Review: My Big Father does not work

The success of any story depends on its novelty. The novelty can be in the form of narration, characters or the circumstances in the story.

Director Mahesh P Sreenivas's quest for novelty begins and ends with the casting.

He tells the story of a father and son, where the father is a dwarf. Thus, he names this Malayalam film, My Big Father. But we have seen Jayaram in many social films where he shared peculiar relationships with his father and played actors ranging from Thilakan to Innocent.

The novelty of this film is the father, played by the two feet tall Guinness Pakru (his name appears in the Guinness Book for being the shortest actor to appear as main lead in a feature film).

Kunjumon (Pakru) lands up in Kochi with an infant in hand. He approaches a teashop owner played by Innocent, with a recommendation letter, who says there is no scope for him there as the shop is on the verge of closing down. By the time the credits end, the business has turned around and the infant has grown up.

The boy grows up to be a strapping young man Alby (Jayaram), dancing on the beaches of Goa with his father and a bunch of dancers for company.

We see that the father too has 'grown up,' sporting a handle bar moustache with salt and pepper hair. He is now the owner of a successful catering firm, managed by his former employer.

Everything is hunky dory with some inane humour passed on in the name of entertainment.

The impending conflict comes in the form of a vow taken by Alby that he will not marry a girl, who laughs at his father.

Alby falls in love with a girl Ancy (Kaniha), whom he spots in a shopping mall, and they get married. But things do not move smoothly, making Kunjumon suicidal.

It seems the recent successes has made Jayaram push his luck by recklessly selecting projects that do not work. My Big Father is one such example. The film just does not excite you.

Rediff Rating: