Friday Apr 04 2008, Trivendrum

Dileep's Mulla is worth a dekko

Directed by - Lal Jose

Produced by - Sager Sherif, Sunder Raj

Music by - Vidhyasager

Casts - Dileep, Meera Nandan,Biju Menon, Reena Basheer,Sruthi Menon, Saiju Kurup, Salim Kumar, Anoop Chandran, Sukumari,Mala Aravindan and Risabhava

Banner - Sager Balaji Creations

Dilip’s `Mulla’ directed by Lal Jose was the first to hit the screen in the Vishu rush.It has an interesting story line-- about a ruffian who ends up a law-abiding citizen.Scripted by Sindhuraj, the story unfolds around Karkkadu, a slum colony by the side of a railway track.Karakkad colony is a settlement of thieves, sex workers, and goons under the leadership of Ambi Annan [Biju Menon].Dilip is Ambi’s deputy, Mulla.

He’s an orphan who grew up in the colony.By the quirk of fate,  Mulla  gets an abandoned child in the train, and he hands over the child  to Lachi[Meera Nandan], a girl who is a  commuter in that train.Lachi is working in a Bakery, owned by Mala Aravindan.  Not long after, Lachi returns the child to Mulla as she is beset with many problems of her own.But, she is attached to the child and she regularly visits the colony to have a glimpse of the baby.

Predictably, love blooms between her and Mulla.This love helps Mulla to readapt himself in to a new life of a honest living.But, the destiny had different designs woven for them.How he copes with them form the crux of the film.Vipin Mohan’s camera work is faultless.

Gokuldas, the art director of the film Mulla, too has done a great job setting up the colony ambience.Dileep as Mulla and Meera Nandhan as Lachi prove their talents and  Biju Menon has done justice to his role as goons’ head.Saiju Kurup’s villainy is all right and the rolesof C.I.Bharathan , Reena Basheer, Anoop Chandran, Suraj Venjaramoodu and Salim Kumar are passable.

Bhavana makes a cameo role in this film which seems a disjoined idea.The story has a moral too—about human trafficking and orphan hood.But the transition of Mulla from a law-breaking man to a law-abiding man is not convincing enough.The story needed more thoughts on the probability in real life.As always, the Dilip film is never a bore, and it’s worth a dekko.