Khalid Rahman and his team, along with Nazlen and friends, have come to see Malayalis on Vishu this time with a sports comedy… Alappuzha Gymkhana!!
A feel-good movie that you can laugh and enjoy with friends or family for an evening, beyond that, there’s nothing much to offer for Alapuzha Gymkhana. Maybe that’s all the cast , crew and director expected from a movie like this.
Alappuzha Gymkhana does not have any of the ingredients needed for a normal sports drama, or rather, a different treatment can be seen in Alappuzha Gymkhana. There is hardly any emotional connect with the sports, here it is Boxing and the characters. Few moments during the boxing competition, a rush of adrenalin was there but the sustainability of that adrenalin was terribly missing. May be the movie is not focused on the sports as such instead the movie revolved well with the characters more. Loosing is never an end product of any sports drama .. however , script had a tailor made street fight set which showcased the skills of the loosing team and that brings a question mark why, then they couldn’t exhibit that skills on the ring..?
Movie revolve around few young people… choose a sport to escape their academic failures. Rather than winning that sport, they maintain the possibility of entering to higher education by participating in it… Presenting the things that happen on that journey in a humorous way… It is true that we could see the full-on comedy elements worked out through the children of Thanneermathan Dhinangal and Premalu in Gymkhana. But when the humor that flows flawlessly without any interruption in Thanneermathan dhinangal and Premalu reaches it’s peak in climax, but in Alapuzha Gymkhana didn’t deliver and that brings kind of boredom due to repetitive treatment just comedy.
I am of the opinion that Nazlen.. is always cool. Nazlen has worked hard to make a necessary body transformation for Alapuzha Gymkhana.. That validates Nazlen’s journey to becoming a good actor. Malayalis are familiar with his comical timing from his first films… By the time he reached Premalu, it had reached its peak… But there is still a doubt whether Nazlen is confined to a pattern…
In a promotional interview, the questioner observed Nazlen like this… “An actor who speaks dialogues very lightly, without being serious..” Nazlen may have taken that as a compliment, but in my opinion, it will be beneficial for Nazlen to pay attention to the scripts he chooses and not being typecast. It will be beneficial for his growth in cinema and his future journey in the industry.
Malayalis will not forget the song “Paalum Pazhavum Kaikalilenth…”… And so will Ganapathy! Ganapathy in Alappuzha Gymkhana has become a more matured as an actor … We saw it in Manjummal Boys too … The label of one of a kind suits Ganapathy well, but after all these years of film career, I have to say that Ganapathy still do not have good characters within his reach.
Mathews, Nazlen and Ganapathy are the promising new generation of Malayalam cinema … They are very talented .. Their strength is their natural acting like most of our lead actors .. Let them get more character roles … Let them not be typecast as mere comedians but advance far in the minds of the audience with good characters.
The laughter in Alappuzha Gymkhana will be at the forefront of Vishu 2025 anyway !!
VV
