Popcorn Malayalam Movie Review

Aneesh Upasana had two pretty good flicks to his credit before the release of Popcorn. Both Matinee and Seconds were decent films with nice making. Though both of them didn't shake the box office as such, I did like both of them even though they were not money spinners. Now we have Popcorn which is the director's third. Projected as a pure fun movie, the posters and trailer did give the impression of such a thing but the reality is very little of the comedy has worked out and the film aimlessly wander with a script that fails to provide class humour and entertainment at any point except those portions where Soubin Shahir does the act in his familiar but enjoyable manner.

Kinder and Joy are friends working in a bar. Kinder falls in love with a girl but realises that money is something that he desperately needs to fulfill his romance. By chance, he meets Sharon who hires him for a job that takes them to Nasik, a place in Maharashtra. The duo before the journey is joined by Milton, a suspended Police Constable. The purpose and results of this travel are what is narrated in Popcorn.

The initial name given for the film was Kinder and Joy which they changed quite wisely since its Milton who drives the film through the entire second half. So on a lighter note, an ideal title matching the story would have been Kinder, Joy and Milton.

The tagline of the film conveys an anticipatory bail taking from Popcorn team wherein they have straightaway said there is no place for any serious thought process and no serious thinking should go into the storyline wherein laughter is the only thing you can find in the film. So basically the attempt is a brainless entertainer with no place for logic. But except for a few laughs created by Soubin, there is nothing humourous that justifies the tagline completely.

By the halfway mark, the tone of the film is more or less serious with limited space for fun and humour quite contradictory to what was projected. This serious tone in the screenplay was not all gelling with the story and acted as a thorn in the way of entertainment. The addition of those kidney related sequences seemed to be a deliberate push to bring in a different shade and angle to the story. Giving a road movie genre was also noted in the promotions which are just limited to a small travel that begins from Kochi and culminating at Nasik. The romantic part involving Kinder is presented in a less convincing manner and the story from where it started and where it ended, it was a bit difficult to get the connecting link.

Both Shine Tom Chacko and Bagath Manuel didn't go overboard and played the characters of Kinder and Joy decently. But it was Milton enacted by Soubin Shahir who stole the show from the duo. Soubin was repeating what he is doing in all of his recent flicks but his joker act was hilarious enough to add some humour tone to the film. While many other jokes were a bit annoying the comedy of this actor was a saving grace. His introductory scene inside the police station in the company of Sasi Kallinga was taken well. Srinda was okay portraying the role of Sharon. Indrans, Sudheer Karamana, Anjali Upasana, Johny and a few other actors are also part of the supporting casts.

Happy Wedding was one movie in the recent past that projected itself as a brainless entertainer and justified what it said through full comedy from start until the end. Popcorn is also showcased as a film on similar lines trying to capitalise on this premise but the humour portion here works only in parts as many of the jokes were not quite up to the mark to raise the bar to make it an outright entertainer.

Rating - 2 / 5