Varshangalkku Shesham First Day First Impression: Dhyan Sreenivasan and Pranav Mohanlal's Bromance is A Heartfelt Ode to Cinema

Writer and Director: Vineeth Sreenivasan

Cast: Pranav Mohanlal, Dhyan Sreenivasan, Kalyani Priyadarshan, Nivin Pauly, Aju Varghese, Basil Joseph

Duration: 166 minutes

Available in: Theatres

1. Varshangalkku Shesham is Vineeth Sreenivasan in all his glory paying tribute to two pet aspects of his – friendship and cinema. To be precise, this is a filmmaker content with the little fissures of the corny, syrupy side of human relationships, which is not a slant on his body of work. He genuinely believes in the goodness of people and the capacity for poetic justice in our lives.

2. The film is the cinematic equivalent of an overtly wholesome paperback that rarely overstays its welcome. Varshangalkku Shesham is a composite of Vineeth Sreenivasan tropes and that somehow works time and again, albeit it staying rougher around the edges this time as opposed to his earlier films. There is this fleeting sense of a maker known for low-stakes dramas finally clutching at something above his usual ambitions.

3. Two friends from Kerala embark on a life-changing journey to 'Madras’ in the late 70's with hopes of making it big in the film industry, but their personal journeys diverge. The film sometimes works as a character piece about artists with different temperaments figuring out their place in society and more importantly in each other's creative lives. There is an episodic structure at work here that goes about with the swiftness of a well-oiled machine, with minor hiccups.

4. The first half is lowkey the most efficient Vineeth has been in setting up his story world but the economy in etching out his primary characters feels a bit rushed and sacrifices their personalities, as the writing demands payoffs at a personal level that the characters have not yet earned. You feel like events and personal anecdotes are being dolled out with little moments to breathe in between. The cinematography by Viswajith maintains a visual cohesiveness in the period setting and the wall-to-wall album by debutant Amrit Ramnath is in no hurry to impress you, but slowly kicks into its intended glory. The songs are phenomenal in true Vineeth Sreenivasan fashion.

5. Vineeth keeps things interesting and his luddite tendencies give the period setting an authentic look and flourish.  You can see passing references to the music of MS Baburaj, the literature of Rabindranath Tagore and Victor Hugo all thrown in the mix and Vineeth puts his literary side on display and you witness him throwing himself at the straightforward narrative ideas in hopes of emerging with some sense of inner life that the material lacks at times.

6. Dhyan Sreenivasan and Pranav Mohanlal get to revel in playing cypher-like figures, who are meant to be stand-ins for emotional arcs and plot hinges, where the character is bypassed for sentimentality. Dhyan Sreenivasan emerges as the absolute winner here. A career-defining turn that sees him finally get into the physicality aspect of a performance and the actor gets to do stuff that he is normally not asked to. There are flashes of costumed role play in the present day timeline but Dhyan maintains a through line of emotional cogency.

7. Pranav Mohanlal is best put to use as the mystical, haywire artist slowly passing through people's lives but the spacious hollowness of his artistic streak resembles a stereotypical selfless artist figure who feels at home recognising and fostering the talent evident in the one's around him. But Pranav's real life persona adds layers of intellectual mystique to an otherwise one-note character type. The actor feels at home playing the resigned, hopeful older version and we see the performance matching his state of normalcy as an individual.

8. The passage of time is not depicted with such austerity by Vineeth.  You can feel the gaps and disparity in the way time is bridged in order to facilitate the emotional beats. You don't get the reason why Murali (Pranav Mohanlal) behaves the way he does in certain instances and the writing seems to be a convenient canvas for moving the plot forward. But Vineeth's trademark  'wholesomeness' doesn't let you wander off for much as he employs the right amount of levity to balance the meandering tone.

9. Nivin Pauly is in bonkers entertainer mode here and the actor single-handedly elevates the comedic affectations of the second half. Vineeth truly lets Nivin to chew the scenery and the actor gets to deliver some timely commentary on his own recent star image and the state of affairs in Malayalam cinema. There is a hilariously meta scene that deceives you for its slapstick quality.

10. Varshangalkku Shesham is effective as a coming-of-age drama about two friends when it wants it to be. Vineeth has shown glimpses of a new direction in his work, that is reminiscent of an older filmmaker getting comfortable in their later period, where their aestetics and artistic impulsese settles down a bit. The confidence and trend-adjacent instincts are all there but you also see a glimmer of an artist striving for a new light. Varshangalkku Shesham is not Vineeth's best work, but it sure is him working right from the heart and that is always a good place to be in.