Chanthupottu

Cast: Dileep, Gopika, Biju Menon, Lal, Bhavana, Indrajith, Rajan.p.Dev, Koottikkal Jayachandran, Sukumari, Mala Aravindan
Language: Malayalam
Banner: Lal Creations
Director: Lal Jose
Producer: Lal
Camera: Azhagappan
Story: Benny P Nayarambalam
Screenplay: Benny P Nayarambalam
Dialogue: Benny P Nayarambalam
Lyrics: Kaithapram
Music: Vidyasagar
Distribution: Lal Release
Year: 2005

Director Lal Jose and Dileep try an unexplored territory in Chanthupottu, the world of a transvestite which has not been tried in Malayalam so far. So what’s different? It is a brave and refreshing plot with superb performance of Dileep. But sadly the film on the whole is disappointing due to lack of a coherent story and screenplay.

Radhakrishnan ( Dileep) is brought up like a girl by his grandmother (Sukumari) who wanted a granddaughter. They call him Radha and when he was 12 years old, his father Divakaran (Lal) goes to jail for a murder that he accidentally commits. Radha is the ridicule among the people in the village but he is not worried and spends time with the girls singing and teaching them dancing. His best friend is Malu (Gopika) who is wooed by Kumaran (Indrajeet) a local money lender and son of the man whom Radha’s father had killed.

Divakaran comes back from jail and is shocked to see that his only son is a good for nothing transvestite, but can do nothing about it. Slowly Radha’s liking for Malu turns into love and when Kumaran sees it, he beats up Radha with the help of her father (Rajan P.Dev) a local astrologer and dumps him in deep sea. But he is saved by Freddy (Biju Menon) and his sister Rosa (Bhavana) and they take him to Goa where he becomes a part of their family. Later when he meets someone from his village, Radha comes to know that his parents have been killed by Kumaran and Malu has given birth to his child!! How Radha goes back and takes revenge forms the rest of the story.

The problem with Chanthupottu is that it is neither a comedy nor a family drama. It gives the feel as though you have watched two films as post interval, the characters and milieu changes which does not have anything to do with the main narration and then the director tries to somehow end the story by a contrived climax. The film falters as there is not enough meat left to see the second half through. What follows is one gimmick after another to sustain the drama which does not really work.

The highlight of the film is obviously Dileep as Radha, his walk, mannerism and dialogue delivery are all top class. Indrajeet is ok as villain; Lal does his usual role while Gopika, Biju Menon and Bhavana are wasted. The songs by Vidyasagar are a major let down. On the plus side, Azhagappan’s camera has beautifully etched out the sea milieu. The film leaves you disappointed despite the interesting premise of the story.

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