Friday Movie Reviews

Lijin Jose's debut film talks of birth, death and life on a 'Friday'. Set against the backdrop of the backwaters of Alapuzha, Lijin focuses his lens on a few characters that move along with the hustle bustle of life on a day that would eventually come to an end just like any other, leaving a few less and a few more in the process.

Balu (Fahad Fazil) is least happy with the way the day has started off. An autorickshaw driver by profession, he has just learned that a jackfruit has landed into the mist of his verandah, breaking its way through a newly laid out roof. Cursing everyone around, he leaves for work, wondering of ways in which he could get the broken roof repaired.

Out in the city, Aswathy (Nimisha) is busy shopping for her wedding that is due in a week. Accompanied by her grandfather (Nedumudi Venu), sister and mom, she is seen quite busy attending the phone calls of her beau Achu (Tini Tom) who is incidentally in the city as well.

Jincy (Ann Augustine) and Muneer (Manu) decide to head over to the beach, as a holiday has been declared for the college. They are in for a nasty surprise, when a cop turns suspicious of their intentions. Thankfully the police inspector (Vijayaraghavan) lets them off with a warning and an acknowledging smile.

A fully pregnant beggar woman roams the city with hopes of finding a place where she could deliver her baby. Another mother (Seema G Nair), whose daughter in law has just delivered a baby, has to head back home with the newborn, as the W & C hospital decides to discharge her all on a sudden, due to want of beds.

The weakest of all the threads is perhaps the one that involves Arun (Prakash Bare) and Parvathy (Asha Sarath), a childless couple who lands in Alapuzha on the said day, to adopt a child. They are quite in a hurry, and have to leave back to Bangalore by evening, and when the orphanage officials demand a certificate to complete the adoption procedures, they find themselves in a fix.

There is nothing wrong with the much-used multiple narrative as such, but what makes 'Friday' perhaps a little less ineffective than several other films that have adopted the format is that at least a couple of individual stories in the crowd, do not hold strong ground. Perhaps, a logical justification for the same could be that not all lives tend to be equally interesting in real as well!

I couldn't find an actor in 'Friday' who hasn't delivered. Nedumudi Venu is back with an amazing performance, and Fahad Fazil affirms that he could shed off those boxer shorts quite comfortably for a lungi. Fahad is exceptionally good, and so are Manikantan, Dinesh and Manu who appear in shorter roles. Asha Sarath is the lady to watch out for, and Ann Augustine seems to be getting better with each film.

'Friday', more than everything else, presents an enterprising director, who has an eye for fine cinema. With a little more compactness and finesse, it could have turned out even better; as such, it remains a fine watch.