Vellimoonga: Good old formula, lots of laughs

Cast: Biju Menon, Aju Varghese

Direction: Jibu Jacob

Low expectations can work wonders for any film. Vellimoonga , directed by Jibu Jacob, arrived with zero marketing glitz and no superstars to boast of. The trailers hinted at an old-fashioned comedy, the kind that used to release every other week in the early 1990s.

Mamachan (Biju Menon) is an upcoming politician, who does not follow his father’s principled path. The ‘khadar’ is a tool for him to make his way to the top. He is the kind of person — to borrow a line from the film — who wants to be the groom when he attends a wedding and who wants to be the corpse while attending a funeral.

The film is a light-hearted ride chronicling his rise through the ranks and a slightly awkward love affair.

Vellimoonga is a study in contrast with Peruchaazhi , the recent Mohanlal starrer that was marketed as a political satire. The latter was grand in scale, while the former plays out almost fully in a small village. In Vellimoonga , the hero who has the air of a loser goes about his job quietly, while in Peruchaazhi , one is reminded constantly of the hero’s intelligence.

Again, it looks like a case of low expectations trumping too much marketing.

A slew of rib-tickling dialogues delivered at regular intervals ensure that the light tone is maintained throughout.

The laughs do not cease at the climax too. The film survives on Biju Menon’s comic timing and his exchanges with his sidekick, Paachan (Aju Varghese).

Melodrama is eschewed almost completely. The predictability factor does not ruin the experience.

The making harks back to the old school, but most of the gags seem fresh.

If one takes away the politically incorrect depiction of a panchayat president and jokes surrounding her, that good old cliché of ‘clean entertainer’ fits the film to a T.