College Kumaran

Straight off the bat, College Kumaran has redeemed Mohanlal’s sagging image to a large extent. All elements that go into the superstar’s larger-than-life characterisation has been mixed well and blended with the story to churn out a 165-minute fairly engrossing entertainer. Thulasidas, the director of many light-veined entertainers and actor Mohanlal are teaming up for the second time to deliver College Kumaran. The film is a campus flick with a difference as the makers claim.

Mohanlal gave an amazing performance in college campus stories during the mid 80’s in Sukhamo Devi & Sarvakalasala. The vexing question is - after so many years, will Mohanlal fit into a college campus milieu?

Mohanlal’s character is made believable by making him Captain Sreekumar, who after completing his short service is back running the canteen at Mahatma College. This place was run by his dad, who along with his sister perished in a mysterious fire accident, years back. Spending his days entirely for and with the students Kumaran popularly called as Kumarettan, is the life and soul of the campus. The film is a typical Mohanlal fare where he has to fight bad guys in the rain, dance with students and lecture the teachers and parents on how to be good in their respective capacities and fight for the right cause.

Meanwhile Madhavi (Vimala Raman), the English professor, thinks he is too big for his boots and resents his popularity among the students. But her confrontation turns into admiration as she learns about his past and the sacrifices he has undergone for the students. The villain is Sethunathan (Siddique), an ex-student, a slimy politician and now the education minister, who wants to take over the management of the college. He successfully frames Kumaran in a police case making him responsible for the death of seven students in a road accident while they were coming back from a study tour. The rest of the plot shows how Kumaran survives the commotion and saves the college from Sethunathan.

The film rooted in the campus itself has a pretty thin story line. But Thulasidas has finally managed to convert the flick into a passable fare. The comedy scenes by Mohanlal, Harisri Asokhan, Sooraj Venjaranmoodu and assorted other comedians have more slapstick than any real humour. Vimala Raman and Balachandra Menon have precious little to do with the story and have no meaty roles. The shortcoming of the script is that it doesn’t have many hilarious moments, funny sequences, punch lines or witty one liners. Suraaj and Harishree Ashokan as Kumaran's aides in canteen try to bring in chuckles but fail more than often. The film has three songs written by Shibu Chakravarthy with Kanakuyilin being the best of the lot though Snehathin Koodonnu is also peppy and good to hear. Background score by Ouseppachan also give the needed impetus on many scenes, lifting it to the needed moods.

Finally Thulasidas, Poduval the producer, and people who buy the tickets for the film, know that such an outdated story that moves at snail pace and at times torturous, will work only if the one-man entertainment troupe called Mohanlal plays the College Kumaran. In a nutshell, College Kumaran is just an average fare.