Malayalee from India movie review: Nivin Pauly film ensures Malayalees stay grounded amidst recent successes

The movie commences with a scene featuring Nivin Pauly travelling on a bus through hilly terrain. It becomes clear that he’s in a foreign land where Urdu is predominantly spoken. The film then flashes back to reveal how Gopi ended up there and transports us to Kerala. In his homeland, Gopi is a notorious idler who lives off the earnings of his elderly mother and sister, without contributing anything himself. A fervent supporter of a right-wing Hindutva party, he dreams of a future where his party comes to power in the state and he’s showered with wealth and privileges without having to work. His best friend Malghosh (Dhyan Sreenivasan) shares the same ambition. Known troublemakers in the area, their pastimes include playing cricket with local kids, getting into fights and promoting their party’s ideology.

Meanwhile, a conflict erupts in their locality when some members of their party spot a few Muslim children bursting crackers on the same night the Indian cricket team lost a match against Pakistan. They blow up the issue and Malghosh swings into action to take revenge. Along with Gopi, who has no clue what has happened, he sets out to the neighbourhood and hurls petrol bombs on the kids’ houses, thus sparking riots in the area. Forced to flee, Gopi’s family sends him to the Gulf amidst the initial stages of the Covid outbreak. There, he finds employment on a desert farm managed by a Pakistani farmer, a situation he finds deeply unsettling due to his ingrained animosity towards Pakistan. Stuck in a predicament where he must labour for a living, contrary to his lifelong avoidance of work, Gopi’s “fortunes” take a downturn. The remainder of the movie “chronicles” their lives.

Watch Malayalee From India teaser here:

The film’s downfall begins as soon as it cuts to the flashback following the opening scene, inundating us with “political”, half-cooked dialogues and attempts at humour that fall flat due to poor writing. Scene after scene, the film presents disjointed moments that fail to coalesce into a cohesive narrative. Though it attempts to shed light on the prevailing socio-political landscape in the country where communalism reigns supreme and political aspirants sow discord to further their agendas, Malayalee From India is marred by subpar writing that fails to resonate with viewers, let alone provoke reflection. From the instance where an ill-informed Gopi schools Malghosh regarding the country’s growth rate and GDP and political parties discussing their election strategy to turn religious sentiments into votes to the depiction of riots triggered by the duo’s actions and the revelation behind the children’s firecracker display, each moment in the film’s first half feels borrowed from WhatsApp forwards or superficial Facebook posts, devoid of thoughtful artistic interpretation before being added to the script. Even mundane sequences in Malayalee From India struggle due to Sharis Mohammed’s exceptionally poor writing, leading one to assume that the political elements were merely added to compensate for the narrative’s lack of depth.

Even after entering the second half, by which time the spirits of viewers have already been crushed properly after watching mindless and directionless scenes and the atrocities fed in the name of comedy, the film finds little solace. Making one feel as if they are watching director Jis Joy’s version of Aadujeevitham (The Goat Life), the latter half of Malayalee From India, set in a desert, endeavours to unearth unnecessary goodness amidst adversity. While initially sceptical about the Pakistani farmer’s intentions, Gopi soon becomes friends with him and discoverers his aspirations for his daughter’s education. These portions unfold in a ludicrous manner, with moments that feel all too familiar due to their overuse in films depicting Indian-Pakistani encounters.

By inserting unnecessary praise for India and Malayalees, Sharis exacerbates the situation and the narrative fails to offer a single redeeming or high point. As we realise that the place initially shown is Pakistan and Gopi has journeyed there to meet the farmer’s family, Malayalee From India evokes a sense of déjà vu, reminiscent of many similar tales, and the unfolding of the story here is nothing short of amateurish, only to show a climax praising Malayalee(s). However, a major doubt one could have after watching the film is if it would have made any difference had Gopi not been a Malayalee as the script offers absolutely nothing rooted for the makers to have emphasised the character’s identity in the title.

However, Sharis’ writing is not solely to blame. Dijo’s direction is equally censurable, as the film lacks any moment worthy of the audience’s time and investment throughout its over 150-minute runtime. The filmmaker’s oversight of numerous plot holes and subpar characterisations is regrettable. The film’s amateur nature reaches another level as it even features some CGI in certain portions, to create a bandicota and some visuals of Gopi himself, as if Dijo had some extra budget to blow, further highlighting the maker’s lack of thoughtful execution.

The most disappointing aspect is the setback it gives Nivin Pauly, who has been seeking to revive his career following multiple flops. As he returns after delivering a commendable performance in Varshangalkku Shesham, Nivin’s underutilisation here is disappointing. Despite attempting to capitalise on his charm and comedic prowess, similar to how Pavi Caretaker did with Dileep, the film fails to effectively leverage his abilities. Nonetheless, Nivin remains the only aspect of the film worthy of attention. Dhyan Sreenivasan once again delivers an irritating performance, this time in a poorly written character.

The biggest disappointment is the way in which the makers used Anaswara Rajan in one of the most shoddily crafted female characters of recent times. It is indeed atrocious that Dijo got on board an actor, who recently made jaws drop with her stunning performances in Neru and Abraham Ozler, and gave her a lousy character with no substance. Manju Pillai, on the other hand, portrays a stereotypical mother to a manchild decently, while Shine Tom Chacko and Salim Kumar make brief appearances to deliver progressive messages before fading into obscurity.

Jakes Bejoy’s music, which fails to complement the movie, further exacerbates the disappointing experience of Malayalee From India and none of the other technicians manage to salvage it in any way.

In short, Malayalee From India is loud, irritating and underwhelming and serves as a reality check for Malayalees amidst the recent flurry of successful films.

Malayalee From India movie cast: Nivin Pauly, Anaswara Rajan, Dhyan Sreenivasan
Malayalee From India movie director: Dijo Jose Antony
Malayalee From India movie rating: 1 star