Falimy follows the story of the chronicles of a family and the adventures that they face while making a trip from Kerala to Kaashi. The story here can be labeled as a ‘road movie’ but the events are supremely funny in this looney drama that had me laughing hysterically. The screenplay standing at a shade above 2 hours does make for an entertaining watch which is enjoyable and hilarious in this event driven drama. 

While I have been critical of the overall content of Malayalam films lately, I will still stand by the fact that no other industry designs the world building and characterization better than the Malayalam Film Industry. Here too, the ‘falimy’ adventure doesn’t begin immediately. There is a little buildup with respect to the introduction of characters while the ‘trip’ is restricted to a little hint in the opening act featuring the character of the grandfather. You are introduced to the character dynamics and you can clearly sense that the members of the family have a little tiff with each other. The drama is essentially divided into a three act structure with the first act dedicated to the chain of events transpiring into the core of the film which is the looney family adventure. 

The proceedings are light and frothy while infused with dollops of humour that manage to tickle your funny bone more often than not. There is an underlying theme of ego that is prevalent amongst the family members, something that you particularly see in the characters of the father and the son. And once the adventure begins in the second act, it leads to innumerous moments of laughter. The entire trip comprises of multiple events ranging from the train journey that comes to a hilarious halt, to later on the road that comprises of multiple episodes as well. But what the writers do well is infuse two cultures of the North and South, and that does lead to some interesting moments. It was previously in the film Kannur Squad too that we had seen characters originating from South who found themselves in the North of the country, and this dynamic definitely is an interesting territory(vice versa too) going forward. 

The drama gets a little serious tonally in the third act(the transition is a little emotional too from the second to the third act) that features the disappearance of the character of the grandfather. There are philosophical and spiritual aspects in the drama which are used as an undercurrent. At this point, I was a little weary of the drama relying on the age-old cliches, but pleasantly so, the cliches did not arrive. A slight shift in the drama tonally is short-lived as the comedy kicks in right at the end while also addressing the element of ‘ego’ which was prevalent in the characters. For instance, the character of the father had to shave off his head while assuming that his father(character of the grandfather) is dead. And hair is a symbol of ego for a man too. So tje writers did tie up the loose ends of the drama rather nicely. Overall, the screenplay is hilarious and makes for a wonderful watch.