memories
Rasatanthram(Chemistry)-Movie Review
Wine matures and tastes better with age. Similarly the Mohanlal-Sathyan Anthikad combination which returns to the silverscreen after 12 long years for a superhit presentation-Rasatanthram. I saw the movie at Anand theatre, Chennai on Sunday. The theatre was 75% full which is pretty good and everyone enjoyed Lal ettan and Velayudhan Kutty's(Meera in disguise) antics.
Premachandran (Mohanlal) is the middle class friendly neighbourhood Mr Nice Guy who goes out of his way to make life better for others. He is extremely hardworking and devoted to his work as a carpenter and is an expert in Vaastu shastra. The man virtually lives for others with his gang of expert carpenters Manikandan Asari (Innocent) and others.
People in the village have blind faith in Premachandran and he stays with his father whom he calls Master (Gopi) a retired teacher. His neighbour (KPAC Lalitha), her daughter who has a silent admiration for him, house owner (Oduvil Unnikrishnan) a failed carpenter (Mamukoya) are the other people in the village.
One day while repairing the house of a rich contractor Roy Joseph (Sreekumar) Premachandran comes across Kanmani (Meera Jasmine) the maid servant who is like a slave in the house. He saves her from suicide and due to certain circumstances he disguises Kanmani as a boy Velayudhan Kutty and she comes to live in his house.
But one day police nab her after a complaint from Roy. In the court she blurts out that she is in love with Premachandran creating fresh problems for the man. Actually Premachandran has a past as he has taken upon himself a murder committed by someone else to save his sister’s honour! Now Premachandran has to look after Kanmani, the burden of his father and the entire village which has been evicted by the government for a power project.
The problem with Rasathantram is that it lacks a story but works on the Sathyan formula of Mohanlal as a do-gooder and provides comedy and sentiments in the right dose. Mohanlal is simply superb and his comedy timing, controlled emotions and outburst in the climax take the film to great heights. The scene where he removes the roof tiles and accidentally sees Meera taking a bath brings the house down.
Meera is perfect foil for Mohanlal and she does a great comedy act. As Velayudhan Kutty in disguise, her body language is a treat to watch. The way she falls for Premachandran and slowly makes him interested in her can be done only by a versatile actress like Meera. Sathyan regulars –Innocent, Oduvil, Mamukoya all are good. In the climax, Jagathy’s character is a bit contrived. Gopi as Mohanlal’s father is a right choice as the father-son emotional scenes are well handled. The songs are melodious with three chartbusters-Attangara ...., Poo-poo kunguma poo and thevaram...
Watch the movie.
Rating ****/5.