The Rainmaker

Movie: Ivar Vivahitarayal
Language: Malayalam
Wednesday, 16,June,09.

Review
Vivek 22 yrs old and all newly wed awaits eagerly for his wife for their first night. He expects her to be in Traditional Kerala Sari and with a glass of milk. Kavya, Vivek's newly wedded wife, enters the room in a night gown with no signs of a glass of milk with her and addresses him as 'Vivek' instead of the expected 'Vivek ettan'. Vivek is negatively shocked and shows his displeasure. Kavya asks " Even for the guys of today's generation who wear jeans and are modern, they still expect their wives-to-be to wear Traditional Kerala Sari and bring a glass of milk for them as per tradition".

The above scene is a good reality check for the male chauvinism or hypocrisy that majority of the malayalee population suffer from. Also, a good eye opener for anyone who thinks that marriage is somewhat like the 'staged drama' thats shown in malayalam movies where the wife always bears the brunt.
Director Saji Surendran's new movie 'Ivar Vivahitharayal', throws light at many of such attitude problems related to male chauvanism in our society and misbeliefs about married life among young men. But the sad twist is that Saji almost commits suicide by the weapon he uses.

+Ves
IVA boasts of a commendable first half. The script has a smooth flow and there is humour thrown in aplenty. Suraj is back in form and along with Jayasurya he creates moments that will genuinely bring more than a laugh. Script writer has to be applauded for the same. The proceedings for the first 30 minutes after the interval also seem somewhat fine.Performance wise Jayasurya plays his part. Bhama works in parts. Some scenes she acts fine but in others she leaves much to be desired. Samvratha is good but it seems she is getting typecasted in second heroine roles. Suraj plays a highlight role in the movie.Songs are just about ok with 'Enikku Paadan Oru' being the good one.Cinematography works as much required for such a theme.

-Ves
Now to the -ves. The interval point will definetely remind of you of 'Meenathil Thaalikettu' but one will still be happy because proceedings till then look good. After the interval, for the first 30 mins also the movie looks somewhat ok but after that Saji's serial instincts take over.After that each scene is ripped and torn apart with emotinal upheavels and overtures.

Each look which Bhama makes is accompanied by jarring BGM. Jayasurya and Bhama spend minutes on screen just looking at each other accompanied by the worse BGM in recent times.Bhama's character who till then is a today's girl with a sensible head on her shoulders turns in to the most contrived, cliched wife character doubting and throwing tantrums. Sitting through the last 45 minutes of the movie needs lots of patience and is as painful and dragging as Ravinda Jadeja's 35 ball 20 against England in the T20 World Cup decider!

The friendship between the 5 member gang is shown but not really well established for the audience to feel for them when that becomes an issue in the marriage and dialgoues are made regarding their noble friendship at the end.The movie at 2 hours and 30 minutes or more needs trimming immediately especially in the last portions. Editing leaves much to be desired.

Saji Surendran makes somewhat promising debue in the first half but he should get out of his serial mode. His guest actors except for Navya are veteran Serial actors. His emotional scenes are over the top serial moments.I guess when the movie reached second half and story had to move in to an emotional path, Saji just allowed his serial instincts to take over.

Last but the most annoying factor of IVA is that it looks like a Preachy Sermon towards the end. Its almost like a pre-martial counselling session by Ganesh Kumar. He keeps on lecturing the couple and others in the house. The scene ends we breathe a sigh of relief. Cut the action moves to outside the falt with all the characters in the movie and the lectur continues. It really needs some patience to sit through this.
In Short, IVA promises a lot with its good first half but falls falt in the second with 'high emotion serial type drama' and 'sermons about marriage' at the end. Also, I have a strange feeling that you may like the movie a bit more if you are married than if you are a bachelor.
Verdict - 2.5/5 and 'Average' rating for Ivar Vivahitharayal.
If you have the time and patience to sit thorugh a preachy and emotional second half take a look, you may be pleasently surprised by the first.
IVA - Could have been Good But remains Average.