Film Review: Jolly

``Jolly''

The activities in a college campus form the base for Super Good Films', ``Jolly.'' Debutant director Dilip Kumar, who takes credit for the story, screenplay and dialogue, not knowing which portion of the theme to improve upon, the comedy aspect or the minuscule of a drama, sinks in the quagmire he creates. The theme is some sort of personal vendetta - a rich Christian girl resorts to on the baby-faced hero, an embodiment of all virtues, because she fears the hero may take her place in the heart of her mentor, a woman college professor. The only high point of the movie is her friendship in the end.

Incondite scenes are a plenty in this movie. To cite an example, professor Kushbu, the second in command in the college, for reasons best known to the director, agrees to marry a ``clown'' from the U.S. (Livingston is delicately humourous in the ``background'' exposure scene) and thus upsetting the plans of his father (Mansur Ali Khan) who is hoping for a rich alliance through the Christian girl Anitha (Kausalya) to save his sinking fortune. The film opens with a song sequence picturised on the village girl Chellam (Keerthi Reddy) with well-manicured fingernails (the camera work of Ganeshram is eye pleasing). After the song, she disappears, only to be seen in the closing stages. The scene shift to a red light area where the hero meets the wife (Jeeva) of the betel-juice-spitting dada - the spitting is done only on flowers. Jeeva compensates for the loss of money by the hero (Abbas), when he is duped in a job deal by the accomplices of the dada and gives him her ``thaali'', which he readily accepts! Then he joins the college and the chaos continues.

Before Abbas could gather his wits to do some acting, the curtain falls on the show. Kushbu has a tough time arranging her hair which obstructs the camera angle. Her talent is wasted in an insignificant role. S. P. Balasubramanyam, as the professor with an unruly set of overaged students in his class, is convincing. Kausalya fails to generate the sparkle in her character and settles down to do some acting in the closing stages. Also in the cast are Vadivelu, Madan Bob, Haja Sharif, Dhamu, Ranganathan, Vyapuri and Annapoorani.

Newcomer Kavi has tuned in a nice number in ``Unnai Thotta Paatampoochi'' (Sujatha) and a mathematical equation song in ``(A + B)'' (S. P. Balasubramaniam).

D. S. RAMANUJAM