1.Nowrunning[2/5]:
Bibin Prabhakar's debut directorial venture Khakhi was a rather good film and showed promises of a good director. But his second film, One Way Ticket, which was an eagerly awaited film, fails to make that kind of an impact.
One Way Ticket tells the story of Kunjappu, a jeep-driver whose real name is Jahangir. He is a die-hard fan of Mammootty and is the General Secretary of the Malappuram District unit of the Mammootty Fans' Association. His family consists of his mother and three sisters, two of whom are married. They want to see him married and so a marriage-broker named Beeran is entrusted with the job of finding a match for Kunjappu.
Working as a cleaner on Kunjappu's jeep, is Chandran, who is the treasurer of the Mammootty Fans Association. Kunjappu has an uncle who has always kept himself at a distance from Kunjappu and his family. He has a young daughter called Sajira. To irritate this vile uncle, Kunjappu always goes about saying that he would marry only Sajira. The uncle takes it seriously and to prevent this from happening, he helps Beeran find more and more girls for Kunjappu, but he rejects all the proposals brought by Beeran.
In the meantime Kunjappu goes to attend a wedding and there he sees a girl singing the Oppana. He gets attracted to the girl and makes inquiries about her. He learns that the girl's name is Raziya and after getting the address and other details, he tells his family that he is in love with Raziya, and that he intends to marry her. His uncle learns about this from Beeran and is happy. Preparations for the marriage begin. And then one day Kunjappu goes to Raziya's college to meet her. And there he learns that it is not Raziya that he has been seeking to find. The girl that he had fallen for was some other person, whose name was Sunanda.
Now it so happens that Sunanda has an uncle named Karunakaran Ezhuthachchan. He and his son Sasi intend to grab Sunanda's property and assets. What all happens after this forms the rest of the plot.
Prithviraj's performance as Kunjappu is good, though not extraordinary. Bhama as Sunanda doesn't have much to do. Mammootty, who appears as himself in a few scenes, is his very usual self and is quite cool. Jaffer Idukki as Chandran, Salim Kumar as Beeran and Jagathy Sreekumar as Kunjappu's uncle fit well into their respective roles. Jagadeesh delivers a very good performance as Salahuddin, who is the accountant-cum-driver of Kunjappu's uncle. Classmates fame Radhika cuts a poor figure as Sajira, a character that has been rather poorly etched out.
It's really sad to see that director Bibin Prabhakar and scenarist Babu Janardhanan couldn't manage to etch out a more meaty role for a veteran actor like Thilakan, who elicits quite a few boos (maybe for the first time in his long acting career) playing the character of Karunakaran Ezhuthachchan. And this when the role would have suited the calibre of someone as versatile as Thilakan. Nishant Sagar as Sasi does nothing noteworthy.
There is nothing much to mention about the technical aspects of the film. Two of the three songs in the film seem out of place, while the Oppana song "En khalbile...", penned by actress Kavya Madhavan, is good. The main problem with One Way Ticket is that it bases itself on a weak plot. The script, penned by Babu Janardhanan (who has scripted many good films in the past), leaves much to be desired. The first half of the film is watchable, but post-interval it just drags on, with nothing much to say. To sum up, One Way Ticket falls far below expectations.
2.Nowrunning[1.5/5]:
One Way Ticket is nothing more than a series of flat jokes stringed together on a clumsy cord. It fiercely struggles to be both naughty and nice, and is effectively neither.
Kunjappu (Prithviraj) is the leader of the Mammootty Fans Association at Malappuram, who would very easily give up his life for the actor. Besides watching Mammootty films, Kunjappu drives an auto rickshaw for a living, and pretends to be in love with his cousin Sajira (Radhika), merely to irk her dad Hajiyar (Jagathy Sreekumar). Love strikes when he bumps into Sunanda (Bhama) at a marriage, and Kunjappu takes upon himself the arduous task of rescuing his lady love from her tormentors - her ominous uncle Ezhuthachan (Thilakan) and his wayward son Sasi (Nishanth Sagar).
One way ticket is an exercise in emptiness; there's practically nothing happening here. I suppose it has endorsed itself as a comedy, and yet offers very few giggles and even fewer chuckles. The way those gags have been forcefully woven into the narrative makes you whimper and whine instead. I couldn't help but wonder as to whether Fans' Association meetings actually discussed issues as petty and paltry as the ones depicted in One Way Ticket. For sure, they can't be! This obsession with insignificance is what mars the film's chances.
Prithviraj has been bestowed a vibrant 'Voice of the Youth' honor, we realize as the initial titles roll. I wouldn't disagree, for the man is honesty and sincerity personified. He dances like a dream and carries out his stunts in style. There's nothing backing him here; neither a story nor a script, and yet he gives it his all. Thilakan is back after a hiatus, and it's a disgrace that we get to see him in a role that could have been donned by any other junior artiste. The sinister background score that props up when we get to see the actor, embarrassingly reminiscent of those 80's action flicks, is awkward to say the least. With a pair of dark glasses on, we never get to see his eyes in this film, and the few scenes that he graces are left without a cause or result whatsoever.
And there's Mammootty playing himself and even letting us sneak a quick look on his forthcoming flick, Parunthu. He looks as impressive as ever and majestically tides over the triviality associated with the scenes. It has to be admitted that those are the only instances of spontaneity that you would get to see in the film, while the rest of it is a hollow and real gaudy affair that has lots of style and very little stuff.
One Way Ticket is a comedy that is as lame in its narration as in its implementation. There is non-stop outrageousness going on, and almost all of it, though inoffensive, is in fact pretty boring. Half the time, it has no idea as to where it's headed, which is what makes it two-faced and tedious in ways its makers seem completely ignorant of.
This ill-conceived and half-baked attempt at humor is not a side-splitter by any means. Filled with plastic emotions and wrapped up by dry wit, One Way Ticket squanders an excellent cast and some tremendous promise on a frail structure.
3.Rediff[2/5]:
Old wine in new bottle:
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.
4.Indiaglitz:
One Way Ticket - An average fare with a cold ‘finale'
IndiaGlitz [Saturday, June 21, 2008]
Fans associations had been always crucial in ensuring an awesome opening for those movies, which star their favorite on screen demigods. Especially in Mollywood, stars and their fans share an unique and interesting relationship .What director Bibin Prabhakar was trying to explore through his movie ‘One Way Ticket' was this interesting relationship between a superstar and his fan, which ultimately results in the star making some important amendments in the life of his fan. But mishmash in plot points, the culmination to the story and the note on which the film ends mars the impact of the film completely, making it an average fare.
The movie has Prithviraj as Jehangir, the district president of Mammootty fans association. Popularly called by the name Kunjapoo, he is the third rank holder in Plus two examinations. He was forced to become a taxi jeep driver, due to the dismal financial conditions of his family consisting of three sisters and widowed mother, for whom he was the only savior. Kunjappoo had made it a point to harass his uncle Bava Haji, by projecting stories about his love with Bava Haji's daughter Sajira and spreading false stories about his plans to marry her. But Haji is hell bend on bringing up some proposal to keep Kunjappo away from his daughter. His trusted aides broker Sakath Beeran (Salim Kumar) and Kanakkapillai Salahudeen (Jagadheesh) is always up to something in this direction.
Kunjapoo accidentally falls for a girl, who comes for an 'Oppana' dance at one of his friend's marriage. Mislead about her as ‘Rasiya’, he tries to track her whereabouts. This news comes as a big relief to Bava Haji, who immediately reaches Rasiya’s house and officially announce her relation with Kunjapoo and plans for the marriage. But later Kunjappo realizes that it was another girl named Sunanda (Bhama) whom he mistook as Rasiya, while agreeing for the marriage. Kunjappoo turns away from the deal and Bava Haji is now forced to marry off his only son with Rasiya.
Sunanda on the other hand, has her share of problems. His venomous uncle Karunakaran Ezhuttachan (Thilakan) is hatching plans to get her agree to marry his widower son (Nishanth Sagar), and thus seize her huge family fortune. Even though Kunjappoo and Sunanda part ways initially, they cross each other's path at regular intervals, try to find solace in others' arms.
And ultimately Kunjapoo is destined to become the savior of the girl, whose father has already been murdered and her mother, at the verge of another fatal disease. How Kunjaapoo works out plans to save her with the help of the real superstar, whom he admires, forms the plot the film. The film has a freeflow till the half way with rollicking comedy from Jagathy, Salimkumar and Jaffer Idukki. But thereafter the story comes to a screeching halt and starts focusing on the romantic side than the story of fanships and ends up without fireworks as an ordinary fare.
The second hour drags and the climax would've been better, realistic to be precise. The final reels has been extremely pathetic with wayward screenplay coupled with plastic performances .The poor treatment of the script in the final reels, written without any attention to details ruins the chances of an other wise safer movie. A fine-tuned performance from Prithviraj saves the film from becoming a much bigger dud. He plays his part, particularly the lighter comic sequences with amazing timing and ease.
In fact, the actor has graduated to a natural actor to the core, handling the most complex scenes with flourish. The other silver lining in the film is the presence of Mammootty who does an eventful cameo, which couldn't raise the expected applause. Bhama, as the love interest, has some significance in the beginning, but she is totally lost by the end of the film. Thilakan as Bhama's uncle fails to evoke the necessary villainy, with the director trying to dismantle the flashback sequences and present the story only through dialogues. Jagathy Sreekumar essays Radhika's father, Bava Hajyar to perfection. Salim Kumar, Jagadheesh and Jaffer Idukki handle the comic department proficiently
But the technical side remains average with even cinematographer Vipin Mohan’s work, so tailor-made with old fashioned wide shots. The background score by Raja Mani is jarring. Except for a couple of songs including the oppana song, the music by Raahul Raj is not up to mark. Ranjan Abraham also fails to sustain the interest, with the needed sharp cuts in the later half.
‘One Way Ticket’ is too ordinary a ticket for a fare that doesn’t leave any impression whatsoever. On the whole, it meets the expectations partly. At the box-office too, the film will end up as an average earner .See it once, if you have the time and inclination.
