Pettilambatra

Pettilambatra Story: Four young men in Kochi whose only aim in life is to find enough money for their next booze session is helped by a retired army man to start a business of their own. As life starts getting better, they volunteer to help a friend whose daughter is being harassed by some local goons. Though they only beat up the harassers, the guys find themselves caught in a murder investigation.

Pettilambatra Review: In one of the drunken soirees that the film shows, one of the protagonists confesses that they do not have a clue about what to do with their lives. It is actually a statement that holds true for the entire film. The director, Syam Lenin, who has taken credit for the story, dialogue and screenplay, inadvertently confessed to the pointlessness of this exercise.

The gang of four – Kathappan (Sanmayanandan), Saamy (Rony Raj), Kidu (Levin Simon Joseph) and Paraganan (Jensen Jose) work as part time painters and full-time boozers and loafers. Almost whole of the first half is dedicated to showcase their lame escapades and drink sessions which are peppered with jokes that fall flat all the time. While working on the paint job of a house belonging to Saamy’s relative, they get acquainted with a retired army man Sugunan who moved in to that home with his family. He motivates the guys to start a business and helps them with a small tempo, which they name Pettilambatra, and puts them in touch with a fish market agent Ramettan (Indrans). The men start selling fish and earn a good living. One day while having drinks Ramettan asks for their help in facing some local goons who are harassing his daughter.

Hot-headed Kidu forces his friends to go address the issue then and there. The men beat up the goons that night and go home. The next day, they come to know that all of those rowdies were found dead and the police are on the lookout for the culprits.

There were many films in the 80s and 90s with ensemble cast, mostly with Mukesh, Jagadeesh, Siddique in the lead or all of them together as well as Jagathy and Innocent thrown in for good measure. While some were hits, others had patched up storylines and multiple plots that went nowhere. Still they were mostly watchable because of the performance of the actors. Pettilambatra falls in the same category but not very enjoyable.

There are some well executed scenes, especially the opening chase sequence, though a pointless exercise in comedy. The writer-director’s dialogues are full of double meaning dialogues which is lame. And it is better not to go much into the misogyny – such a sad commentary of our cinema. Levin’s attempt at machismo and the effort to introduce a new mundu binding style is laughable. To the director’s credit, the plot had some scope and in the hands of a talented writer, it could have been a good indie.