Rock & Roll-A Quick Review ( Malayalam)

After Kaioppu with Mammooty writer-director Renjith is back this time with Mohanlal in Rock & Roll.After a turkey like Ali Bhai & an experimental flop like Paradesi maybe this is the movie that will make both Lalettan's fans as well as the aam junta happy.

This is a light hearted musical & Renjith seems to be in fine control.The story is fairly simple- Siddique is a well known music director & he gets a project with Lal-Jose ( playing himself) when they decide that that it will be great to have a good support score on the drums by Chandramouli ( Mohanlal) who is a world famous drummer, a close friend of Siddique.

In fact they used to have a music group earlier the other members being Rehman-now a key board player, Mukesh-now a well known background music composer,Lal-once upon a time a composer but now addicted to alcohol,seperated from his wife ( Rohini)& playing the violin now & finally Salim Kumar who is a tabla player.

Well Siddique contacts Mohanlal & after some convincing he comes down to Chennai for the assignment.There he meets another old friend,Shweta Menon who's a choreographer.Though Mohan lal refuses the work initially, on seeing a new singer Daya Srinivasan ( Lakshmi Rai) practice the song, he decides to join in.

Mohan lal has a reputation of being single & a big flirt & now he surprises himself & his friends by falling for Lakshmi Rai. So when she goes back to Mumbai, unable to bear the seperation, Mohanlal after a lot of thought decides to use the only weapon he knows to bring her back to Chennai- by announcing that he is turning composer for a movie & wanting her to sing for the project.

Lakshmi Rai is coveted by her cousin who controls the family & it is with great difficulty that she manages to come over for the assignment.When Mohanlal's friends get suspicious of his plans & question the whereabouts of the film's producer, enter Jagathi as the same.So how does Mohanlal go about executing his plan & finally what happens to the love for her is what the movie gets to show.

Renjith has done a great job both as a writer & director.The casting is excellent.Mohan Lal just rocks as Chandramouli the drummer ( people can easily identify him with an eminent drummer).His restrained act & sense of timing is excellent.Just watch him in the scenes when his friends try to conrner him & learn the truth- simply superb.Lakshmi Rai has a good debut in Malayalam.Jagathi is as usual brilliant in his portrayal especially his intro scene where he speaks heavy hindustani.

The rest of the cast- Siddique,Lal,Rehman,Salim Kumar,Mukesh,Manoj.K.Jayan,Shweta Menon& Rohini are all good.Special mention must be made of Suraj Venjuramoodu who plays a composer who lifts tunes- he's simply hilarious.Music by Vidya Sagar is good & suits the mood of the musical film.All in all a good film.

Rating-3/5