Writing the kind of lines no one else would even have imagined is a dream for anyone who has picked up the pen. Big Brother , written and directed by Siddique, is filled with such lines, placed in situations in which one would never imagine them.
The best of the lot comes early on, when Satchidanandan (Mohanlal), comes out of jail after 24 long years, having completed a double life sentence, for the murder of his step-mother’s abusive ex-husband and a policeman. One would expect an emotional sequence on seeing his younger brother Manu (Sarjano Khalid), who fought a long battle for his release, waiting outside eagerly. But, the very first thing Manu says is: “Oh brother! How handsome you are!” Even considering the fact that it is mandatory to praise the looks and intelligence of the superstars in all their films, this was quite an absurd placement of that customary line.
If that sequence wasn’t enough, we are taken to the next one where the whole family is waiting for him at home, to break into a tacky dance song, in which a reluctant Satchidanandan gets dragged onto multiple colourful dance sets. An attempt is made to create some humour with his awkwardness in dealing with social situations, conditioned by years behind bars, a topic which should have been portrayed sensitively. These scenes, and the latter attempts at humour by the protagonist’s sidekicks does not evoke much humour.
- Starring: Mohanlal, Arbaaz Khan, Honey Rose
- Direction: Siddique
Not that the ‘serious’ parts are any better. The fact that one of the villains is named ‘Shetty’, the scientific name for all villains in 90s Malayalam cinema, tells one a lot about the amount of thinking which has gone into making the film. The one previously-unseen touch is that the protagonist is endowed with night-vision capabilities, although no explanation is provided for the same!
While Satchidanandan plans to settle down to a peaceful life with his family, he is forced to get involved in many a conflict, after an IPS officer (Arbaaz Khan) launches a hunt against the drug mafia. Now, that is an excuse for the hero to fly in the air, single-handedly bashing up all the goons... who unfortunately have no night-vision capabilities. At one point, Satchidanandan and his sidekicks kidnap Shetty’s daughter Arya (Mirnaa Menon) so intelligently that she thinks that she is on a package tour. Being a fun trip, it has one song sequence, the whole duration of which the 20-something girl stares lovingly at the protagonist. Later, when he punches a bunch of goons, she shouts, “Yes!” and jumps up and down in celebration.
The twist in the tale is so evident for anyone who has watched the trailer, except of course for Satchidanandan, who gets it only at the end of the movie. The rest of us have to endure almost three hours of sheer agony, to be shown that big reveal, which we had known right from the beginning. Even die-hard fans of Mohanlal would find it hard to get excited by even a single sequence in Big Brother .
