I share a beautiful and pure relationship with my brother so right since I watched the trailer I was hooked to this one. Besides it shows Ranni and Thiruvalla. Just listening “Pushpagiri hospital” mentioned somewhere made me nostalgic!
An Aju Varghese movie in our house is like a festive occasion. Every Malayalee knows how a “Lalettan” or “Mammukka” movie is welcomed in Kerala. It’s something like that in our house when it’s an Aju Varghese movie. Here the fan is our son, boss baby! He basically rules this household so if he wants it, we gotta serve it baby!
Aju Varghese became a sensation in our house after my son went gaga about him after watching Love Action Drama. If you ask him about that movie, he will say Aju Varghese played the lead and it also had Nivin Pauly :)
We were ready with popcorn and drinks and it was go time!
We’ve watched Funtastic Films’ first venture-Love Action Drama roughly about 50 times, so we started the movie with an open mind with not much expectation.
The movie starts with Aju Varghese donning the father’s role, as Saajan. That scene is a little intense for an opening, but what caught my attention was the maturity Aju Varghese has shown as the father. I immediately realized that the Aju Varghese we saw in Thattathin Marayathu (that’s the first movie I saw him in) asking “screw?” has come a long way as an actor!
As the movie goes on and the son Aju Varghese comes as Bobin, the audience will realize that the makers and actors of this movie have given it their all and have put their soul into this movie.
The way Betsy(Lena) and Bobin quibble like typical siblings, is portrayed very naturally and makes you feel at home.
Now why I liked the movie is for different reasons. If you are someone who likes substance in a movie, then you rather wait this one out. But if you’re like me who likes slice of the life movies then this one’s for you! This is an extremely light hearted movie that subtly touches on a few heavy subjects like patriarchy and misogyny in between. When Bobin questions his sister for coming late, when it is shown that the son can’t take it when clearly it’s the daughter who has inherited her dad’s business sense and also when he hints at his insecurities to leave his girlfriend home and go for work because he can’t trust if she’ll actually stay home or go out with some other guy. These are subtle hints at the mentality of a lot of men that we have seen not just in Kerala but just about anywhere(I’m not generalizing men here, they’re some men we have seen and had acquaintance with).
The beauty of the movie is that it shows the lead character with flaws and not perfection. This man can’t send ten men flying with one kick at the same time. But he can make mistakes and that’s why the story is imperfectly perfect. The only flaw (well it’s not really a flaw technically) I saw was they should’ve used Grace Antony more! It was like a waste of sheer talent! I just simply love her in everything she does. But I think that was necessary from a story’s point of view. She nailed this one too! Saajan Bakery wouldn’t have been a good movie without the other lead character Betsy. Lena has lived that character and I absolutely loved her. Also, I haven’t watched the director Arun Chandu’s first movie, Sayanna Varthakal. But this one’s definitely a piece of his heart.
This movie isn’t a must watch, but I really enjoyed watching a clean, lighthearted, slice of the life movie with my family.
My humble request to Aju Varghese is please go easy on your movies buddy! After ‘Love Action Drama’, my son made me color my hair red, just like Shobha(Nayanthara) and now he wants me to make a cream-bun for him! Do any of my readers have any idea how to make one?
