Monday Aug 25 2008, Trivendrum

‘SMS'- Why waste your time and money?

Directed by - Sarjulan

Produced by - O.V.Prasannan

Music by - Illayaraja

Casts - Bala, Navya Nair, Mukesh, Kalyani, Anoop Chandran, Madhu Warrier, Jayakrishnan, Jagathy Sreekumar, Salim Kumar etc.

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Let’s begin with a word of caution.Even if you don’t have anything to do and even if you have enough money and time to waste, don’t even think of going to watch ‘SMS’.Better sleep away the time in your cozy bed than go watch the movie and find yourself yawning endlessly and even snoring away in the rather uncomfortable seat in the theatre.‘SMS’, directed by Sarjulan (who had earlier given us ‘Madamma’), begins from where a young girl Payal (Kalyani) is brought to a mental asylum, which is part of the ashram run by Swami Swaroopananda (Jagathy Sreekumar) by her mother.And in the ashram is Kichan (Bala), who has come with his mother, who is mentally disturbed.

Kichan gets mysterious calls on his mobile from some lady who says that he will have to pay for having ruined the lives of many innocent girls.Kichan is very much disturbed with all this.In the meantime Robert Mathew (Mukesh) is appointed Special Investigating Officer to probe into the death of a young girl named Indumathi (Navya Nair), who had jumped to her death from the top of the law college building.He begins his investigation and in due course comes searching for Kichan, who was Indu’s lover.And then, there is the trip down memory lane, when Kichan relates how he and Indu met and eventually fell in love (All this is presented in the funniest of manners.

And the way they fall in love is presented too unromantically).  And here we come across many characters, especially those studying in the law college along with Kichan and Indu, like Soman (Anoop Chandran), Satheeshan (Jayakrishnan), Rajmohan (Madhu Warrier) etc.The story gradually moves on, to Indu’s death and from here, it’s for Robert Mathew to find out if there is any foul play leading to the girl’s death.Everyone, from Bala to Navya to Mukesh to Jagathy Sreekumar, fails to impress us in any way.The characters are all so poorly etched out and portrayed.

What kind of a swami is Jagathy Sreekumar’s Swami Swaroopananda? Is it a Swami or a caricature of a Swami? And Jagathy Sreekumar, gifted artist that he is, seems to have done it rather callously, for he too doesn’t impress us in any way.And Anoop Chandran, the way he behaves very often seems more repulsive than funny.And as for the film being a thriller of sorts, we don’t feel any thrill at all and we know from the outset itself who the culprit could be.There is no point in taking and discussing each and every aspect of ‘SMS’, since it is a film that falls flat on all levels.No less than a ‘terrible’ experience, that’s what viewing ‘SMS’ would turn out to be.

An utter bore, not even worth mentioning, leave alone reviewing!