Mandakini Review: Anarkali Marikkar, Althaf Salim’s film is a lazy wedding comedy that shines at parts

Mandakini Review: The Anarkali Marikkar-Althaf Salim movie is a lazily-written wedding comedy film, that would make a decent pick for a weekend afternoon watch.

Althaf Salim and Anarkali Marikkar in Mandakini.

Mandakini

Mandakini Plot: Aaromal (Althaf Salim), a shy yet loving young man gets married to Ambili (Anarkali Marikkar). The wedding celebrations go smoothly, to much the delight of both the families. However, things take a different turn when Ambili drinks the cocktail made for Aaromal by mistake. The new bride blurts out about Sujith Vasu (Ganapathi S Poduval), her ex-lover to the embarrassment of her husband. However, Aaromal's mother Rajalakshmi (Saritha Kukku) decides to find Sujith, after Ambili expresses her desire to meet him one last time.

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Mandakini Review: Director Vinod Leela and writers Shiju M Bhaskar and Shalu have created a decent wedding comedy, that works at parts. The movie becomes instantly relatable, thanks to the realistic portrayal of middle-class Malayali families, and their wedding celebrations. However, the predictability factor hits the narrative right from its beginning. The lazy writing and execution never really try to surprise the audience, either. After a point, the wafer-thin plot and under-cooked narrative doesn’t offer much (not even jokes that work effectively).

Almost all characters in the film, including the protagonists Aaromal and Ambili, do exactly what we expect them to do. None of the characters get a properly developed arc, which restricts the actors from performing well. Althaf Salim’s character Aaromal is almost an extension of his role in Premam, and the actor-director plays it in his signature style. Anarkali Marikkar’s Ambili shows potential at parts but suffers badly from lazy writing.

Also Read: Mandakini on OTT: Where to stream Althaf Salim and Anarkali Marikar’s family drama 

Ganapathi S Poduval delivers a template performance as Ambili’s ex-lover Sujith Vasu. However, Saritha Kukku, who plays Aaromal’s mother, gets a decent arc and quite a few moments to shine. The rest of the star cast, including Lal Jose, Jeo Baby, Vineeth Thattil, Ashwathy Srikanth, Jaffar Idukki, Jude Anthany Joseph, Ajai Vasudev, Kutty Akhil, and others are fine in their respective roles. Shiju M Bhaskar’s cinematography makes Mandakini a decent visual experience. Bibin Ashok’s songs are forgettable, but the background score elevates the simple narrative.

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Mandakini Verdict: This Althaf Salim-Anarkali Marikkar movie is a decent wedding comedy, which shines at parts. However, the lazy writing and execution make Mandakini a strictly one-time watch. You can stream this film on Manorama Max and OTTplay Premium.

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Cast and Crew

Anarkali Marikar

Althaf Salim

Aswathy Sreekanth