Dalamarmarangal

Cast: Vinu Mohan, Sruthi Lakshmi, Indrans, Megha Nathan, Surya Mohan, Sobha Mohan, Kanakalatha, Kochu Preman, Vinu Sankar, Malini Menon
Language: Malayalam
Banner: Film Fantasy
Director: Vijay Krishnan
Producer: Anil Dev
Camera: Kannan
Screenplay: Vijay Krishnan
Dialogue: Vijay Krishnan
Lyrics: Vijay Krishnan
Music: Mohan Sithara, M.G Anil
Distribution: Movie Bazaar Relase
Year: 2009

'Dalamarmarangal' is loosely based on Balakrishnan Mangad's short story entitled 'Oru Madapravinte Kurukal'. A story that holds tremendous potential on print is lost in transition, and ends up being an irksome exercise on celluloid that totally fails to sustain the viewer's interest.

Aswathy (Nirmisha) works as a salesgirl in a textile shop and has become adept in the games of survival at a very young age. Despite her frantic attempts to make both ends meet she refuses to lose hope in life. Karthika (Soorya Mohan) on the other hand finds herself face to face with a harsh reality that brings her life crashing down.

Rohini (Sruthi Lakshmi) has everything that the world could possibly offer her, except love. When she finds it in Praveen (Vinu Mohan), she sets out with him to explore a new world of possibilities.

Primarily pertaining itself to three young girls from diverse walks of life, the film goes on to narrate three distinctly separate but clearly linked tales that speak of the power of love. It isn't an easy story to tell, we would all agree. And in fact, the first few minutes of 'Dalamarmarangal' are quite invigorating.

The intertwining structure that the tale adopts does help a bit to retain an air of mystery that shrouds the film. There is a smooth switch over from one story to the next and the overlapping bits intersect as each one of the tales draw to a close. However, the crisscrosses that make up a major part of the film tend to get repetitive as the tales go on. At one point it so happens that the same scene is repeated for the fifth time much to the annoyance of the audience.

The promised climax is perhaps the most disappointing in that it can be spotted light years away. For the all observant viewer the very first scene blows it up all, since he has an all too apparent idea as to where each following scene is about to lead him on. There are no revelations in store and certainly no shockers either.

Technically the film seems to have emerged from some prehistoric cave, with almost every aspect maintaining a strictly minimal appeal. There is little to be said about the music as well, though it has to be mentioned that the one song that has made it to the screen and broken up into a three piece mumbo-jumbo simply aggravates the dullness.

Of the three lead performers Nirmisha is the best, quite at ease with her depiction of Aswathy. On par with the performances of several seasoned artistes, the youngster's remarkable feat is as much surprising as it is rousing.

'Dalamarmarangal' hardly startles. On the contrary it sedates you beyond belief and lets you wonder why it is that good stories always do not make good films.

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