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Journey of Love 18+

Farhad Dalal
By-
Farhad Dalal
Rating
3 Star popcorn reviewss

Introduction

Thank God It Is Friday and what better start to the weekend than reviewing a Malayalam film straight up. With that, I finished watching the new Malayalam film Journey Of Love 18+ which is now streaming on SonyLiv. While my love for Malayalam cinema remains unparalleled, this year has been a bit of a wobbly year for the Malayalam film industry. And one of the reasons for the same has been the over reliance on the slice of life genre with every other film being attempted in this genre. There is nothing wrong with that, and to the credit of the industry they have tied up the main genre with other sub-genres as well, but the genre also comes with its share of limitation while also running the risk of being repetitive. And I was kind of skeptical venturing into Journey Of Love 18+ for exactly this reason, although I knew nothing about the film. So then, does Journey Of Love 18 + manage to impress, lets find out.

Story & Screenplay

Journey Of Love 18+ follows the story of a young couple, deeply in love who decide to elope. But their decision might have some unforeseen repercussions in their lives and the society. The story here is simple and this has often been the trademark of the Malayalam film industry to pick up stories with stray events and transform them into some interesting screenplays. And that can be applied to this film as well wherein the screenplay does pack in underlying themes of politics and the shortcomings of the society while packaging them in a hilarious satirical drama that perhaps could have been slightly trimmed for a crisper watch.

The drama does open with the introduction of the protagonist, a young teenage boy who suddenly gets a call from his girlfriend who wishes that they elope and marry. The setting is of the former trying to set ablaze a bus in the midst of a political move which is indicative of the high political tensions which are prevalent in the vicinity. Yet, a song playing out through the rolling titles does give you a background of how the budding love story began to blossom over the years and it did seem like a sweet little charming one. Instantly, the viewers get a sense that this drama is laced with humour and is not as serious as it would otherwise have been given its subject and setting.

The proceedings are interesting and quite smartly penned, balancing the humour which originates through its setting of the protagonist exploring different ways to elope with his college sweetheart. And these events, set against the political backdrop of the area where the drama is set in, does make for a hilarious turn of events. The humour is situational and often does tickle your funny bone with respect to the character traits and the immaturity of the protagonists. There is a sense of innocence to the proceedings that adds to the charm of the rrama that traverses through different situations that the characters find themselves in. The only issue for me was that the drama began to go around it circles thus getting repetitive.

The biggest flaw in the drama is that the subject in hand did seem to be more suited for a short film. And that is reflective of the fact that the situations are repetitive, although supremely watchable. A clever little twist in the final 30 minutes does justify the title but it was also a case of the writers trying to hard to convey the point. There is a sense of spoon feeding that does take place in the backend of the drama wherein the drama could so easily have tapped into the political and vested interests of the concerned people(perhaps a notch higher). The political angle is something that I wished was explored a little more but overall, the screenplay here definitely has its moments and makes for an enjoyable watch.

Dialogues, Music & Direction

The dialogues are quirky and well written. The music is decent and the songs go well with the narrative. The BGM is good and blends well with the drama. The cinematography is good as well capturing some stunning frames. There were instances of minor lags in the screenplay and that did warrant a crisper edit on the editing table. Director Arun D Jose does a good job here but the limitation of the genre did reflect eventually. The writing did begin to taper towards the backend and while the director continued to create some goofy and hilarious moments, there was only so much which could be done. But the direction definitely did showcase the required flair in attempting something different.

Performances

The performances are excellent here by the ensemble cast. Rajesh Madhavan as Advocate Satish and Nikhila Vimal as Sony are subtly hilarious in their respective roles. Manoj K U as Raveendran has his moments to shine as does Shyam Mohan as Arjun. Mathew Thomas as Deepak is nicely understated in a character which is sincere and earnest. Binu Pappu as Rajesh is wonderful to watch in a hilarious little role. Saaf and Anu are outstanding in their respective roles and they definitely manage to tickle your funny bone. Meenakshi Dinesh as Athira looks so cute and everytime she came onscreen with her silly antics, she managed to put a smile on my face. There was a sense of innocence in her character that allowed the viewers to invest in her. Naslen as Akhil is simply phenomenal with a stellar presence onscreen. He doesn’t try and be funny here, often trusting the writing material and the situations to do the trick. And he comes out on top, wonderfully well!

Conclusion

Despite its shortcomings, Journey Of Love 18+ is a hilarious little gem with stellar performances that makes for a good one-time watch. Available on SonyLiv.

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