At its heart, Kallai FM is more than an ordinary film that doubles up as an ode to the legendary Hindi film playback singer Mohammad Rafi. Vineesh Millennium uses a straightforward narrative of a Rafi fan (Sreenivasan) to show us the power of music, fandom, and cinema. The drama is essentially about the fan who runs a local radio as a way to celebrate his fandom, exaggerated to the point that one of his close friends decides to make a film on him. Throughout the way, writer-director Vineesh also samples a few subjects concerning father-son relationship, poverty, and passion-driven artistry. However, none of that prove sufficient to uplift the overall dull nature of the film, which starts and ends without a bang. Of course, I was happy that they included some of Rafi's greatest hits, but the makers still have a long way to go if they want their audience to be hooked. Sreenivasan is lethargic in his performance, and so is everyone else including Sreenath Bhasi, Aneesh Menon, and Krishna Prabha. What could have been told in 15 minutes is dragged to about 120 minutes, and all that you deduce from this fictional story is that it takes money to be an artist. TN.
