Pathrosinte Padappukal movie review: A dull madcap comedy in which some jokes land and most don’t

2/5

Story: Pathrose pins all his hopes on his second son Tony. His eldest Sony and his third son Bony are a vagabond and a thief, respectively, and have only made life harder for the family. Tony too isn’t devoid of flaws – in fact, he is an indolent 25-year-old who prefers to not work and often passes out after getting drunk with his friends. However, after falling for Ammu, her father Kuriakose insists Tony get his act together. But for someone like Tony, who believes he is yet to live his life to the fullest, every task is a challenge.

Review: Back in the 2000s, some of Dileep’s movies such as Romeo and Ee Parakkum Thalika or at least parts of them worked just on the strength of the comedy and the actors’ performances. The slapstick or madcap comedies didn’t have a coherent plot for most part and instead had sketches weaved together that had enough laughs to keep the audience entertained, before the makers tried to wade in to the sliver of a storyline. In Pathrosinte Padappukal, director Afsal Abdul Latheef and scriptwriter-actor Dinoy Paulose attempts the same, but with mixed results.

The movie focuses on Pathrose (James Eliya) and his family, with his second son Tony (Dinoy) getting the lion’s share of attention. Pathrose has already lost hope on eldest son Sony (Sharafudheen) and his third son Bony (Naslen), with the former being a vagabond in search of his life deeper meaning and the latter being a thief, who is on his own way to being a thug. To make matters worse for the family, Pathrose’s mother comes to stay with them and shares the room with Tony. The sliver of the storyline here is how Tony, who has a habit of getting inebriated to the point that he forgets whatever has happened the previous night, is challenged by his girlfriend’s father (Johny Antony) to get his act together if he were to agree to their wedding.

Much like Thaneer Mathan Dinangal, which was co-scripted by Dinoy, Pathrosinte Padappukal benefits a lot from its supporting characters. Dinoy does his best to play the protagonist Tony but the film’s structure is such that his character is never the central one. He keeps getting side-tracked and the use of so many subplots and side characters including that of Suresh Krishna doesn’t help either. Sharafudheen, as the travel-loving brother Sony is a riot and plays his role well. The makers also lose out on using Naslen, who has been cast as a grumpy role, to his potential. Grace Antony and Nandu appear in cameos in the first half and their portions at a church retreat add life to the film, which flounders in the latter half.

The movie also has so much going on – from a devotional retreat and an impromptu Munnar trip to Tony’s job hunts – but Dinoy’s character never evolves, frustratingly so. Even the ultimatum by his girlfriend’s dad fails to infuse a sense of urgency, that similar films such as Pulival Kalyanam did with Jagathy Sreekumar’s character. A major reason Pathrosinte Padappukal fizzles out is also because there’s hardly anything fresh about its characters, something that Dinoy and Girish AD did with much success in the refreshing Thanneer Mathan Dinangal. While a comedy is attempted in some form or the other every minute, it’s one of those films where only a few stick and a majority don’t. A runtime of close to 2h 15mins doesn’t help matters either.

Verdict: Only certain portions of Dinoy Paulose’s madcap comedy works and that too because of its experienced actors. With a lack of a coherent storyline, inconsistent comedy and stale characters, the movie falls flat quickly.

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