Hridayapoorvam Review - A Sweet First Hour Makes it a Satisfying Watch!
Ashwin Ram
Hridayapoorvam is a comedy drama starring Mohanlal and Malavika Mohanan in the lead roles. The film is directed by Sathyan Anthikad and the music is scored by Justin Prabhakaran.
Premise:
Mohanlal has a heart issue, he gets it transplanted and the donor is Malavika Mohanan’s father who passed away recently. Mohanlal showing his gratitude and showering his care towards Malavika Mohanan’s family forms the crux of the story.
Writing/ Direction:
The core is very simple of how a lonely man gives back the best he could to the family of his heart donor. It progresses as a feel-good film till the halfway mark with the comedies working out to a great extent. The humour situations are staged well, hence the execution organically clicks. Though the heart transplant topic is approached in a melodramatic manner initially, the same factor is eventually used to drive many scenes funny. Many refreshingly dealt sequences enlighten the first half, the scenes taking place at Pune follow its nativity neatly. The story peaks with an interesting love-triangle idea at the interval point. An important part of the subject and it is carefully treated with dignity without going overboard, downside given the potential of this particular plot-point, the film never got the focus right towards it, probably considering Mohanlal’s stature. A few other subplots like Malavika Mohanan’s broken engagement did not come together well when they tried hard to give a closure with a forceful fight towards the end. Basil Joseph’s introduction got some cheers, but his cameo appearance was irrelevant to the flow. What Mohanlal’s character realizes in the climax is heartfelt, but the screenplay became all-over-the-place post midway that no impact was felt. The film never takes itself seriously at any point of time, which stayed as its strength in the first half but it became a bothersome element in the final hour.
Performances:
Such a cute performance by Mohanlal in a completely light-hearted role, his reactions are pitch-perfect and in sync with the audience’s notion for every scene. Mature and calculative act by Malavika Mohanan, hands down her best work till date and arguably her best characterization in a movie too. Premalu fame Sangeeth Prathap adds that charm to the film with his lively humour, his combination scenes with Lalettan are a cracker. Neat role for Sangita Nair and she has played it well by understanding the limits of it. Basil Joseph and Meera Jasmine are in for namesake cameo presence.
Technicalities:
Justin Prabhakaran yet again proves he can be the best choice for breezy films irrespective of languages. He does his magic with music by providing beautiful songs and an ideal background score. Neat camera work with no unwanted rush, appreciable clarity in shots that suits the unhurried pacing. Sloppy editing as the cuts in the scene transitions are not smooth and the scene order appears to be random in some spots.
Bottomline
A pleasant watch till interval with lots of clap-worthy jokes incorporated within the emotionally centred drama. The latter loses momentum by missing out to focus on the promised theme and the writing becomes convenient at many places too.
Rating - 2.75/ 5