This movie has evoked good interest and has had good response in Kerala. For short of the right word, Divya had expressed an 'If only we could see this movie' some time back.So when Jimmy(colleague) sent an email about the shows on Friday and Saturday, I had immediately responded enthusiastically to all in the mailing list.Also, I am currently suffering from a soccer ankle sprain that got worsened from the time I responded to the mail and the time I need to drive to the theatre.
Tried to work out a ride from Brijesh and Binish that did not work out as Binish had some sports plans. So I limped to the car and drove to the highway. Once on the highway, set the car in cruise mode, first time for a purpose.I wanted to still rest my leg as much.So once at the theatre building, I did not want to limp and find the hall. So I drove around to choose a spot close to the hall.There were no lots - so I circled around and parked on handicapped reserved spot.While I was working out optimizations on parking , people were trickling in.Once in, the theatre organizer tells us that tickets were sold out.Then we are told that the first row is empty but it is right next to the screen.Decision was easy as I did not want to drive back again tomorrow nor did I want us to miss the chance having worked this far.
So Brijesh,Binish,myself and Divya sat on the first row. Actually , we had an added advantage that we could stretch our legs and rest it on the stage.Helped rest my sprained leg well.
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So, here we were , half an earth rotation away from home with a hall packed with people like us - in a hall listening to a lot of malayalam comments / laughters. The movie's first half was full of one liner quick jokes/ light romance and generally warm and friendly ambiance. The story was not going anywhere for quite some time - a string of comedy dialogs. That is all we want too. The whole theatre was laughing as the movie had worked it's humour well and the theatre was full of young families.
The second half is when the new filmmaker tried to put in some story into the movie. That is a requisite - it seems. Can there be a time when movies are made without a need for a story and is still enjoyable.In this case, story is not what drove the film. The film was driven as indicated by the title by a setting. The setting of a KSRTC ordinary bus and associated people and humour around them. The story is what did not fit into the film.I think the right thing to do might have been to just build around the humour and just have the actors wave a friendly good bye to the audience at the end of the movie.Something like 'Ok guys - hope you enjoyed the movie. see you.. ' or something like that.
The first half was amazing. It was a nice string of comedy sequences and has evoked the right response. Cinematography was not that great but there were some nice shots around the red and white nostalgic bus and it's saturated colors.Music is also not the high point of the movie save the catchy tune of 'Sun sun sundarathumbi..'. Biju Menon is the one who shone best in the movie followed closely by BabuRaj. Dialogue rendition by both have been excellent. As an audience, my feedback to young aspiring filmmakers is to focus on doing the things that they relate to and really enjoy and to not to try too hard to make a drastic impact by putting in some shockers.Keeping the light mood of the movie and conveying some simple theme beautifully through the setting should have been sufficient.
The second half had some chase scenes which felt pretty natural and yes, you are not going to predict the climax. Overall , it is a good movie to watch , for me , primarily for the humor.
