Oru Indian Pranayakadha

Sathyan Anthikad's 2013 Malayalam film follows a young local politician. Aymanam Sidharthan is ready to do whatever it takes to rise; internal party calculation, rallies and visibility are his daily work. A woman who enters his life unexpectedly disrupts those calculations. Anthikad's films are usually warm rural family comedies, and the same manner is applied here to politics. The daily workings of local politics, who backs whom and how principles get bent are conveyed with humour but without contempt. Fahadh Faasil's performance makes the character watchable without making him likeable. In the second half the film moves into romantic narrative and the political strand weakens, which was the most common criticism. Who it's for: those who like Malayalam political comedy and Fahadh Faasil. Who it's not for: viewers expecting a hard critique of politics; the film turns toward a personal resolution.