Producer– Venkatesh S Upadhyaya
Director- Sunderdas
Cast– Ann Augustine, Saikumar, Shari, Jishnu, Siddharth, Kalabhavan Mani etc.
Music– Ratheesh Vega
Lyrics: Rafeek Ahammed
Editing: Bijith Bala
Review By : Unni R Nair (Kerala9.com )
If you know what to expect out of a Sunderdas movie, ‘Rebecca Uthup Kizhakemala’ may not fully disappoint you. But a total look at it and the film may seem on the whole unimpressive. The main issue is it’s a bit of a confused mess. You’re led to believe that it’s the story of an athlete and you end up watching a family flick, one that resembles many you have seen over the course of years. There is nothing new, nothing much exciting…but if you are OK with seeing the same old story that you have been seeing all the while, then OK, ‘Rebecca Uthup Kizhakemala’ could be watched once.
Rebecca Uthup (Ann Augustine), who hails from Kizhakemala, a small town in the hills, is an athlete who has won a gold at the ASIAD. Her father Uthup (Saikumar), who is a hard-working farmer, had left his native place Kanjirapally years back with his wife Sosamma (Shari), who belonged to a very affluent family. Sosamma had been distanced from her family ever since, but after Rebecca wins a gold at the Asian games and appears on TV, her grandmother Annamma (Sukumari) yearns to see her daughter and grandchildren. Thus, Rebecca’s uncles (P.Sreekumar and Shanavas) go for reconciliatory talks. As a result things work out well and the near ones are all re-united. Soon Rebecca’s uncles come up with a marriage proposal for her. The guy is Kuruvila (Jishnu), a rich young planter from Kanjirapally. Meanwhile Rebecca aims for the Olympics and intensifies practice. She gets a new coach, Arjun (Siddharth), who is in fact her childhood friend. So now, there are two guys in Rebecca’s life and the story develops from here.
I won’t say the film is terribly boring; it didn’t bore me to the point of irritation. But there is nothing special about it either. You know what it’s all going to be and you may even get irritated at the many twists and turns in the story. The sports element is left unutilized. You expect to see more of the story of a sport-star and you end up seeing a mundane family flick. You feel you could have avoided it and watched one of the TV soaps instead.
In short, ‘Rebecca Uthup Kizhakemala’ is just an average kind of film, one that doesn’t make a difference, whether you watch it or not…
Performance
Ann Augustine is just about OK; maybe someone else could have handled the role better. She doesn’t look like an athlete and seems to be doing the role the same way she did ‘Elsamma Enna Aankutty’. Saikumar does a good job of his role. Jishnu and Siddharth have improved a lot in the recent times and their performances in the film are good. Shari is also good. All the others suit their characters well, but there is nothing to be called outstanding as regards anyone’s performance.
Technical aspects
The technical aspects are all just about in tune with the mood and the tempo of the film. Jibu Jacob has delivered some beautiful frames of the hilly locales.
Music
Background score is OK, songs average. Anyhow, Ratheesh Vega’s attempt to reproduce the 1971 song ‘Kizhakkemalayile Vennilavoru…’ is good and the song stands out as one of the highlights of the movie.
Script
V.C.Ashok could have worked out the sports angle in a better way; the film is OK, just about OK, as a family flick, but as a sports-based one, it fails to impress. Seems like the writer is a bit confused on what to deliver or perhaps about what the audience may like. Rebecca’s zeal as an athlete and her attempts to make it big in sports should have been his primary concern and then the film would have been different and much better.
Direction
Sunderdas, a veteran of many movies, is in control of things. But the film suffers because of a script that’s not up to the mark.
Verdict– Average! Neither here nor there kind of film…
Rating: 1.5/5