Vampire Owl: What about Fukrey?

Vampire Bat: I don’t think that there is a relation between the two. That one was a coming of age comedy film.

Vampire Owl: You mean just like Premam.

Vampire Bat: The genre is rather too vast. People who have no idea about that genre were blaming Premam for being close to its category.

Vampire Owl: Yes, some people even praised Blinglore Days for downgrading Premam.

Vampire Bat: It is Bangalore Days.

Vampire Owl: Whatever it is, our concern should only be about the nights, right?

Vampire Bat: It is the presence of the day that makes sure that there is night.

Vampire Owl: Yes, but we all have our preferences, don’t we?

Vampire Bat: Yes, as long as the night has darkness.

[Gets the tickets with cardamom tea and cheese popcorn].

What is the movie about? :: Lucky (Jayasurya) and Franklin (Bhagath Manuel) are best friends who are also engineering dropouts looking forward to making some quick money. For the same, they try many things. One day, they end up complicating things so much that they have to keep running from people. During his adventures in making easy money, he meets Nafsi (Prayaga Martin) and Sana (Salini RT) who needs someone to act as an elder cousin to bail them out of some trouble which they had due to bunking classes for watching a Salman Khan movie first day first show. There, posing as their cousins, they come across their real cousin, Ubaid (John Kaippallil), and ends up telling a lie that Lucky is the son of Ali Fukri (Lal) who is the son of Sulaiman Fukri (Siddique). Sulaiman and Ali has a long gone past, which has left them as terrible enemies who wouldn’t hesitate to beat each other up if there was a chance.

So, what happens next? :: Despite being hostile to his son, Sulaiman the patriarch, isn’t angry with his grandson. But Aliya (Anu Sithara) whom Lucky meets on his way back from the college, reveals that Ali has no son, and she is his only daughter. She asks him to get into the Fukri mansion posed as Ali’s son, and there is also an opportunity to be there at Ali’s wife house. Ali had married a Brahmin girl which was one of the many reasons for the problems with his father. Aliya provides enough details for Lucky to be at both places, and during his stay there, he solves almost all his financial debts. As Lucky is in love with Nafsi, he feels that this could work in favour of him in more than one way. At the same time, he decides to unite both families as well as the father and the son. But one day, Ali returns, and he is certainly not happy with it – he wishes to destroy all happiness in Fukri family, and one has to wonder what would happen next.

The defence of Fukri :: There is the presence of comedy, and the jokes work most of the time, and at other times, we have to make ourselves believe that there is some fun stuff going on. The songs are mostly okay, but there is nothing much to remember for long. It is still nicely done for the family audience, and without any bad joke added here and there and hurting no religious or community sentiment, manages a clean work – it needed someone like our veteran director to do the same, even though it is surprising that he had chosen to go through such a safe path with no risk taken. Even though it stays for more time that it should have, lasting above two and half hours, we don’t end up complaining about the length. Denied its release during the Christmas season due to the theatre owners’ strike, this one has a festival mood too, with all the colour and style that we see around. This might be the right choice to spend the time you have in extra.

The claws of flaw :: The main problem with this movie is that it has the kind of idea that has been tried again and again so much. It is certainly an old wine in a pot which he seems to have borrowed from a number of older movies – he has just added a little bit of flavour, and so we know that we have seen this before on lots of occasions. From the beginning itself, it is so predictable, and one twist with the daughter might be the only exception. The first half is rather brainless with comedy thrown in here and there, and the second half has a little bit too much of melodrama and it ends as if they had to force an ending out of nowhere. There is a little too much of Udayapuram Sulthan here, with one son trying to unite families from Hindu and Muslim families posing as someone else; his father was the main problem-maker there too. Posing as the cousin was the main idea in Dilliwala Rajakumaran too, and Kaaryasthan also had the protagonist trying to unite families – the examples are many, and it is a rather outdated idea for these times.

Performers of the soul :: There are three people who control this movie with ease – Jayasurya, Lal and Siddique, playing the fake grandson, and the next two generations of parents. The three generations effectively make this one worth our time. Jayasurya still has it easy compared to the kind of roles with which he had surprised us earlier. Lal and Siddique are perfectly suited for their roles, as their looks and style also compliment being the two big characters. Among the heroines, it is Anu Sithara who plays the daughter figure who scores the best – we had last seen her in Happy Wedding. Prayaga Martin pales in comparison, except for the looks – even though she looked even better in Kattappanayile Rithwick Roshan. It was also good to see Bhagath Manuel playing the second fiddle. Joju George is the one person to create the best effect on screen with minimal screen presence.

How it finishes :: There has been something different going on with the Siddique movies in the last few years – Ladies and Gentleman and Bhaskar the Rascal were clearly terrible movies, and even after bringing a combined effort with Lal in King Liar, nothing really changed with that. Bodyguard was an overrated movie too, with similar overrated remakes coming in many languages. And then there is Fukri. Coming directly into this situation, Fukri is definitely is a better flick. As we consider all these movies, Fukri is also the closest to a pretty good family flick which you can watch for the weekend. With Munthirivallikal Thalirkumbol and Jomonte Suviseshangal running in the theatres and Ezra all prepared to release, it is back to the busy times for Malayalam cinema industry after that terrible break due to the strike! Still, this could have been a laugh riot with its premise already established long ago – but that is not the case.

Release date: 3rd February 2016
Running time: 156 minutes
Directed by: Siddique
Starring: Jayasurya, Lal, Prayaga Martin, Bhagath Manuel, Siddique, John Kaippallil, Anu Sithara, Joju George, Krishna Praba, KPAC Lalitha, Sreelatha Namboothiri, Thesni Khan, Reena, Naseer Sankranthi, Salini RT, Sajan Palluruthy

@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.