'Mera Naam Shaji' movie review highlights: A feeble comedy trying too hard to be a thriller

After Amar Akbar Anthony and Kattappanayile Ritwik Roshan, Nadirsha is setting out for a "hattrick" box office success with Mera Naam Shaji.

Starring Biju Menon, Asif Ali, Baiju Santosh, Sreenivasan, and the likes, all directed by Nadirsha, '

Mera Naam Shaji

' could well be expected to be an out-and-out comedy. But the film is more a thriller than a comedy, a slight deviation from what the viewers usually expect from Nadirsha. Hence in a way 'Mera Naam Shaji' could be a litmus test to how well the director branches out into other genres. But given his name the film does focus on comedy,i camaraderie and the comman-man's psyche.

An honest taxi driver from Thiruvananthapuram, a con man from Fort Kochi and a quotation goonda from Kozhikode, all three named Shaji. A quotation the goon Shaji takes up ties the destinies of these men in a series of unexpected events. And at the interval the three Shajis' almost find their way to each other.

The lead men, Biju Menon, Asif Ali and Baiju Santhosh are in full form. Dharmajan Bolgatty, Jagger Idukki and the likes are all in to provide some comic respite, but the script limits them to a far extent.

'Mera Naam Shaji' comes complete with a staple diet of generic and formulaic music with an expected dose of clearly choreographed chorus dance et all. And for humour, it comes with some good, bad and ugly comedy.