Magic Lamp

Cast: Jayaram, Meena, Kushboo, Rasika, Jagathy
Language: Malayalam
Director: Haridas
Music: Ouseppachan
Year: 2008

Magic Lamp is a comedy of errors and mismatched identities that never really provides a convincing argument for its own being. For one, I am still wondering as to what on earth hit me last night and two, my head still hurts real bad.

It all starts with a photograph that flies right out of a window somewhere and lands up in the hands of Anupama (Meena) who happens to drive by. She uses it as a trump card to keep those unwanted marriage alliances at bay, and claims that she was molested by the man in the snap at Goa! A search for 'the man' leads to Sunny Kuruvila (Jayaram), about to be betrothed to Alphonsa (Rasika), to Dr. Nandakumar (Jayaram), not-so-blissfully married to Viji (Divya Unni) and Chandrasenan (Yeah, him again!) with the twirled up mouche and menacing glare.

I am yet to come across an identical individuals' tale that's based on as corny a premise as the one in Magic Lamp. I mean, I just couldn't get it however hard I tried. There should be some plot lying around, I tell myself and keep up the hunt. Until I realize that it's all just a bunch of nonsense, that doesn't have any intention to raise itself from the dismal depths to which it had fallen.

Humor in Magic Lamp zeroes in on a few 'vital' elements as the female anatomy for its inspiration. You don't expect much though, when it speaks of molestation as casually as chewing a piece of gum. The film is a celebration of double entendres and you have them left, right, center and all around. There's swearing galore as well, as half-utterances have a field day!

So here we have an overdose of Jayaram in four roles, of which he's particularly funny in one. Meena hams to the hilt and looks as absurdly clad as can be. You cant really blame her, for the times have changed. And there's an actor parade that follows with almost everyone from Jagathy Sreekumar to Indrans embroiled in a mud slinging match of a film that's more muddled and less funny. Oduvil and C I Paul are there as well in this mayhem, bless their souls!

The lamp has been in the making for about eight long years, and it does show. It does get a bit fidgety and all jerky on several occasions and the graphics are plain embarrassing. The technicalities are simply not worth a mention except for the grossness of it all and neither is the discomforting music.

If there were a rule of moviemaking that the film should call it a day when the plot dries up, Magic Lamp wouldn't have progressed beyond its first few minutes. For here is an unfortunate instance where you have the audience instead of laughing with the movie, laughing at it. There is not a soul that emerges unscathed out of this mess that tastes like an awfully stale burger drenched in cod liver oil.

There's a surplus of crudeness, disorder and chaos in Magic Lamp, but not even a semblance of anything you could call comedy. Which makes it a stunningly inept movie that is an early runner for the Worst Flicks List of 2008.

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