In an evolving world, emerging research continues to highlight concerns that could impact everyday wellbeing. Here’s the key update you should know about:
In an interview before the release of Athibheekara Kaamukan, Lukman sort of admitted that he committed to this movie because he wanted to play the kind of romantic hero he had seen in movies while growing up. Well, Athibheekara Kaamukan is pretty much that. The makers have created a mess of a film by stretching a lame love Story into a two-hour drag fest. And we see all the cliches and cringe-inducing elements in this movie that ultimately glorify an insensitive man-child. With Lukman single-handedly breaking the Onam record of Chalakudy Bevco, this Arjun Reddy from Meesho is a tiring watch.
Arjun is the name of our hero. He had stopped his education after Plus 2. At one point, a well-wisher insisted that Arjun should go to college and get a degree to get a better job. Hesitantly, Arjun agrees to join the college. What we see here are the events that unfold in the life of this introverted guy when he falls in love with his classmate Anu.
Assuming friendship as love, then when you get rejected, act like you were given false hopes, and after all that, come out of it by bitching about the girl and realizing your family and friends are better than that girl: I think a few years back, we witnessed a lot of these “bitching” movies that were made for a segment of the audience. Athibheekara Kaamukan marks the uninvited return of that subgenre. The fundamental thing about this movie is that it can be narrated in under 20 minutes. Because there are only four or five key events in the film. The rest of it is the makers trying to include drunken scenes so that the theaters can sell popcorn at the one-hour point.
The writing of this movie is the laziest one. One of the opening scenes is our hero playing cricket. The sheer pointlessness of that scene gives you an idea that there will be a lot of filler comedy scenes in this movie. The next lame thing is the mother character. The Story is set in 2014. Our hero’s mother doesn’t know the difference between school and college. She can’t differentiate between a hotel and a hostel. When she sees Kottayam Kunjachan on TV, she thinks Mammootty still looks like that. While most parts of this movie try to show the love track in the most immature way, it occasionally goes to these subplots that show the friendships of our hero and how his mother takes care of him. The way the movie uses the mother character and the friendship track reminded me of the first night scene in Kilichundan Mambazham. When the heroine rejects him, he goes back to his mom and friends, saying, You guys are my real love.
Directed by CC Nithin, who previously made Corona Dhawan along with Gautham Thaniyil, the movie’s intention is to show us the heartbreak of an introverted young man who has difficulties expressing his love. That is indeed a relatable theme for many people. But they are out of ideas from the very beginning. Every moment in this movie is generic and cliched. Lukman had said that this movie would have cringeworthy moments, since romance in a personal space is cringeworthy for others. Heroine adorably looking at hero’s mother giving him a kiss, hero deciding to wear the shirt his mother gave him when he sees that visual in the mirror, multiple songs where our hero is hugging or kissing his friends or mother, thinking it is the heroine. I mean, the list of outdated things we see in this movie is so long that calling it cringe would be an underestimation.
The presentation of the heartbreak itself is terrible. And seeing Lukman turning into an alcoholic for the lamest of romance might actually give you a hangover after the movie. I think CC Nithin has some kind of obsession with alcohol. His previous film, Corona Dhawan, had Lukman distributing alcohol. Now, in this one, Lukman is constantly consuming alcohol. The college in this movie seems to be from a parallel universe. Our hero and his friend are drinking all the time during a college tour, literally carrying bottles in their hands, and the professors are so chill about it. The movie’s music, especially a couple of tracks, is really good. But the script is so bad that the placement of those songs takes away the life from them.
This is easily one of Lukman’s worst performances. I can’t even say he tried his best. The portrayal of the naivety of the introvert is not landing smoothly. He is unable to overcome the Malappuram diction in his dialogue delivery. There is a moment in the movie where he comes home drunk and accuses his mother of making him incompetent. Well, if this movie gets an OTT release, there is a possibility that Lukman’s acting in that scene might get some trolling. Drishya Raghunath doesn’t have much of an acting challenge here as she is mostly seen walking in college corridors wearing various color churidhars. I felt bad for Manohari Joy, who had done some really good characters in the last few years, for having to do this terribly written character. Aswin Vijayan repeats himself for the sake of comedy. Karthik, with his deadpan dialogue delivery, was only funny here and there.
This movie is built around silly romance, and even the most extravagant scene in the film uses vertical height for its grandeur. I am saying this because Athibheekara Kaamukan has this ultra-wide aspect ratio, which we have seen recently in Empuraan. I feel the makers of this movie have not even bothered to think about why certain aspect ratios are used for films. Lukman is an actor with the potential to deliver good characters. It is actually sad to see him opt for scripts that feel like audition calls to be the next Dhyan Sreenivasan.
Review By: Digitpatrox