Boban Samuel is back
with his latest flick Happy Journey, a movie dealing with the life of a blind
cricketer, with Jayasurya playing the protagonist. Though the movie is
thoroughly enjoyable in the first half, it becomes dull in the second half as
the script is totally messed up.
Story Line
The story of Happy
Journey is all about Aaron (Jayasurya) and his life journey. The story unfolds
through flashback scenes narrated by Aaron to Siya Sidharth (Aparna Gopinath),
who he meets on a journey to Chennai. Aaron, son of Alice (Lena) is a hardcore
cricket fanatic. Knowing about his passion for cricket, Alice seeks the help of
John (Sunil Sukhada), a cricket coach, to train his son.
On the go, Aaron gets selected for under 15 cricket tournament, but everything takes a turn when he loses his eyesight following a road accident. But Alice and Aaron refuses to give up and they try again for getting him selected in Blind Cricket team. On the day when Aaron was all set to go to Bangalore to join All India Blind Cricket team, Alice dies and following this Aaron gives up his desires for playing cricket. He gets a helper job in a hotel run by Easop (Idavela Babu). Freddy (Balu Varghese), an artist who plays side roles in TV and films, is the cousin of Aaron and a helping hand throughout. The cricket team of the area, coached by John inspires Aaron to try again for getting selection in the blind cricket team of India. Getting selection to the team, Aaron meets with the newly joined coach of the team, Gopikrishnan (Lal) who has been struggling through different jobs after giving up his job as a cricket coach in his earlier life. Rest of the story deals with Gopikrishnan with Aaron and the cricket team members struggling through different phases of life to achieve their desires.
On the go, Aaron gets selected for under 15 cricket tournament, but everything takes a turn when he loses his eyesight following a road accident. But Alice and Aaron refuses to give up and they try again for getting him selected in Blind Cricket team. On the day when Aaron was all set to go to Bangalore to join All India Blind Cricket team, Alice dies and following this Aaron gives up his desires for playing cricket. He gets a helper job in a hotel run by Easop (Idavela Babu). Freddy (Balu Varghese), an artist who plays side roles in TV and films, is the cousin of Aaron and a helping hand throughout. The cricket team of the area, coached by John inspires Aaron to try again for getting selection in the blind cricket team of India. Getting selection to the team, Aaron meets with the newly joined coach of the team, Gopikrishnan (Lal) who has been struggling through different jobs after giving up his job as a cricket coach in his earlier life. Rest of the story deals with Gopikrishnan with Aaron and the cricket team members struggling through different phases of life to achieve their desires.
Performances
Jayasurya as Aaron
gives out a splendid performance. He acts the character of a blind cricket
lover to near perfection. Lal as Gopikrishnan too gives out a decent
performance. Aparna Gopinath as Siya has nothing much to perform in her role.
Balu Varghese as Freddy is a treat to the viewers. Almost all his scenes with
the Cochin dialect is laughter evoking. Srindaa Ashab as Aparna, daughter of
Gopikrishnan, has also done her part well. Rest of the actors including Lena,
Seema G Nair (Lis), Sunil Sukhada, Idavela Babu, Madhupal (Dr James Themmadan),
Sasi Kalinga (Shukkoor), Chemban Vinod (Ganesh), Indian Pallassery (Pranchi)
have done justice to their roles. Cinematography by Mahesh Raj is good. Though
he could not work out the visuals to an exceptional level, he has managed well
to hold them to a decent level. Music by Gopi Sundar is pleasing. The songs are
well placed in the movie and background score suits the overall feel the movie
tries to convey. The negative aspect of the movie is the script by Arun Lal.
Though he has written the plot well through first half which amuses and
entertains, the later half fails to impress. Many plots are messed up and
confuses when and where the ongoing things are happening. Also the weak climax
where some unwanted twist elements are stuffed into also falls flat. Direction
by Boban Samuel was good and his best through the first half, while he couldn't
manage it later. The best part of the movie is that it reminds us of the
cricket team for blind, who are less considered and valued for.
Box Office Verdict
With a better second half, Happy Journey could
have marked its spot in the list of good movies released in the year so far.
The movie stays average which can be watched with less expectations. For the
last word, the journey which has been termed Happy is not that happy by the
end.
Rating
– 6/10
CCL SEASON 4- 2014 LIVE