Escape From Uganda - Exclusive Malayalam Movie Review

 Directed by     Rajesh Nair
Produced by     Girisch Nair, Usha Rajesh
Screenplay by     Sandeep Robinson, Deepak Prabhakaran, Nithin Bhadran
Story by     Rajesh Nair
Music by     Varun Unni
Cinematography     Vishnu Sarma
Editing by     Ratheesh Raj
Background Score Gopi Sunder
Studio     Vaya Films, River Nile Motion Pictures
Distributed by     Kalasanga, KAS & Right
Release dates 29 November 2013
Language     Malayalam

 Cast

    Rima Kallingal as Shikha Samuel
    R. Parthiepan as Antony

  Vijay Babu as Jaya Krishnan
    Jojo as Gautham
      Mukesh
    Tashu Kaushik
    Winston Witecker
    Micheal Wawuyo
    John Bagenda
    Wilberforce Mutete
    Anita Kyalimpa
    Carlos Ombonya
    Joju George

'Escape from Uganda' deals with events happening to a Malayali family comprising of 3, Shikha, husband Jaya Krishnan aka JK and their daughter,  peacefully settled in Uganda. Their life turns upside down as Shikha gets thrown into a high security prison, for a murder that she didn't commit. As each option for a fair trail & proving her innocence vanishes away JK decides to break Shikha out of the prison with the help of a local thug Anthony, who himself claims to be the only living thing to escape from that prison before. What happens to them forms the rest of the story.

'Escape From Uganda' will be perhaps the first Malayalam film to be shot extensively in Uganda ,Africa and the only one to be shot completely in a foreign land, which is the main highlight of EFU. The locations are real and adds a great deal to the narration. 

The film draws inspiration from French film 'Pour elle' (Anything for Her) which, for a change, has been credited to, in the beginning itself. EFU is adefinitely a brave attempt and something new for Mollywood. The story has been well told. The first half, which sets up the movie is Good, filled with family drama and emotions. The second half deals with the 'prison break' has been done neatly, compared to Mollywood standards. Eventhough it gets a bit tacky towards the end its still above average (2nd half).

In the acting departments 3 names deserves special mention - Rima, Parthiepan & the actor who played chief investigating officer. Kudos to Rima for once again doing a challenging role after 22FK, this time there is Physical effort too. Parthiepan walks away with all the applause with a character tailor made for him, stylish and full of quirky one liners aka 'nakkals' which he is famous for .

Rajesh Nair has directed the movie very well, quite an effort considering its only his 2nd film. The camera work is also brilliant, especially the escape sequence, sky cam shots of Uganda etc. Equally good was the editing, avoiding any unnecessary lags, presenting a crisp film under 2hours of run length. There is just one song in the movie (+1 promotional song) which were okay. Gopi Sunder's BG score was average. 

The director have taken few cinematic liberties which are passable. Apart from few issues with 2nd half its a decent watch

In all EFU is a well made family-darama cum adventure-thriller that suits all kinds of audience, Something new/different from Molywood. Kudos to the entire team for taking Malayalam cinemas to unseen territories, especially to a place like Uganda and breaking several myths about the place. Hope the film also turn out to be a good tourism promotional video for Uganda.

Rating 3.25/5

Good