Guruvayoor Ambalanadayil Review | A Breezy Marriage Comedy That Started off With a Blast and Ended With a Flare

When the trailer and teaser of Guruvayoor Amabalanadayil dropped, the only major concern in most people’s minds was whether the eccentricity one sees in the performance of Prithviraj would be in sync with the energy of the rest of the cast. Well, as soon as the movie begins and in the first 30 minutes itself, director Vipin Das gives the audience a clear picture of the pitch of the humor in this film and also why Anandan was required to be in such an exaggerated mode. Guruvayoor Amabalanadayil is a typical Deepu Pradeep character-filled comedy that starts off spectacularly and ultimately ends being a passable light-hearted film.

So the movie is about the wedding of Vinu Ramachandran. Vinu works in the Middle East, and he is engaged to Anjali. The interesting thing about this alliance is that Vinu is more attached to Anjali’s elder brother Anand, as he has been constantly helping him emotionally get over his first love. Anandan, on the other hand, is going through a rough patch in his married life as he and his wife Parvathy are not on good terms. Things get complicated between the soon-to-be brother-in-laws when some last-minute revelations happen. What are those surprises, and how do they both deal with that is what Guruvayoor Ambalanadayil is all about.

If you have seen the movies and the latest series Perilloor Premier League written by Deepu Pradeep, there is a signature texture in the way he writes characters, and it is always the central conflict that makes the plot hilarious. The conflict in this movie is also hilarious, and interestingly they have not tried to push the revealing of that conflict towards the middle of the movie. The promo materials of the movie are so focused on the wedding that when we watch the movie and see the elaborate setup for the wedding in the first half, it feels fresh and, at the same time, hilarious. It is by the time the movie enters the wedding space, the screenplay starts to feel a bit dragged. The aspiration is to create that Godfather-like chaotic comical wedding climax, and in terms of scale, they have managed to do that. Maybe because the first half was so fluent that, the deliberate cast add-on to make the climax gigantic just didn’t feel that organic.

Basil Joseph, as Vinu, performs effortlessly as the insecure and underconfident hero. Even though he has played similar characters in other films, Vinu is distinguishable. I loved his energy in the scenes at the beginning of the movie where he was in combination scenes with Prithviraj, without really seeing him. Prithviraj as a villain is a treat to watch, and Prithviraj doing humor is something that can go bad at times. So, making Prithviraj that comical villain was actually something I was curious to see, and like I already mentioned at the beginning of this review, the meter of his humor works perfectly for this movie. As she said in the interviews, Nikhila Vimal’s character is not a full-length character with many lines. But Parvathy is a character integral to the plot, and Nikhila covers up for the lack of dialogue with her confused expressions, which were pretty hilarious. Anaswara Rajan doesn’t have much to do here, as the movie’s focus is the tussle between Anand and Vinu. Siju Sunny, Saafboi, Joemon Jyothir, etc., are there in the supporting cast, along with experienced names like Jagadeesh, Baiju, etc. Yogi Babu’s casting might help the movie have a presence in Tamilnadu in the post-Manjummel Boys scenario.

If you look at the humor in Guruvayoor Ambalanadayil, it is a blend of the kind of humor we have seen in the creations of Vipin Das and Deepu Pradeep. Some characters are loud, and the loud comedy is assigned to them, some characters don’t have too many lines, and the subtle side of the humor is given to them. Hence, the fun side of the story has almost all varieties to its credit. It is actually the much anticipated third act of the movie, kudos to the production design team and the visual effects department for making those portions look authentic on screen, where we are anticipating a big showdown, and the movie becomes a bit unexciting and thematically exhausting. There isn’t much tension in the audience’s mind, and hence, the whole Yogi Babu army and even the Nandanam references felt like a damage control strategy, and it wasn’t a bad strategy.

Guruvayoorambala Nadayil is a breezy, loud comedy that is enjoyable because of the consistency of the humor in the dialogues. With almost every member of the supporting cast getting funny lines and memorable scenes, it is an engaging watch despite the lack of tightness you will feel in the finale. If you have enjoyed the quirkiness in Deepu Pradeep’s writing, Guruvayoorambala Nadayil won’t really disappoint you.