Mayabazaar’ should have taken us for a special experience with its interesting story line. A film with a vignette on lives of scrap dealers unfortunately end up as a scrap though backed by a glamorous Mammootty who portrays his role with elan. The man to be deplored is sadly one of the most experienced script writers of our times, T.A. Razzak. His recent films like ‘Parunthu’, ‘Aakasham’ and now ‘Maya Bazaar’, are all showing similar problems in their narrative structure - films that refuses to move beyond their outset frames. Whence, this script from one of the best dialogue writers of the present times showcases more of an analphabet in him rather than any persuasive digressions for a downy show.
With such a harum-scarum scripts, ‘Mayabazaar’ is a flat out average movie making, from the first-time director Thomas Sebastian. He seems to be passive at the helm, letting his erratic actors run rampant with the thin script materials, in order to pad this pallid plot to a torrid 2 hour mark. In this tedious attempt, the movie offers a few twists that won't graduate to culminate for a handsome reward.
Thomas Sebastian's ‘Mayabazaar’ is perhaps aimed at the hardcore fans of Mammootty. But with a very lackadaisical approach to the narrations, and padding scenes out with excess heroics, the movie appears stretched out as a long film by any means. The enterprising basic story from Govind - Ramdas should have been a smart and witty comedy thriller, but wanes in plodding plot development and shallow, stereotypical characterizations.
The movie is set at ‘Mayabazaar', a market at mayanoor where scrap or parts of worn out vehicles are sold. Mammootty dons the role of Rameshan, a leading man of the bazaar and local do-gooder who buys old vehicles, dismantles them and sells the parts. Rameshan is the son of Akri Damodharan (Rajan P Dev) who migrated to Mayabazaar from Cherpulassery. Akri Damadharan is a typical character who occasionally steals money from his son and sets on for pilgrimages.
Rameshan, who values living for the downtrodden, is also the main organizer of lunch packets to the ailing patients of the nearby hospital. A lovable and fearless guy, he often has to deal with a rival gang lead by Bhadran (Kalabhavan Mani) who causes him problems, all based on his relation with Maya, who is madly after him.
The entire first half showcases the verbal and physical fights between Rameshan and Bhadran at regular intervals. Apart from the impressive titling and the surprise interval punch, there is nothing engaging in the former half. And in the later half, it is a different story altogether.
Only the quality of the actors manages to give the necessary spark to the screenplay imploding from a lack of intensity and interesting plot points. Mammootty maintains his masculine charm all through the movie, though with no exceptional execution. Sheela, rechristened as Maya in Mollywood shows her finesse in acting, in the few scenes that she have. Rajan P Dev, Sasikumar and Lalu Alex are in their very usual roles while the comedy trio of Suraj, Salim Kumar and Biju Kuttan fails to liven up, any of the scenes in the first half, that banks heavily on their one liners. In fact, this is one of the rarest occurrences in recent times where Suraj’s character is a total letdown, without being able to add any interest to the proceedings.
The debutant director, have showcased sparkles of his experience and brilliance in the second half and, in the racy flashbacks. The technical side of the movie is mentionable. Manoj Pillai's cinematography and Prasanth Madhav's art direction are the finest points of the movie which makes it a glossy, watchable affair.
Bijith Bala also support the director with fairly done cuts and visual effects and safely editing out the Mammootty ''dances ‘‘.
If you're a fan of Mammootty, perhaps you might like seeing him deliver this average movie, and watch it at least once. But it's quite a sacrifice if you are not. Because, no amount of high-energy antics can cover up the fact that the movie doesn't offer any measurable appeal to anyone.
