There are people who migrate to foreign lands, spend some good years of their life there, earn some bucks to be secured and finally return to their homeland realising the obvious fact that they do not belong there. The title protagonist in Life of Josootty is one such character and the film wants to convey this self realization for him. As the tagline of the movie says, its an autobiography tracking the thirty years of a person. Jeethu Joseph after Drishyam and its Tamil remake return with a somewhat ordinary and simple film. There is a feel good factor in the film for most of the pre interval portion and from thereon it is an extended narration of the story that somewhat makes the flow of the film slow and boring as well.
Josootty by nature is a God fearing man, very good at heart and down to earth. His role model is his father. The film portray Josootty’s life from childhood to an age around forty. Various phases of his life and the people who pass through his life and who influences the character molding of the man is narrated in the movie.
Director has chosen humour, fun, sentiments and how relationships affect one’s life in conveying the story. The first half has all these elements that doesn’t make for a compelling watch but still there is a positive vibe around the pre-interval session to make for a decent watch.
Its the latter half where the film gets a new makeover and has a totally different feel from what we saw in the first one hour. All those simple and humorous situations takes a backseat as the film shift its primary location from the village of Kattapana in Idukky to the scenic beauty of Auckland in New Zealand. It is here that the film somewhat falter.
On the making side, Jeethu has kept things simple and follow it right through. The humour side and fun element in the first half worked out quite well. Its not the slapstick humour that we have seen from many of Dileep’s earlier films but a different one matching the situations.
Entrusting the character of Josootty in the hands of Dileep was a safe bet as the actor has portrayed the role with ease without making it look a dull one. There are two female leads with Rachana getting the lion’s share of the screen presence in the first half. The baton is handed over to Jyothi Krishna in the second half. In my view both were equally good in their respective roles.
Noby and Saju Navodaya are the men in charge of the comic department. Along with Dileep, they made sure that the funny side of our bone is tickled on a frequent basis. At the same time, their presence was badly missing in the second half as the story shifts its base to New Zealand. Chembil Asokan did a reasonable act in the second half.
The best among the supporting role and who made it a memorable acting outing is definitely Hareesh Peradi as Josootty’s father. A goosebump creating scene at the half way mark by the actor is enough to make you sit and applaud the talent he possessed.
Suraj Venjaramudu, Sudheer Karamana, Krishnaprabha, Sasi Kallinga, Sudheer Karamana, Vijayakumari, P.Balachadran and Aqsa Bhatt are all part of an elaborate cast that appear at some stage of the movie.
All credits to cameraman Ravichandran for capturing the scenic beauty and picturesque visuals of both the local place as well as the foreign land. Editing is fine while music by Anil Johnson is pretty good with some fine songs to the credit of the movie. Mele Mele sung by Shreya Ghoshal is my personal favourite among the four songs.
Overall, the film which narrate the life of a commoner doesn’t have any thrills and suspense to offer just what the trailer said. Tried to present something simple and straightforward that at times looked ordinary and boring also . Still it is watchable for the first half that worked mainly for coolness, fun and some sentiments. A shorter second half would have definitely helped the movie to a great extent. My personal rating for Life of Josootty is three out of five.