Malikappuram directed by Vishnu Sashi Shankar is appealing to all with its spiritual content. The film stars Unni Mukantan in a cameo. The film's OTT rights have been bagged by Disney+Hotstar. Let us findout what Malikappuram offered to Telugu movie lovers.
Shannu (Deva Nandha), daughter of Ajay (Saiju Kurup) and Soumya (Alphy Panjikaran), listening to the Lord Ayyappa stories from her grandmother (Manohari Joy), aspires to go to Sabarimala and have the darshan of the Lord. But time passes and her wish remains a wish. She gets delighted when her father finally shares with her that he will fulfill her promise and wears the Ayyappa mala along with her.
But unforeseen incidents give a shock to the little heart. Where this leads to and whether Shannu is able to visit Sabarimala, what is her connection to Ayyappa (Unni Mukundan) and the secret of Malikappuram, watch the film on the big screen.
Shannu steals the show playing the lead role to perfection. She impresses with her innocent looks, child-like exuberance, and at the same time, cute expressions. She showed variations elevating the scenes with her emotions. Her dialogues are good and at times, move the viewer.
Sreepath who played the role of her friend Bujji attracted by his dialogues, mannerisms, and style.Saiju Kurup and Alphy Panikaran performed the roles of Shannu's parents quite well. Unni Mukundan with his screen presence carrying the film on his shoulder. His getup is good and a couple of scenes shot on him, he resembled Ram Charan's getup as Alluri Seetha Rama Raju, waging war with bow and arrow. Rajamouli also share
The story of Malikappuram penned by Vishnu Sasi Shankar highlights the faith for Lord Ayyappa and how a small girl's desire is fulfilled by the Lord. He tried to score a hit with a spiritual film just like Kantara. But the screenplay and direction failed to elevate the screenplay with interesting twists and turns. The entire first half goes at a slow pace with the family bonding and love for Ayyappa highlighted.
The cinematography of Vishnu Narayanan is good. It showed the journey to Sabarimala in a pleasant and soothing way. the village atmosphere is rightly depicted. Ranjin Raj's music is good and is in sync with the story. He elevated the scenes with his background music but at times turned out to be too loud. Shammer Muhammed failed to do away with many scenes in the first half. His editing is ok in the second half. Dialogues are ok and realistic. The dialogues sailed through the film. Some dialogues are good and realistic. Kavya Film Company, Aan Mega Media's production values are good.
Altogether, Malikappuram directed by Vishnu Sasi Shankar tried to highlight the journey of devotees to the Ayyappa temple at Sabarimala. Except for Unni Mukundan's screen presence and the twist related to him, nothing else excites. The film turned out to be a blockbuster in Mollywood as the film highlighted the power of Ayyappa and the trials the devotees undergo at a time when the Sabarimala controversy happened and people of different faith tried to make fun of it by trying to break the temple customs by forcibly entering into it.
The moment this film was released, while the BJP, and RSS hailed it and promoted it as a victory of Lord Ayyappa and the faith of Hinduism, communists, and others branded it mediocre. During that time, when few on the left-wing also got moved and praised the film. they cleaned the house. The film starts with unraveling Malikappuram and why small girls wearing mala are known as Malikappuram. But from then on routine elements creep in and only Unni Mukundan's entry turned out to be the only saving grace. Considering all these aspects, Cinejosh goes with a 2.25 Rating for Malikappuram.