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Starring : Mammootty as Older Brother
Prithviraj as Younger Brother
What would you think if a movie begins with with rolling credits? Would you consider leaving the auditorium? As Pokkiriraja began in such a hitherto unheard fashion I contemplated leaving the theater then and there taking it as a cue. But the hardcore bad movie fan in me got the better of my body and I sank back into the seat witnessing a collage of scenes copied and pasted from a slew of past movies, especially those starring Mammootty himself.
The opening scene reminded me of Pothen Vava where two families where fight it out to decide who will organize the yearly festival held in their local church. While keeping the situation essentially the same, the writers of Pokkiriraja simply changes the premise to temple in place of the church. They follow it up with a scene straight out of Aaraam Thampuraan where a patriarch in the mold of Narendra Prasad schemes to disrupt the festival in question. Soon, scenes resembling Rajamanikyam and Annan Thambi depicting the childhood antics of the two Hero-Brothers fill the screen space.
Charged with a murder that he never executed, the elder one is ostracized from the community by the kids' idealist father. That it was the Dad who had accidentally committed the crime makes matters worse. The son now has to keep the reputation of his dad intact and dutifully accepts the punishment. This situation paves way for the Dad to ask for forgiveness to his son in the later part of the movie on the lines of (yes, you guessed it) Narasimham.
Well, the brothers are separated and they grow up in different circumstances. Younger Bro has an introduction song designed for him and where have we heard that exact tune before? Aadungada Ennai Suthi from Pokkiri it is. Meanwhile Older Bro turns out into a good-hearted Don much like Mammootty's role in Chattambinaadu etc. And as destiny (a big yawn) would have it, they meet in the most ridiculous way since the time of Manmohan Desai. One brother completes the siblings' childhood motto for the other and the younger one recognizes his blood. I'm sure nobody would want me to list those movies from the 70s. Moreover, the duo keeps exchanging praises using lines which has more to do with their respective acting careers and nothing to do with the movie as such. Soon Mammootty's stooges too join them with some crap about Fans Association and one gets the feeling if it is a frigging documentary on Superstars.
It doesn't end there. So, we have a dumbass Commissioner of Police and his screwed up family (Not sure about the bloodline of Shriya Saran - is she from the Cop's first marriage or from his current wife? ). In any case, our younger bro is madly in love with her and older bro would go any lengths to unite them. Dont mistake me, this is not an action drama as the title may suggest. This is purely what we in our BAD lingo would term 'wedding movie'. Hell, maybe not in the same vein as 'Seethakalyanam' or any Sooraj Bharjatya flicks, but there you have it. A confrontation scene between Bros and goons inside the villain's den (Police Commissioner nonetheless and it doesn't matter that the Bros are too goons themselves) is what gave me the creeps. All we normal viewers get to see (I say normal because it helps the cause of this explanation in latter parts) is a ruffian holding a gun straight at Mammooty and in the next shot we see the poor chap lying on the floor with Mammootty sitting relaxed in a chair while holding the same gun. Now, our Villain is so awestruck that he hasn't got a clue about what might have happened. And it is the turn of Bro Younger to persuade his Dad-in-Law-to-be to visualize the movement in super-slo-mo because Bro Older's action cant be comprehended by us mortals in 'normal' speed. Villain obliges and we see what actually transpired between the poor extra and Mammotty. Apart from the silliness of the whole sequence I was appalled by the fact that it was lifted from Mahesh Babu's 'Athidhi' which was released some three years before Pokkiriraja.
Special prizes for guessing the pranks (yes, pranks!) played by the Bros on the Villain before Prithviraj and Shriya tie the knot and we have our biggest summer release. If this isn't the abyss that most people claim that Malayalam Cinema has sunk into in recent times, then I don't know what is.