'Padakkalam' Movie Review: Suraj Venjaramoodu, Sharaf U Dheen's Comedy Is One-Note, But Still Infectious Fun

Writer: Nithin S Babu, Manu Swaraj

Director: Manu Swaraj

Cast: Suraj Venjaramoodu, Sharaf U Dheen, Sandeep Pradeep, Arun Pradeep, Niranjana Anoop

Language: Malayalam

There’s an infectious amount of silliness in Padakkalam which makes this fantasy impossible to take seriously. Speaking broadly, it’s another one of those body-swap comedies in which the jokes emerge out of our amusement on seeing one actor perform like another. There have been dozens of comedies in a similar vein, including Big (1988), The Hot Chick (2002) and Freaky Friday (2003), with Malayalam cinema getting its version in Shine Tom Chacko’s Ithihasa (2014).

But with Padakkalam, we take a few outrageous steps ahead to be left with a plot that goes beyond the basic setup-payoff pattern of most body-swap comedies. The writers of Padakkalam push their concept to the limits, not just by throwing in the idea of one character being able to control the body of another, but also by making this a three-way swap.

A still from 'Padakkalam'

This might not seem like a big deal, at least on paper, but there are also a series of wild jokes that work only because of this equation. This triangular body-swap (the logo of a college festival is a nice hat tip to this) works even better because it takes place amidst the daily politics of an engineering college and four instantly relatable college students. It goes on to become more effective when the writers chose to amp up the confusion by adding two more eccentric college professors, played by Suraj Venjarmoodu and Sharaf U Dheen. 

The jokes that follow simply write themselves because the concept is rich enough to accommodate almost anything. One of these, which deals with drinking alcohol after the body-swap, isn’t limited to a single major gag, but a recurring motif that actually contributes to the film’s progress. The wildness of the concept is then further exaggerated by giving this set of talented actors a free reign to do almost anything with their performances. The result isn’t just the absolute joy of watching Sharaf U Dheen trying to play an exaggerated version of Suraj Venjaramoodu, but him pushing his performance to such a point that we no longer realise what he's doing or where he's going with it. 

A still from 'Padakkalam'

It’s a lot of silly, harmless fun from thereon made sillier by the film’s lack of interest to say anything serious. But at times, this comes at a cost because there’s no character or motivation we have to hold on to.

Decisions such as including the family equations of one character feels like so much of an afterthought that we wait for the scene to end, so we can go back to the comedy. Even the jokes that result from the body-swap begin to feel repetitive and one-note, especially when you begin to predict where they’re going. However, even when it feels like it’s all getting a bit too much, there’s a clever line or scene that’s just random enough to surprise you. It's not a film that even aspires for greatness, but when it comes to achieving what it sets out to, Padakkalam graduates with flying colours.