A message loud and clear...

While I sat through "Loud Speaker", I realized the potential of a director like Jayaraj, who of late, has been making a mess of his career by directing meaningless potboilers like Of the People, By the People, Rain Rain Come Again etc. The flash of intelligence is visible once in a while when he helms projects like Daivanamathil, Makalkku, Kannaki and the like, but after a long time, Jayaraj finds his footing with "Loud Speaker"- an age old story of bonding between 2 unlikely souls which has been narrated differently and nicely.

Loud Speaker is the story of Mike Philippose (Mammootty) who hails from the hills, talks loudly, does not wear slippers and is a complete village simpleton. He comes into the city to donate one of his kidneys to Menon (Sasikumar), a retired and lonely bureaucrat so that Mike can pay off his debts and recover his land. The operation forces him to stay with Menon in his high rise apartment and the rest of the story deals with how Mike befriends everybody in the apartment complex- the young and the old, the men and the women and even the suspecting nurse played by Gracey Singh.

The idea is nothing new and very little attention has been paid to the supporting characters so much so that some tracks are plain irritating like the Jagathy- Suraj track. The Kalpana- Bheeman Raghu domestic issue is also not thought provoking and the Janardhanan track was dealt with completely by Jayaraj in a separate movie earlier. Gracey Singh and her character appear to be totally out of place so much that you end up feeling this could have been a last minute addition.

In spite of a lot of shortcomings, Loud Speaker works due to the inherent charm that Mammootty brings into his performance and the brooding intensity with Sasikumar portrays Menon- a complete foil to the lead role. The 2 actors are so likeable and so natural in their performances and their visit to Valluvanaadu evokes nostalgia in the viewers.

Jayaraj makes use of the Anil Panachooran- Bijibal team's music very well. The Christmas Carol is everyday stuff and you cannot help liking "Munnazhi muthumaayi" but the icing on the cake is the remixed version of "Alliyambal" that has been well picturized and well cinematographed.

The climax is predictable but Jayaraj also manages to end Loud Speaker on a very positive note. This is a very simple tale of friendship that purports to tell us that not all hope is lost and that there are likeable and nice people around. In this age of terrorism and communalism outside and meaningless commercial potboilers in Malayalam Cinema, Jayaraj needs to be appreciated to have come out with something soothing and refreshing. Just for Jayaraj's guts, Mammootty's performance and Sasikumar's silver screen outing, "Loud Speaker" should be seen...