Malayalam films are capturing the imagination of all. The way the makers are coming up with interesting and never touched before topics and scoring hits with minimum budgets are leaving all awestruck.
Naslen captured the imagination of all with his romantic entertainer Premalu which turned out to be a hit not only in Malayalam but also in Telugu. Naslen's next tilm Alappuzha Gymkhana turned out to be a superhit and now the film is releasing in Telugu on 25 April 2025. Alappuzha Gymkhana OTT rights are yet to be finalised.Let us see whether the film recreated the similar magic in Telugu.
Gymkhana story is all about a teenager who faces identity crisis and how he overcomes them along with his friends crossing all hurdles and obstacles. Five friends Jojo Johnson (Naslen), David "DJ" John (Baby Jean), Shifas "Valthu" Ahammed (Sandeep Pradeep), Shifas "Cherthu" Ali (Franco Francis), and Shanavas (Shiva Hariharan) appear for 12th Boards and except for Shanavas all get a shock.
They take a surprising decision to get an admission in the college. What is that decision and how it is connected to the boxing sport and what role senior boxer Deepak Panikkar (Ganapathi S Poduval), Coach Antony Joshua (Lukman Avaran),fellow boxer Natasha (Anagha Maya Ravi) played form the interesting part in the developments.
In the film not only the lead character Naslen but also other actors got important roles and they came out in flying colors. Apart from Naslen, even Lukman Avaran, Ganapathy, Baby Jean, Sandeep Pradeep, Franco Francis got good roles and performed accordingly to connect chords with the movie lovers. Naslen attracted with his comedy timing.
Naslen should be praised for selecting roles that are completely different and at the same time youthful and entertaining. His accent and dialogue delivery is interesting and body language is impressive and made a lasting impact. Noila Francy and Nanda Nishanth though got limited screen presence did justice to their roles with their performances.
Anagha as the female boxer got good screen presence and she impressed all with her performance. Lukman attracted as the boxing coach. He generated humour with his expressions. Baby Jean also impressed with his acting talent. All the actors performed according to their roles and took the film into new heights.
Alappuzha Gymkhana aka Gymkhana story is penned by Khalid Rahman and Sreeni Saseendran. He came up with a youthful entertainer to connect chords with the viewers as they can relate the scenes to their experiences in their lives. He ensured that the logics aren't missed and this turned out to be the biggest asset. Dialogues are entertaining at times.
The way he included hilarious scenes in sync with the screenplay is laudable. He turned the female characters in such a way that genex viewers will get impressed and relate themselves. The Telugu dubbing is good and though the dialogues at times looked forced as they tried to include popular memes, overall the impact they created is good.
There are many few films that can be enjoyed without thinking of anything and this film falls under such category. Generally filmmakers got carried away with one or the other genre and they completely forgot the no brainer genre and the director created wonders by touching that genre.Though there are few scenes that defy logics, one can enjoy the film without thinking much about them. The climax surprises everyone after all the entertainment. However the climax is rushed disappointing all.
The narration in the first half is slow and drags at snails pace and the pace picks up in the second half. The story has a simple point and so one gets a feeling that it is not that strong and the script at times is not in sync with the story. Telugu dubbing is done quite well and the makers should be complimented for that.
Vishnu Vijay elevated the scenes with his background music. He added value to the hilarious and comedy scenes with his BGM. He made an impact with his BGM during the climax. Cinematography of Jimshi Khalid is good. He captivated all with his camera angles, especially during the boxing matches. Nishad Yousuf's editing is good. Production values are of top class.
Altogether, Gymkhana movie turns out tobe a wholesome entertainer. Director Khalid came up with an hilarious entertainer and got the optimum from the cast and crew. With everyone getting due share of importance, the film turned out to be a hilarious entertainer. Though there are few missing logics, viewers can enjoy the film wholeheartedly. Naslen with his performance managed to entertain here and there and Gymkhana will be a good entertainer to enjoy on OTT. Considering all these elements Cinejosh goes with a 2.25 rating for Gymkhana.