Guruvayoor Ambalanadayil (In front of Guruvayoor Temple), a Malayalam film is directed by Vipin Das whose last film Jaya Jaya Jaya Jaya Hey was a terrific film on the feminism theme told in a satirical way. The director’s reputation preceded this film as I started to watch it. However, Das makes this as a light-hearted and satirical outing sans any serious messaging and it reminded me of K. Bhagyaraj’s Indru Poi Naalai Vaa, a yesteryear Tamil comedy hit!
In the first 30 minutes or so, there is a heavy build-up to a bromance or rather “broinlawromance”© which you realise is deliberate. You wonder if it is a rare film celebrating the bonhomie between a man and his wife-to-be’s brother. The man played by Basil Joseph and his Bro-in-law-to-be played by Prithviraj Sukumaran help each other bury their own inner demons as the marriage date approaches. But then, their demons don’t get exorcised and hell breaks loose soon. First Basil wants to break the marriage while Sukumaran wants to get it conducted at any cost after which the roles get reversed. The end is of course about how all’s well that ends well.
The plot is novel I thought, which endears itself to a comedy of errors. But the screenplay which starts well falters in the second half not being able to sustain the comic flow. This story required a Crazy Mohan like writer who would have ensured that there is a non-stop, laugh-a-minute sequences with some “crazy” writing. Instead, what we see are flashes of it here and there. Some of his one-liner repartees of Basil are extremely good like when he tells his friend in a parlour that only make-up “trial” will happen since he wanted the marriage to be called off.
When Prithviraj unites with his wife after a break-up, we are shown a WhatsApp screen showing the wife joining the family group. Similarly, there is another scene where the identity of the girl is revealed which triggers the tension between Basil and Prithviraj which is also ingeniously picturised.
Basil Joseph (himself a competent director) is a natural for these kinds of man-next-door roles. Just like in Jaya Jaya Jaya Jaya Hey, he plays competently the protagonist who is a normal guy with a bundle of flaws and insecurities but at heart, a sweet guy. Prithviraj is the other protagonist for whom this is a break from his regular intense, serious and physically taxing roles. Being a comic role, his acting meter is higher by a few notches bordering on overacting. There is a bunch of other character actors on the cast including Yogi Babu who don’t make much of an impact.
For Malayalam cinema, this film is a welcome break from the run of usual serious films. Guruvayoor Nadayil starts as a promising comedy caper but degenerates into later-day mindless Hindi comedy films of Priyadarshan where you have a whole set of characters running and tripping over each other in a single location climax! Here, that happens in front of the Guruvayoor temple where 100+ marriages in a single day is a very common feature. The set designer has done a good job of the set design for the extended climax resembling the Guruvayoor Temple Nada!
Guruvayoor Nadayil is now streaming on Hotstar and is an easy, one-time watch for the few LOL moments and yes that Azhagiya Laila reference!
AnandKumarRSonFilms 
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