My comedy series will be incomplete if I do not salute one of the supreme masters of the comedy genre in Indian cinema. Somewhat similar to other stories, where a very good screenplay writer also enters acting, Sreenivasan started writing screenplays and also acted in some of his scripts and then became a full fledged actor. Again most of his good work belongs to the golden age of Malayalam cinema in the 80s.
Sreenivasan excelled in playing roles where the person had an inferiority complex and tried to show off in front of others and tried to avoid reality/ escaped from it. Or he played the rival to the hero , who never gets a chance although he feels he deserved better somewhat the poor mans Mohanlal. His satirical writing sparkles in most movies and its best enjoyed with his own whining tone.
This combination of constant game of one upman ship between him and Mohanlal ( somewhat copied in many Hindi movies - Mujhse Dosti Karoge , Bhagam Bhaag etc) was taken to a crescendo in the 3 movie master series that he wrote. This series - starting with Nadodikaatu where the two try to escape to Dubai in a boat and get stranded in Chennai as they were duped by the agent. Hilarious scenes like the two walking in Chennai in Arab clothing follow. Somehow they find work in a company thats actually a front for drug smuggling, find the drug lord by accident and became CID officers. The satire is there in the situations - the classic case of Malayalis obsession with find a job in the gulf by hook or crook, being unemployed despite having good degrees and the society's barbs at them.
Then Pattanapravesham (entering the city), the next movie brings the two CIDs ( Dasan and Vijayan) to the city and they struggle to investigate cases since their disguises are always found out because of the shoddy work they do. Lastly Akkare Akkare Akkare ( past the shores) the last one directed by Priyadarsan brings together the best of the 80s Malayalam cinema characters and takes them to America . The duo manage to bring the combination of bumbling Thomson and Thompson duo of the Tintin comics and Pink Panther interlaced with sharp Malayalam wit when they are chasing a mysterious Paul Barber who has stolen a crown from an Indian musuem.
Akkare Akkare Akkare is a comic treat , the one upmanship is constant, the mystery sufficiently intriguing, the satire of CID movies, the characters absolutely brilliant - right from the Indian commissioner in the US , the mandatory Malayali nurse, the about to retire police commissioner etc and there is no dull moment in the movie.
I am spoilt for choice - but this scene shows the one upmanship so well. Mohanlal the senior cop Dasan since he is a graduate manages to convince his boss that only he should be sent to America. Sreenivasan playing Vijayan the deputy tries to woo him by cooking. Watch out for the scene where Mohanlal overplays ' America America', every time someone used to leave for USA for a software job or MS , its so apt. Watch out for the Thomson and Thompson type dressing when they leave for America. Sreenivasan's expressions are priceless especially when he is subdued.
Sreenivasan excelled in playing roles where the person had an inferiority complex and tried to show off in front of others and tried to avoid reality/ escaped from it. Or he played the rival to the hero , who never gets a chance although he feels he deserved better somewhat the poor mans Mohanlal. His satirical writing sparkles in most movies and its best enjoyed with his own whining tone.
This combination of constant game of one upman ship between him and Mohanlal ( somewhat copied in many Hindi movies - Mujhse Dosti Karoge , Bhagam Bhaag etc) was taken to a crescendo in the 3 movie master series that he wrote. This series - starting with Nadodikaatu where the two try to escape to Dubai in a boat and get stranded in Chennai as they were duped by the agent. Hilarious scenes like the two walking in Chennai in Arab clothing follow. Somehow they find work in a company thats actually a front for drug smuggling, find the drug lord by accident and became CID officers. The satire is there in the situations - the classic case of Malayalis obsession with find a job in the gulf by hook or crook, being unemployed despite having good degrees and the society's barbs at them.
Then Pattanapravesham (entering the city), the next movie brings the two CIDs ( Dasan and Vijayan) to the city and they struggle to investigate cases since their disguises are always found out because of the shoddy work they do. Lastly Akkare Akkare Akkare ( past the shores) the last one directed by Priyadarsan brings together the best of the 80s Malayalam cinema characters and takes them to America . The duo manage to bring the combination of bumbling Thomson and Thompson duo of the Tintin comics and Pink Panther interlaced with sharp Malayalam wit when they are chasing a mysterious Paul Barber who has stolen a crown from an Indian musuem.
Akkare Akkare Akkare is a comic treat , the one upmanship is constant, the mystery sufficiently intriguing, the satire of CID movies, the characters absolutely brilliant - right from the Indian commissioner in the US , the mandatory Malayali nurse, the about to retire police commissioner etc and there is no dull moment in the movie.
I am spoilt for choice - but this scene shows the one upmanship so well. Mohanlal the senior cop Dasan since he is a graduate manages to convince his boss that only he should be sent to America. Sreenivasan playing Vijayan the deputy tries to woo him by cooking. Watch out for the scene where Mohanlal overplays ' America America', every time someone used to leave for USA for a software job or MS , its so apt. Watch out for the Thomson and Thompson type dressing when they leave for America. Sreenivasan's expressions are priceless especially when he is subdued.
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