‘Mohiniyattam’ movie review: A rationalist bent to its dark humour makes this better than the original

A dead body in the house can be one of the most horrific situations or a source of mirth, depending on the tone and treatment that a movie adopts. Mohiniyattam, which gently spoofs Drishyam, turns the situation into a hilarious affair, with periodic reminders of the dead man’s deceitful nature, supposedly to make us laugh without any sense of guilt.

Sequels often end up as pale imitations of the original. But in conceiving a sequel to the mildly funny Bharathanatyam (which incidentally was a spoof of Balettan), Krishnadas Murali reimagines the original’s basic theme, injecting it with loads of dark humour and turning it into a markedly better film, like Vaazha 2 last week.

Sasidharan (Saiju Kurup), the protagonist, still holds some of the weight of the secret his father Bharathan had revealed about him having another family. The gags surrounding the two “almost” identical twins also get referred to a few times.

But the narrative takes a new turn, portraying a shady, money-making scheme run by his father and friends for quite some time. This idea is perhaps the strongest element of the film, with a few sharp, satirical jibes at the origin of some irrational religious practices.

The animated origin story is unimaginable in present-day Bollywood, where such rational questions don’t find a place now. The two families of Bharathan are one large team, working together seamlessly whenever an adversity strikes, most evident in the long sequence where an unwelcome guest wreaks havoc in their home.

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Murali and co-writer Vishnu R. Pradeep present a few parallel scenarios, but the thread about getting rid of the dead body becomes tiresome. The entry of the two ‘Subhashs’ (rapper Baby Jean and Abhiram Radhakrishnan) with their crooked brains working at cross purposes, somewhat enlivens the proceedings. The sagging narrative suddenly comes to life and ends on a high.

Apart from Saiju Kurup, the one who draws the most laughs is Kalaranjini, who has quite a ball adding an element of quirkiness to the original character. Amid a host of characters indulging in zany acts, she steals the scene with her gestures, which lifts one of the key scenes in the movie. Electronic Kili’s music offers a different mood to the film.

With a rationalist bent to its dark humour, Mohiniyattam is several notches above the original film.

Mohiniyattam is currently running in theatres