Review : Maalamaal Weekly

[amazon_link id=”B000I0RVL8″ target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ][/amazon_link]Rating : Above average (3.6/5)
Genre : Comedy
Year : 2006
Running time : 2 hrs and 40 minutes
Director : Priyadarshan
Cast : Paresh Rawal, Om Puri, Ritesh Deshmukh, Reema Sen, Shakti Kapoor, Sudha Chandran, Asrani, Rajpal Yadav, Arbaz Khan

MALAMAAL WEEKLY : A COMEDY Of ERRORS !

I generally look forward to films by Priyadarshan, because they have decent comedy based upon some very humanly idiotic traits. People lie, people are greedy, people are tempted by money ; makes interesting stories. And ML is one such story. Loosely based on Brit. comedy “Waking Ned”, this one is told country-bumpkin style.

Laholi is a poor village, whose inhabitants are knee-deep in debt. The rich money-lender is Thakurani (Sudha Chandran). In the same village live lottery vendor Leelaram (Paresh Rawal), milk-man Balwant (Om Puri), and Balwant’s servant Kanhaiya (Reitesh). Leelaram one day finds out that a ticket he has sold has won the bumper prize of 1 crore. Since most villagers are un-educated, he doesn’t tell anyone of this, but plans to get the ticket back, by inviting all the ticket holders for a dinner. However, the winner of that ticket doesn’t turn up. Leelaram thus decides that it must be the village drunkard Anthony (malyalam actor Innocent) and turns up at his house, only to find him dead.

He now has the ticket but is discovered by Balwant and is forced to make him a partner. They are in turn discovered disposing of the body by Kanhaiya, and are forced to include him too. Events occur and the trio are forced to take on many partners, splitting the anticipated lottery money down by percentages. Now all they have to do is hoodwink the lottery inspector (Arbaz Khan) and get their hands on the money. However this turns out to be a difficult task . . .

This is a funny film, free of the usual double meaning comedy, and relatively “clean”. Paresh Rawal does a great job, and he is ably supported by Puri, and other actors. Script, screen-play and dialogue are apt. There are not many songs (only one I think), so music doesn’t play a big part. Priyadarshan manages to run little sub-plots within the bigger plot, to create a Wodehousian-like comedy. Lots of twists and turns in the story ensure entertainment.

A must-see.