Palatable fare

Palatable fare
Rasathanthram, directed by Sathyan Anthikad, is a serious family drama with some comedy scenes thrown in, writes KK Moidu

Starring: Mohanlal, Meera Jasmine, Bharat Gopi, Innocent, Siddique, Mamookoya, Jagathy Sreekumar, KPAC Lalitha, Manisha, Oduvil Unnikrishnan and Bindu Panicker.
Director: Sathyan Anthikkad
Producer: Antony Perumbavoor
Music: Ilayaraja
Lyrics: Girish Puthanchery
Rasathanthram, which is directed by Sathyan Anthikad and stars Mohanlal, is a serious family drama with some comedy scenes thrown in. The actor-director duo have done 20 films together giving hits like T.P. Balagopalan MA, Gandhinagar IInd Street and Nadodikkattu, to name a few. Their last film was Pingaami released in 1994. They are together again after 12 years.
Sathyan has also written the screenplay for this one, another first. Rasathanthram means chemistry, indicative of the winning combination of rasam (acting) and thanthram (trick) in the movie. Looking back he can laugh because the director has succeeded. He manages to extract a good performance from Mohanlal, a reminder of the actor’s heydays. Meera Jasmine is paired with Mohanlal for the first time.
The movie has a very simple story. Premachandran (Mohanlal), a carpenter meets a girl of Tamil origin, Kanmani (Meera Jasmine), in Royichan’s house. Royichan is wealthy and his wife is arrogant and ill-mannered. Mrs. Royichan (Manisha) and members of the household ill-treat Kanmani. She is made to do all the work. But her masters are hard to please.
The soft-hearted Premachandran stops Kanmani from committing suicide. Instead of returning to Royichan’s house she lives with Premachandran, masquerading as a boy, Velayudhan Kutty, to escape the eyes of the local police. As Velayudhan Kutty, Kanmani does looks after Premachandran’s house and helps him with his work thus winning everyone over in short span of time.
Premachandran shares all his secrets with his father, Balan Mash (KodiyettamGopi). He tells him about Kanmani’s miserable life, but hides the fact that Velayudhan Kutty is actually Kanmani and is living in his house. Premachandran is forced to share the truth about Kanmani’s disappearance with his chief carpenter, Moothassary Manikandan (Innocent).
However, after his father learns the truth about Kanmani from the Moothassary, the fatherson relationship sours. Premachandran too has a past. He had served a life sentence in prison, though the crime was committed by another person and he just took the blame on himself.
After being separated from their families Premachandran and his father had lived in a village away from their home.
The movie delves into the father-son bond and on a parallel tracks the guide-disciple relationship.
Even though Mohanlal has not yet fully recovered his old spontaniety in comedy, he is good with the sentimental scenes. Meera Jasmine handles both roles with characteristic ease. However, the magic is missing from this pairing.
Gopi as Mohanlal’s father, Innocent as Moothassery Manikantan, and Mamookoya as Kunjuootan Asari and Oduvil Unnikrishnan lend good support in their respective roles.
Manisha, a queen of the airwaves (radio), does her tiny role well. Jagathy also makes a cameo appearance in two or three scenes. However, his takeoff in Tamil is not rib-tickling enough. Bindu Panicker and KPAC Lalitha have very little to do in the movie. Also, the movie has a very predictable end.
Rasathanthram’s first half has the maximum number of comedy scenes with Meera Jasmine’s transformation from a girl to boy. The second half is devoted to sentiments and emotions. The rather small story is stretched to two hours and 40 minutes making viewing inconvenient at times.
A major attraction of the movie is its music. All the four songs are masterfully created by Ilayaraja and Girish Puthanchery. Another plus is Azhagappan’s brilliant cinematography. It takes in the breathtaking views of places in God’s Own Country like Thodupuzha, Moolamattam and Kanjar.