We can see the desperation in Prithviraj to secure his place in Malayalam cinema while watching his latest film One Way Ticket [with the tagline: Story of a Mammootty fan] directed by Bipin Prabhakar.
The director has earlier given us Khakhee, a police story-cum-family drama starring Prithviraj and Mukesh as brothers. This film written by Babu Janardhanan is a package to exhibit Prithviraj's range as an actor, which he does with elan. After establishing that our hero is really a Mammootty fan in the first half hour, the story moves forward on a predictable trajectory.
Kunjappu [Pithviraj] is the General Secretary of Mammotty Fans Association in Malappuram. His job is to ferry school children in his jeep, which he accquired through sheer hard work. Being our typical hero, he'd sacrificed his education after standard 10 [in spite of being a topper in his school] to look after his mother and siblings. His cousin Sajira [Radhika] is in love with him but he pretends to reciprocate her feelings just to tease his uncle played by Jagathy Sreekumar.
There are a number of elements seen here which we have seen hundreds of times in Malayalam films. There is a heroine Sunanda [Bhama], who fears for her life after her greedy uncle Ezhuthachan [Thilakan] leaves no stone unturned to grab his niece's wealth. Which brings our man into the picture. He reluctantly takes on the responsibility of being her saviour, which leads to romance.
The most important thing is that Kunjappu gets a couple of opportunities to threaten the Circle Inspector, that too inside the police station.
The overall treatment of this film leaves a niggling feeling that it may have been inspired by Meesamadhavan and Rasikan.
However, the brightest moments of this film is when Mammootty [playing himself] makes an appearance a couple of times [it may prove to be a good omen for the film if we go by the history where megastar has appeared as himself].
Prithviraj's performance sprinkled with humour works in his favour. He gets ample support from Idduki Jaffer [who plays his assistant Chandaran], Jagathy Sreekumar and Salim Kumar.
The leading ladies Bhama and Radhika, however do not have much to do except look charming.
If the team behind One Way Ticket is lucky, they may taste success at the box office. But, it would be good for Prithviraj if he can motivate the team behind the camera to give him something novel instead of reworking decade-old themes.
Rediff Rating: