Pathmanabhan aka Pappu (Jayaram) is returning from jail, where he has spent 12 years of imprisonment for murdering Lakshmi (Meera Nandan) in college premises during the annual day celebrations. His three close friends Rex(Kunjacko Boban), Idikula(Biju Menon) and Rasheed(Manoj K Jayan), who were also his classmates, are happy to see him and plans to help him lead a normal life. It is then Pappu reveals his wish – He wants all four of them to join the same college where they studied, for post graduation. Although the others oppose first, they concede to their friend’s wish. And thus they return to college after 12 long years - to a new college atmosphere amid a new generation different from theirs.
We see Jenny (Ananya in a shift from her previous roles), who everyone says behaves like Lakshmi, being friendly with Pappu to the dismay of her boyfriend. Sreedevi (Padmapriya), Pappu’s old flame and Lakshmi’s elder sister, is a lecturer in the college and hates Pappu enough not to see eye to eye with him. What follows is a what almost every campus story produced in the Malayalam film industry has so far shown – the pranks played by students on the silly teachers, the fight sequences with students of another college, the inevitable visit to the girls hostel in the middle of night, the song and dance session on college grounds in which the whole college participates – too clichéd, too predictable.
It is towards the end of the story that we understand the real reason why Pappu wanted to come back to college. He wants to know who originally killed Lakshmi. And he knows it is one of his friends (How he came to that conclusion is a mystery which even the climax didn’t answer). It’s hard to believe that Pappu doesn’t know the background of his closest friends. It’s harder to believe that none of others were aware of the love affair one of them had with Lakshmi. If Pappu could deduct that the crime was committed by a friend of his, it wouldn’t have taken much time to find who it was.
The acting part is taken care of by the experienced actors. Among the four, Biju Menon steals the show while Manoj K Jayan’s acting as a flirt is pitiable. Vijayaraghavan has carried off the role of the principal whose appearance reminded me of Boman Irani from 3 Idiots. Siddiq who could’ve easily played one of the friends’ with his looks, appears as the ideal professor who at the same time loves his students and is the punisher for their wrongdoeings. Suraj Venjaramood provides a few laughs while Jagathy’s role is passable. The surprise package for me was Jyothirmayi, who as Idikkula’s wife has showed of her natural acting talent even though in a small role.
The story moves through a series of unconnected events and the worst part is, they remain unconnected. They serve no purpose to the story other than to provide mindless entertainment. A group of 40-year-olds ogling at teacher’s midriff and a lab assistant who jumps like a frog are director’s idea of being funny!! The margamkali that the protagonists’ stage during the college day is another pathetic attempt at humor. Many of the dialogues are outright cheat and double meaning. Had the director removed everything apart from the first half hour and the last half hour of the movie, you wouldn’t miss anything. To wrap up, the film has nothing in it for the serious film viewers, while it could be a better-than-the-rest movie for those who seek out entertainment.
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