Maranamass

Vampire Owl: There seems to be something sinister about this particular movie.

Vampire Bat: You mean like there is more than what meets the eye.

Vampire Owl: Yes, with a fine dose of evil.

Vampire Bat: You feel that there is more evil here than what seems to exist?

Vampire Owl: Evil does come in many different forms.

Vampire Bat: You mean the dark humour in use here.

Vampire Owl: You see that darkness in humour which makes the film beautiful.

Vampire Bat: There was always going to be evil with a serial killer around.

Vampire Owl: Well, evil always finds a way, doesn’t it?

Vampire Bat: Especially with bigger movies not doing the job well enough.

[Gets a vegetable puffs and three cups of elaichi tea].

What is the movie about? :: Sreekumar (Rajesh Madhavan) lives a seemingly sweet and cute life as he teaches little kids in a kindergarten, and helps them in different possible ways. He seems like the typical kid-lover who cannot keep himself away from them. He takes them for rallies, tells them stories, and gets them support from the government. But in between doing all of these, he is the one serial killer whom the state is searching for. The serial killer has been known for brutally murdering elder people and also making a mockery of their corpses without any remorse and the state has been failing to capture him even with the police force in full alert. At the same time, the people of the same village are trying to send Luke (Basil Joseph) to Czechoslovakia because he has become a nuisance to everyone around him. Due to his strange behaviour, he also becomes a suspect in the serial killings, but is not arrested as police did not consider him to be smart enough to be a murderer with perfect plans.

So, what happens with the events here as we just keep looking? :: Luke is not happy because his girlfriend Jessy (Anishma Anilkumar) wishes to breakup with him as he is suspected to be a serial killer by too many people and because he is going to Czechoslovakia. He tries to win her interest back, but keeps failing miserably. At the same time, Jikku (Suresh Krishna) is looking forward to his wedding day, after a big number of rejections that have happened in the last few years due to random people spreading rumours about him. He drives the bus named “Veena Poovu” with Aruvi (Siju Sunny) as the conductor. At the same time, the case about serial killings is passed on to DYSP Ajay Ramachandran (Babu Antony), a remorseless police officer who is being remorseful about his missing dog that forms his only family. It is then that Keshavakurup (Puliyanam Poulose), an old man and womanizer who has been dumped into an old age home escapes and gets into the “Veena Poovu” bus which also has Sreekumar and Jessy as late-night passengers. As the old man tries to misbehave with her, Jessy uses pepper spray on him, leading to his death.

And what complicates things further within chaos? :: Sreekumar is disappointed as he was planning to have the old man as his victim but hopes that he can have the body and make the media feel like it was his victim. But he is not able to take the body away, as Luke comes in for Jessy. The team decides to bury the body, but are not able to do so, with Aruvi feeling that the man is his long-lost father due to the mark on his body. They decide to take the body elsewhere to provide the final rites, but there are so many obstacles that they have to face. This would include people trying to get into the bus, the need to use the bus for the Communist Party purposes and the remaining doubt about Luke being the serial killer. At the same time, the serial killer manages to have some different plans, but none of them would favour Luke and Jessy’s love, Jikku’s upcoming marriage or Aruvi’s love for his father. Can the unexpected team of confused people manage to get out of trouble with none of them dead and buried?

The defence of Maranamass :: The movie uses the dark humour to a fine level, as a serial killer and his attempts at murder gets the funny side to explore. The tale of Tom and Jerry being told in a serial killer’s perspective feels funny because what they do in the cartoon itself is nothing less than attempt at murder if this was in real life. The humour works at all times, and the use of real-life situations is very effective as the movie’s satire stays strong. Basil Joseph handles the whole situation really well as the leading actor, and there is always some fun around he is there. Rajesh Madhavan does a wonderful job as the serial killer, and he adds something special to the movie. Suresh Krishna invokes the funny side very well and is well-supported by Siju Sunny. Anishma Anil Kumar makes a fine presence as the leading actress, and maintains the humorous side very well, as we hope to see more of her work in the coming days. Babu Antony with the humorous side also catches our attention. Puliyanam Poulose adds further humour here.

The claws of flaw :: The movie could have had some focus on the story too, as it seems to be woven around humorous situations to make sure that it exists for namesake. Some of the characters seem to be present for the sake of being there. We do not see an attempt to introduce or develop most of them, and some of them just come and go. Some depictions might feel too silly for anyone’s standard, and could have used a little bit more of thoughts. There is no doubt about the fact that there was scope to make the film even better with added content. Maranamass is surely not the movie for everyone, as not all people might get some of the references here, as most of them do point somewhere, and not all viewers can appreciate some dark humour without being offended. People might be more interested in those mass masala and repeated family stuff for Vishu as they would most probably be watching together.

How it finishes :: Maranamass is that kind of a movie which can be watched for the funny side, and not for the tale, because it follows situations which are created to bring laughter and not to take the story forward. This was actually the only Vishu release which had us interested in watching, and that comes as no surprise considering the other releases which felt like no fun. The other releases can be found anywhere at any time, but it is to be noted that movies like this one are not that easy to create with effectiveness. We remember that movies like Aadu became cult classics, but this one is surely better than that, and we see that films like Adi Kapyare Kootamani and Kunjiramayanam had similar silly characters and succeeded in creating a laugh riot – this one is of the same level if we consider the characters that we see around. This is that kind of a film with serial killer which will not leave us in fear, but with a lot to laugh about.

Release date: 10th April 2025
Running time: 141 minutes
Directed by: Sivaprasad
Starring: Basil Joseph, Rajesh Madhavan, Siju Sunny, Babu Antony, Anishma Anilkumar, Suresh Krishna, Pooja Mohanraj, Joemon Jyothir, Puliyanam Poulose, Dheeraj Denny, Prashant Alexander, Tovino Thomas (cameo), Guru Somasundaram (cameo)