Happy Journey - Malayalam Movie Review

Happy Journey - Malayalam Movie Review

Crew

Directed by     Boban Samuel
Produced by     Ashiq Usman
Written by     Arunlal
Music by     Gopi Sunder
Cinematography     Mahesh Raj
Editing by     Lijo Paul
Studio     Milestone Cinemas
Distributed by     Central Pictures
Release dates    February 21, 2014
Country     India
Language     Malayalam

Cast

    Jayasurya as Aaron
    Aparna Gopinath as Sia
    Lal as Gopikrishnan
    Lalu Alex
    Balu as Freddy
    Indian Pallassery as Pranchi
    Lena
    Edavela Babu
    Sunil Sugatha
    Seema G Nair
    Srinda Ashab

'Happy Journey' tells the story of  Aaron who was die hard cricket fanatic from small age & his aim in life was to play in the Indian colors. An accident, when he was a kid, costs him his eye sight, but with the help of his Mother, her tries to get into the Indian cricket team for blinds. But that too receive a set back when his Mother passes away, after which Aaron decides to lock up all his dreams and work in a tea stall. His dreams gets a new lease of life, thanks to a coach who is also yet to achieve in a big way. So will Aaron finally manage to make his dream to reality, forms the rest of the story.

Boban Samuel after blockbuster 'Romans', Jayasurya with 2 back 2 back super hits, beautiful trailer - expectations were quite high on 'Happy Journey'. The trailer indicated a light hearted film with good emotions and a nice message. But the film sadly fails to meet the expectations. 

The first half of the movie is comparatively light hearted and interesting. In the second half the script looses focus and goes to a bit preachy mode. Even though just above 2hours long, it lags considerably, especially in the later half. Those who came to watch  light hearted entertainer will feel dejected. 

The film do convey an important message. IT shows how unfriendly our people & infrastructure are for/towards people with disabilities. The film also explains why such people are called 'differently abled' and not 'handicapped' any more as with conviction, hard work and bit of help from society they can do anything a normal person can do. But like Arun Lal's last attempt 'Thank You' it ends up in half baked script. A good message doesn't ean a good film and after all people are there to get entertained and not schooled.

Jayasurya one again delivers an outstanding perfrormance, once again pushing his boundaries. Lena, Lal, Balu, Srindaa have also done good job. Music and BG were pleasing and apt for the movie. Camera work was okay, editing could have been crisp. Boban Samuel could have conceived the film in a better way, would have looked better on screen.

In all 'Happy Journey' evokes mixed emotions

Rating: 2.75/5

Verdict: Above Average

Last Word: Not that Happy a Journey,  but not bad either