JOLLY

A movie review by Balaji Balasubramaniam

I mentioned in the review for Tirunelveli that R.B.Choudhary's Super Good Films has earned a name for itself by producing a string of good movies and that the good name had not been upheld by that movie. But it looks like Super Good Films has been responsible for some bad films in the past too but they just escaped my notice. I was surprised when I saw their name associated with Jolly and the surprise was even greater at the end of the movie considering its quality.

Gowri Shankar(Abbas) is in Bombay, all set to go to Dubai to earn a living. But when he gains admission in a college in Madras, both his mother and his uncle's daughter Chellammaa(Keerthi Reddy) want him to study. So his mother mortgages their house to send him the money. At college, he has a lot of pranks played on him by Anitha(Kousalya) and also takes revenge on her with his own set of pranks. After a lot of heartburn, they become close friends. Anitha's father's partner(Mansur Ali Khan) has plans of his son Chakravarthy(Livingston) marrying Anitha but Chakravarthy falls in love with her teacher(Kushboo). Shankar and Anitha get Chakravarthy and their teacher married. The disappointed partner plans revenge by introducing a rowdy from Bombay as a good man and getting him married to Anitha.

An inordinate amount of Jolly is dull and uninteresting. Matters are made worse by the inconsistencies which abound and are rather glaring. For instance, Abbas' mother has scraped together the money to make him study but he strolls around in costly jeans and shoes. Even more ludicrous is the opening scene of the college where you get the usual dose of college students in atrocious clothes dancing to a song. This comes just after Abbas' mother decides to get him to study because he has just gained admission to a "prestigious" college where they admit only students with immaculate conduct! And then we see Kousalya ripping of the saree of a classmate to wear it and pose as a professor for Abbas That college must really have different standards for good conduct!

Characters come and go that have absolutely no bearing on the movie. The most obvious of these is S.P.Balasubramaniam's professor. Not only is it unnecessary but also poorly conceived to the extent of being silly. After going through a whole year bending to the wishes of his students (he even dances while singing a song about a frequently used algebraic formula!) he finally finds his voice on the last working day. But even that is made cartoonish when he takes out and fires a gun when his students don't listen to him. And then launches into a long dialog about his past and his dedication to the teaching profession - which instantly makes the students turn over a new leaf. And all this is not even in the college where Abbas, Kousalya or Kushboo are in! Janakaraj's character is another that has no apparent reason for existing in the movie.

The movie gains some lost ground in the concluding portions. The fact that Kousalya's intended husband is already known to Abbas is expected but the plot device the director resorts to, to keep Abbas from seeing his photo, is unexpected. This enables him to protract the suspense until the climax. The climax itself is also nicely handled, putting friendship on a pedestal.

Livingston could probably be called the saving grace of the movie. Comedy seems to come naturally to him and his antics whenever he sees Kushboo (accompanied by a nice background score) bring about a smile. Abbas, a heartthrob then in the wake of Kaadhal Desam, is adequate. Kousalya has the greatest chance for histrionics and uses the chance well. Kushboo looks very pretty and is dignified as the teacher. Pretty Keerthi Reddy is completely wasted in an inconsequential role. She has a solo song initially but is absent for most of the movie before showing up again in the end. Debutante music director Kavi's songs are eminently forgettable.