Movie : Mr. Marumakan
Director : Sandhya Mohan
Music : Biji Bal
Cast : Dileep, Sanusha, Kushboo, Sheela, Bhagyaraj
No beating around the bush. Mr Marumakan is as archaic as formula is to films and it is packaged as an old-school masala potboiler aimed at Dileep fans. It is exaggerated and formulaic, but relies squarely on the charm of its leading man to pull off its over-the-top tone.
Ashok Chakravarthy (Dileep) is a lawyer but is mainly interested in running his drama troupe. His elder brother Baburaj (Biju Menon) is a businessman, who is facing serious troubles after the factory he opened, failed to start functioning.
Post some song ‘n’ dance dreams, confusions, strange happenings and surprise coincidences, Dileep woos for an immensely rich scion of a business empire Raja Lakshmi (Sanusha), after he meets her dad Balasubramanian (Bhagyaraj), a soft spoken bank officer.
Not surprisingly Raja Lakshmi is brash, arrogant and is eternally waiting for the hero to get herself tamed, as it is mandatory in films of this genre. Her mother Raja Mallika (Khushboo) and grand mother Raja Kokila (Sheela) are quite well known for their arrogance as well.
Sensational dialogues, excessive make up, swanky cars, palatial homes, buffoonery and of course more ridiculous sequences and couple of dance exercises, the hero reigns supreme, regardless of whatever the situations are.Of course, Malayali audiences have always enjoyed well-made comedies, which often defy logic. Mr.Marumakan presents Dileep the way he’s liked and if the film works it is purely due to Dileep magic and his charming screen presence.
Scenarists Siby K Thomas – Udayakrishna and director Sandhya Mohan have made it all look too loud. P Sukumar’s visuals are fine and Suresh Peters’ music is average.
Dileep is consistently watchable and the film is a showcase not so much for his acting, but for his mass image and infectious enthusiasm. Kushboo is good, while Sanusha, who shot into fame as a child artiste, looks too young and the rest of the cast, which includes Bhagyaraj, Sheela, Biju Menon, Nedumudi Venu and Suraj Venjarammoodu have done their roles in a fine way. Baburaj, who replaced Jagathy Sreekumar after his accident that left him bed ridden, tries to copy the versatile Jagathy style but fails miserably.
Dileep seems to have taken the viewers’ liking for some of his recent comedies pretty too seriously and seems to be working a bit too much to mold all his films into a particular format. If you are comfortable with that, well, Mr.Marumakan can be enjoyable.
On the whole, Mr Marumakan is a crowd-pleaser that knows exactly who its audience is. For die-hard fans of Dileep, this old-fashioned entertainer is a treat and delivers enough entertainment for your buck. And when you walk out of the theatres, you realize why Dileep is called the Janapriya Nayakan ( Hero of the masses).