For a movie titled Drama , there is hardly a hint of what the title promises much through its two-and-a-half hour runtime.
So much so that one cannot be faulted for thinking that it could be a commentary on the dialogue-heavy, drama-like making. What the maker intended was perhaps a Shakespearean turn, hinting at all the members of a family acting out their parts following the death of their mother.
Rosamma (Arundathi Nag) reluctantly leaves her native village of Kattappana, to live with her daughter in London.
Her intense wish is to be buried alongside her late husband, back in the homeland, something which she makes clear to her children. But when she passes away, they take the easy way out and decide to bury her in London with an expensive funeral. Only her daughter and the jobless, youngest son want to honour her last wish. Raju (Mohanlal), partner of the funeral services company, develops a conscience and sets out to help them out.
Director Ranjith here attempts to make a commentary on the heartlessness and selfish mentality of some humans, even when it comes to matters related to their loved ones. He tries to infuse the narrative with some humour, hardly his strong point, and some fantasy elements like in the enjoyable Pranchiyettan . But whatever he tries to fill it with, the gaping hole in the middle of the script remains just like that.
Halfway through, the entire focus shifts to a side story on Raju’s family problems, which provides ample scope for typical Ranjith elements like misogyny and messages on why it is important for the woman to tolerate her husband’s mistakes. Parts of the film generates vibes similar to that of Ranjith’s Kadal kadannoru Maathukutty , which was also shot in a foreign country.
An attempt is also made to hark back to Mohanlal’s earlier humorous, boy-next-door image, but it hardly works, except in a few sequences with Baiju. The film loses whatever little steam it had by the halfway point, after which it just goes through the motions to arrive at the predictable climax.
Ranjith had, after the initial years of creating masculine superheroes, taken a detour to do some meaningful cinema. But, if his record in recent years is anything to go by, he might have just lost his way again. Drama takes him further through the same path.
S.R. Praveen
