Movie Review: 2 Harihar Nagar

The comedy-drama In Harihar Nagar, chronicling the story of four intimate friends Mahadevan (Mukesh), Govindan Kutty (Siddique), Appukuttan (Jagadish), and Thomas Kutty (Ashokan) is a gem beyond price, a movie class apart for Malayalis.
I went by the review where someone said the multi-starrer, 2 Harihar Nagar, written and directed by Lal, is so simply rocking, and that all you need is to grab some popcorn and watch it in cinemas because it is ‘so genuine’. Sure I grabbed some popcorn, but was enjoying it more and busy defending the pack from my friend, than the movie before me.
The release date of the movie, April 1, is simply not co-incidental; it was to fool its thronging audience with trite comedy (my classroom is even funnier), familiar Sardar jokes, except that here the sardar is Appukuutan who is a dentist, and upsetting performance by some of its lead actors.
The film opens with childhood days of the quartet when they vow to stand by together in all times. Scenes shift to their present times, where they are now irked by their responsible and dutiful lives. The four are in search to spice up their lives beyond the lens of their families and end up meeting each other after many years in the backdrop of the wedding of Thommasutty.
The plot picks up when beautiful Lakshmi Rai comes to stay in Harihar Nagar under false name, Maya. She allures the foursome, and eventually traps them in her spin saying her husband, Vineeth, a dancer by profession, was ravished by John Honai, their common enemy. The four tries to rescue her and their kidnapped friend, Thomasutty but eventually comes to know that it was a well-planned plot by both. The trio then meets Vineeth, who claims to know Maya, but under some other name and warns them to steer clear from her. Took by surprise that the dancer is no way her spouse, they realize her intention was to dig up the cash suitcase they were associated with from the prequel. The twist is Thomas Kutty too is a party to this perpetration. He questions his conscience while he passes through the old church where the friends once bonded each other. He changes his mind and abandons the suitcase in the doorstep of Govindan Kutty’s home. The final scene is when the trio present the same suitcase for his marriage the next day.

In a manner of speaking, the first-half of the film is simply anti-woman. The playboy manners of the quartet send wrong signals to the society and reinforce such thoughts already present in some nasty men.
As an actor in profession with years experience, Ashokan just piss off with his poor acting skills, Jagadish seems overly stupid and clown-like with his loud, straight and unfunny jokes (CHALI, in colloquial) but not all times though. On the whole, Appu Kuttan, the dentist, we love you more than any character in the plot. Mukesh and Siddique and Lakshmi Rai does justice to their roles.
The choreography for Vineeth in his dancing role was a real laugh. The time has exceeded for him to call it quits as he is not even able to perform a bold leap, age constraints, you know.
The good-old Harihar Nagar seems to have gone upmarket, never mind as it cannot remain the same 18 years before.
The music is good remix, full stop. An easy job for the music director, Alex Paul as there’s nothing new in it.
The post-production team was busy flaunting the technological advances in film-making. It would have been better to KISS, I mean, Keep It Simple, Stupid.
As a viewer, I think I have all rights to rate a movie, and I go by 2 stars on 5 for 2 Harihar Nagar.
Whatsoever, the audience has heartily welcomed again the funny four, as a good excuse to revisit the golden years of comedy films in Malayalam.