali’s best friends), where he finds a totally drunk Suku, but who stays sane enough to say thank the Prof warmly for this reunion, which has made him one of the happiest persons in the world. The Prof says that the happiest person shouldn’t be having only a bottle for company and bids him farewell. Pius comes back late at night after showing his kid to the doc and finding the light on still in Suku’s room, goes to enquire when he finds Suku strangled- with the wire of Murali’s guitar strands.

Here starts the movie, which proceed in flashback scenes as Pius recounts their college days to Prof Iyer who is determined that the incident is not attempted suicide, but attempted murder, and is determined to find the perpetrator.

We see the petty confrontations and tricks played between Thara and Suku, which finally blossom into an ill-starred romance.

We see the wily machinations of Satheesan who is determined to wreck the romance, and his politial rival Suku, at whatever cost.

We see how the good- natured Murali is at everybody’s beck and call for his melodious music and how the unstoppable Romeo Pius walks after every skirt in sight and how Penguin Razia still manages to be everywhere inspite of her voluminous burqua.

The gamut of emotions on the campus that year, the various incidents all seem to have a clue,in who could have had it in for Suku. How did Murali die? Who tried to take Suku’s life? Are the two linked? The way the movie unfolds is almost Agatha Christie-ish in the way suspicion falls on each person, and yet the final outcome is too bizarre to be predicted and yet is so believable.

All the characters have given of their best, with special mention to be given to Indrajit and Radhika. Newcomer Narain too is good. Lal Jose has skillfully woven a tale of intrigue and suspense within the overt college hilarity and rough and tumble. The songs are also good, especially the one sung by Murali for College Day which is bound to find an echo in the many College Days to take place across the state. The There are no mushy mushy scenes which one comes to associate with college romance, but the humour of college life permeates through every frame of the earlier scenes. Altogether a very enjoyable movie, not to be missed, to be watched on the big screen and I owe my sis. ( The next day she went to see Don,which I wisely gave a miss. Apparently its deplorable, on all counts. I’m waiting for the reviews on MS, folks.)