Ennalum Ente Aliya movie review: A simple, sedate tale of helicopter parenting, elevated by performances

2.5/5

Story: Balakrishnan and Lakshmi have been trying to conceive, when the latter’s brother Vivek lands. In their same apartment complex in Dubai, another couple Karim and Sulfi are anxious about their daughter Ismi, every time she is on a call with someone. After another girl elopes with someone on the eve of the wedding, Zulfi’s anxiety peaks and she forces Karim to confront Vivek, after she doubts that he is in a relationship with Ismi.

Review: In Lukka Chuppi, director Bash Mohammed employed an effective story-telling device of old friends recounting tales, while slowly unravelling layers of the characters. His latest venture, however, is much more simpler – it deals with two families, helicopter parenting and that stress caused by a conservative mindset fearing others’ judgment.

The set-up is basic, as the filmmaker introduces the two families and their problems in a linear fashion. At times, take away the film’s setting in Dubai, and it will remind you of similar family dramas that veteran filmmakers such as Sathyan Anthikad has done in the past. There are a few twists and turns, which somehow manage to divert the audience from their initial guess of where the plot is heading, but these are mostly aimed at serving that ‘message’ that you saw coming right when Lena’s character of Zulfi is introduced. The film also does point out the hypocrisy of certain people, who let the fear of breaking norms overrule them.

The film’s positives stem mostly from its actors – Suraj Venjaramoodu, Gayathri Arun, Siddique and Lena. Though the pace of the film is sedate, it’s through the various scenes of these actors that keep the audience interested. Ennalum Ente Aliya has these moments – for instance, when Siddique’s character Karim’s expression changes from being pleasant to absolute shock when he sees Balakrishnan (Suraj) at the door or when the latter turns to see an inebriated Karim change his personality altogether.

Both the male leads deliver some memorable scenes but it’s Lena who sort of walks away with the best performance in the film – as a frustrating mother, who keeps her daughter and her husband in a perpetual state of anxiety. At times, you do feel it’s a bit over the top, but then that’s how the character has been conceived and she aces it.

Though the film does flat every now and then because of a thin storyline, it does help that the makers have kept the runtime below two hours and also added humour, without it being overly dramatic.

Verdict: Bash Mohammed’s Ennalum Ente Aliya has a simple tale with a predictable message. The actors’ performances are what makes it a passable watch.