~ (Vinod)Yatra of a great Indian movie director ~. Review on Vinodayathra Movie

Movie Vinodayathra

The Plot(movies.sify.com)

Vinod(DILEEP) is an MCA graduate who has no particular goals set in his life and is a bit of a drifter. Vinod is sent to his sister Vimala(SEETHA). His brother-in-law Shaji Raghavan(MUKESH) is a Mr. Nice Guy, an engineer known for his honesty & intergrity. He works in the irrigation department who is expected to reform Vinod. The arrival of Vinod brings some discomfort to Shaji, as his younger sister Reshmi(PARVATHY) is also living with them.

Here, the trouble, fun and life begins for our irresponsible Vinod!

He sings lavish praise on Reshmi whenever he gets an opportunity. Is he flirting with her, causing immense worry to his bro-in-law Shaji?

He jumps into a river from the bridge and almost drowns. Was he commiting suicide or was a vagabond boy(who later becomes a part of troubled Vinod's life) the cause for this bizzare act?

He saves a half-conscious girl(MEERA JASMINE) whom he discovers loitering in a railway station by accomodating her in a hotel room at his expense. Now she's after him, not in gratitude, but because she believes he has stolen her two gold bangles, a necklace and Rs.350. Did he?

All our Vinod had in mind is to learn discipline and responsibility from his bro-in-law but the events that take place in the town teaches him more than he ever expected.

*My Review

*Has a *Sathyan Anthikad *(SA) movie ever failed to click with the masses or the critics? As far as I know, the answer is still Nope! Ok, so maybe a critic is harder to please and would have expressed displeasure in some aspect of Sathyan's filmmaking but the general option is almost always very positive.

Frankly, I wasn’t forthcoming to watch this movie due to a spate of run-of-the-mill movies being released these days in Malayalam cinema. Luckily, someone in my group of friends had the presence of mind to inform me that Vinodayathra is a Sathyan Anthikad movie. And, I didn't even spare a second to agree for the entertainment.

Even the most hard-nosed critic would grudgingly agree that an SA movie has the appeal & affectionate stamp of approval from the family audience.

Now, why did I like this movie? Simple….ek) it’s a non-stop entertaining comedy

do) social messages in the movie that’s put across endearingly to the audience without much clichés

theen) pleasing music

chaar) beautiful, countryside locales captured with eye-friendly camera work and

paanch) wonderful performances(which you can always expect from SA movies) from Dileep, Meera Jasmine, child actor(dunno his name but he was super), Mukesh *(one of my fav actors), a surprisingly physically energetic & legendary actor *Nedumudi Venu, our endearing comic actor *Innocent *and a few other relatively unknown actors too.

Dileep, the hero, once again warm our hearts with his “spontaneous comedy”. Something that was missing in many of his recently released movie ‘cause I think he was trying too hard to keep up with the title of ‘Comedy King’ bestowed on him by the media.

Watching this movie, we feel at one point of time or the other, that we are the character of ‘Vinod the loafer’ who with each passing day learns something invaluable about life from the people whom he closely interacts with….

~ from his bro-in-law Shaji, he learns honesty & integrity

~ from former military officer(Nedumudi) who employs Vinod temporarily, he learns discipline & punctuality

~ from Anupama, he learns boundless optimism, faith in oneself and mature love

~ from Shaji’s employee(Innocent), he learns humour in the midst of immense pain and total devotion to family

~ from a kid working in a garage(brilliant child actor, can somebody tell me his name?), he learns to tackle life’s worst hardships with a ray of smile and take-each-day-as-it-comes sense of spirit .

But did I also feel disappointed with the flick? Not much. Sathyan has an old style of filmmaking, which today, may look like a laidback way of presentation that’s unexciting. ‘Cause viewers like me are ‘instantly gratified’ these days by many movies that show breathtaking action scenes, peppy songs or a fast-paced story.

Director - **Sathyan Anthikad

Year- 2007

Starring- Dileep, Meera Jasmine, Mukesh, Seetha, Parvathy, Nedumudi Venu, Innocent, Mukesh

Verdict~ Need I say more? Now you have a reason to watch this feel-good family movie and possibly return with a song to hum about, performances to remember or a message to cherish. Enjoy….