Mayaavi is for the front benchers

When everything is going right for the Malayalam Superstars (Mammootty and Mohanlal), all of a sudden they decide to please their ardent fans and such quick, impulsive decisions result in blockbusters like Mayaavi, which might set the cash registers ringing but is surely a black mark in the otherwise sparkling career of the Megastar. One can only feel sorry for such state of affairs! Mayaavi’s plot is nothing worth dwelling upon, nor is it anything novel. The only idea that is novel here is the fact that the hero is an IAS, not Indian Administrative Service you fool, it is Iruttu Adi Service. This means that the hero beats up the villains in darkness without exposing his identity. Generally such acts are not considered heroic but Shafi with the help of Rafi- Mecartin’s script has managed to project this deed of the compassionate hero as “heroism” of the highest order which has been accepted by the public as well which is the reason why Mayaavi emerged one of the most successful films of 2007! Mahi (Mammootty) is a petty thief cum goonda who befriends Mukundan (Manoj K Jayan) while in prison who is in arrest for embezzlement of cash in the bank where he was working. Mukundan’s younger brother (Manikuttan) is ill and would require an operation. Mahi promises to provide funds for this purpose. He is released on bail on Independence Day and he sets out to meet his friend (Suraj Venjaramoodu). A chance encounter with Indu (Gopika) lands him in the company of the villain (Vijayaraghavan). How Mahi helps Mukundan and saves a golden hearted matriarch (KPAC Lalitha) and her son (Saikumar) from the villain is what the rest of the movie is about. The story of Mayaavi offers nothing new but Shafi is successful in keeping up with the tempo of the movie. Something or the other keeps on happening whether or not having a direct nexus to the plot. The comic track has been handled effectively by Suraj and Salimkumar which keeps the audience in splits. Gopika supposedly plays Mammootty’s love interest, but, thankfully, there are no explicit romantic scenes either. All technical departments contribute to the narrative, none of them are bad, none of them stand out either. As for performances, the roles are like cake walks for the veteran star cast of the movie. Manoj K Jayan is impressive as the wily Mukundan. Mammootty plays heartily to the gallery making this his most commercial effort since Rajamanickam. His dialogues peppered with chaste Malayalam words that are used at the wrong instances do evoke some laughter. To sum up, Mayaavi is a film for die hard Mammootty fans and satisfies its target audience.