Oru Black and White Kudumbam

Cast: Kalabhavana Mani, Jayasurya, Bhama, Vinayaprasad, Bijukuttan, Lalu Alex, Jagathy, Manju Pillai, Ponnnamma Babu, Anoop Chandran, Manka Mahesh, Lakshmi.M, Krishnapriya
Language: Malayalam
Banner: Sunitha Productions
Director: Shaiju Anthikad
Producer: M. Mani
Camera: Jibu Jacob
Story: Pradeep Kumar Kavunthara
Screenplay: Pradeep Kumar Kavunthara
Dialogue: Pradeep Kumar Kavunthara
Lyrics: Vayalar Sarathchandra Varma
Music: Alex Paul
Distribution: Aroma Release
Year: 2009

Oru Black & White Kudumbam is an uncouth tale where the cast attempts to upstage the plot and vice versa, and neither wins. The film keeps wandering off on tangents, and on several occasions it takes a while, before it even shows any signs of returning to its roots.

Antony (Kalabhavan Mani) is obsessed with his black skin and his worries are amplified multifold when he sees his wife (Vinaya Prasad), fairer than the Fair & Lovely girl herself. Their son, the fair Aditya (Jayasurya) dreams of emigrating to Australia some day and gets caught up in a Visa scam that leaves the family bankrupt. When Antony moves to town in search of work, he sees a world of opportunities for his son and a final chance to restore what they have lost.

Seeing is believing when it comes to the story that takes place in Oru Black & White Kudumbam. The film makers try out every vile possibility in the book to twist and turn their bumbling enterprise until they come across 'No further twisting possible' sign. It's not just that it's forced and graceless, but it's instantly forgettable as well.

Antony and family are in for some huge luck as they get welcomed into some madcap millionaire group where career openings lie waiting for people in distress. How else do you explain the dad taking up a job as a driver, mom as a maid and the son as none less than the General Manager of the company himself? And it helps that none of the magnates have heard of something like an interview. Presto, you get appointed the moment you walk into their mansion.

A little bit of promise that the film held by way of its title, vanishes into thin air, as skin color never really turns out to be a major concern in the film. It does dwell on it for a while initially, and then moves on to so many other matters that are unbelievably trivial. And even when it does, nobody is really concerned about the matter at hand. Most of the concern is restricted to cooking up a few real moist jokes that evoke anything but laughter.

When it comes to triviality, we are talking of something really serious here. Even if you deliberately forget that grotesque appearance of the lead pair in phirangi outfits right at the beginning, there is plenty to follow suit. The jarring craters that appear on the script make the passing through tough. This pretty much explains a few hoodlums who disappeared without a trace, (the poor souls must have fallen in) most likely on account of the ever changing script that finally didn't know where to accommodate all those muscles.

If you are wondering if there are any possibilities of raking up some laughter amidst all this talent that's lying squandered all over, I would say no. Suraj is around of course, and he does tickle your funny bone as is the usual case with gags that smell of innuendoes galore. But there is very little that he can do to straighten out this overlong, messy stuff that snaps every time it attempts to stretch a little bit further.

There is nothing to go ga-ga over the performances either. We have seen both Jayasurya and Kalabhavan Mani in much better roles. Vinaya Prasad is fair to the hilt, and Bhama comes up with a decent act. Technically the film could perhaps be termed passable at best, but I wish the editor had trimmed at least a good twenty minutes off what I got to see.

Oru B&W Kudumban brings to mind some of those watered-down films of the early 90's. Wobbly right from the start, this is the last piece of entertainment that you would need to make your festive season resound with a few laughs.

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