Mangalyam Thanthunanena Review: an average entertainer

The ending of the movie Mangalyam Thanthunanena has this sensible self-realization conversation between Roy and Clara, the husband and wife of the movie. The issue is that the movie jumps into that concluding phase after a lot of subplots and typical tricks that are mere jokes. The blend of the two was not there and thus this typical entertainer mold cinema wasn’t making an emotional connection with the audience.

Roy an NRI who worked in Dubai marries Clara, the only daughter of a private financier. He lost his job and has a lot of debts to clear. His ego wasn’t allowing him to ask his father in law for money and when he eyes the gold of his wife, it complicates the family relationship. How Roy survives this financial difficulty through ups and downs is the agenda of Mangalyam Thanthunanena.

The hero’s friend is frequently giving him stupid pieces of advice which are apparently the basis on which both the hero and the movie is moving forward. It would have made sense if this movie was a nonsensical comedy. But when you have this family drama theme, the hero being too idiotic doesn’t make sense after a point. And finally, when Roy sort of admits his flaws, it is more like he is faking it rather than realizing it. You won't root for Roy and the script by Tony Madathil doesn’t have that one solid scene to establish the self-realization aspect.

Soumya Sadanandan has talked about the relatable nature of the story in the interviews. And you can sense those things in certain conflicts of this film. But the desperation to make it a comical entertainer gives way to too many forced comedy sequences and I felt that a large chunk of the movie is like connecting the dots with pointless comedy. The characters are in abundance but rarely any of it gets a depiction with clarity and uniqueness. The lack of grace and novelty in writing puts the movie in a difficult position and only the climax is the arguably better thing. Edits were poor and the music wasn’t effective.

Kunchako Boban gets one more unchallenging character in the form of Roy. Nimisha Sajayan is a good actress and dialect and diction is one area she needs to work in future films. Shanthi Krishna is okay as the cool bold mother. Hareesh Kanaran who in my opinion has got the second most percentage of screen time was doing the job of making the audience laugh neatly. The problem with the screenplay is that it becomes too much of Roy and his friend at times and we almost forget about other characters in the plot. Talented actors and newcomers are just coming and going without getting some time to establish their character. And that list includes names like Vijayaraghavan, Alencier, Leona Lishoy, Kochu Preman, Salim Kumar etc.

Mangalyam Thanthunanena has the potential to be that safe zone entertainer with frequent laughter gags. But the writing doesn’t have the charm to move you or to create natural humor. With a lot of typical ingredients stuffed into a one-liner idea, this movie is an underwhelming experience.