'Kalyanism' is watchable.
Giving lip service to women empowerment and doing nothing worthwhile to accomplish it in real life and failing to acknowledge a woman's worth,Anuram directed 'Kalyanism' seeks to take a dig on this undesirable set up prevailing in our society.The movie narrates the travails of a hapless housewife who is caught in maelstrom of problems and her efforts to extricate herself from it.There is nothing novel in the narration or earth shattering as far as the content is concerned.But there is a speck of freshness in the fact that it views things from a woman's perspective.
Kalyani(Ananya) is a diffident housewife who lives with her husband Sanal(Kailash) and daughter in the city of dreams,Dubai.Life is anything but rosy for this couple who belongs to different religions.Sanal dabbles in all sorts of businesses in his effort to bestow a swanky lifestyle to his fledgling family.But his immaturity and over ambitions lands him in trouble after trouble and the family is reduced to absolute financial penury.There are villains in the form of money lenders who make life a hell for Sanal and his family.Beset with problems galore and an array of police cases in his name Sanal's situation becomes virtually irreversible.
Kalyani who is dependent on Sanal slowly develops the courage to confront problems head on.Or rather she is forced to come out of her shell.Her distant relative Kishore(Mukesh) who is detested by Sanal,comes to the aid of Kalyani.The whole world comes crumbling down for Kalyani as one fine morning Sanal is arrested and incarcerated.Pushed to the wall 'Kalyani' draws from the wells of perseverance and optimism,which even she was unaware about till then.It is woman power to the fore and as the title it is all about Kalyani from thereon.
There is a twist or two in the climax but an alert viewer can guess what is in store.'Kalyanism' invests a lot in Ananya to deliver the goods.The actress is somewhat sedate in the initial stages and her roller coaster relation with her husband isn't entirely convincing.But Ananya asserts herself as the film reaches the business end.Kailash is convincing as an unfortunate expatriate who runs from pillar to post to keep his family afloat.Mukesh is solid in a pivotal role.But the antagonists are not properly etched out and their performances can only be termed average.Kochu Preman,Spatikam George etc. make their presence felt.
Binu Pallickal does a fair job with the camera while songs by Rajesh Mohan are passable.Anuram has tried his level best to create a watchable flick from a script that is decent.'Kalyanism' may not be a path breaking cinematic endeavor but it manages to put across what it intends to convey.It almost lives up to its tag as a woman centric movie and qualifies as a decent watch if expectations aren't sky high.
Review By Rajvikram for metromatinee.com
