A bang- up job of entertaining. Review on Malaamaal Weekly

An original story idea, scintilating performances & pure entertainment value are some of the points that go strongly in favour of the multi- starrer - Malamaal Weekly.

The script could have been a wee- bit tighter & some of the characters could have been lopped off without anyone noticing the difference. But they do not take away the fact that Malamaal Weekly is a fun- filled joyride of a film.

The storyline revolves around the residents of a small town & their little struggles for survival & prominence & is refreshingly different.

Paresh Rawal is a lottery ticket seller, eking out a meagre income. But one day he comes to know that one of the 105 tickets of Malamaal Weekly lottery that he has sold, has won a bumper prize of Rs.1 crore. Most of the residents of that little town do not have T.V. sets & do not know about this.

Desparate to get hold of that ticket, he throws a lavish party for all the people who bought the tickets with entry being conditional to their turning up with their tickets.

Since festivities are rare in this town which is virtually under the thumb of money lender, Sudha Chandran, every one turns up except the town drunk- Antony.

And of course, Antony has the winning ticket!!

Hectic action on the part of Paresh, turns up a horrific fact that Antony is lying dead in front of his T.V., shocked by his big win.

Meanwhile everyone else is also getting wind of the real reason behind Paresh's sudden generosity. And a pell- mell, roller coaster drive starts off with everyone out to get the invaluable lottery ticket.

While the story is handled well & the pace is rollicking, what mars the enjoyment in this film is the presence of too many characters. And each character tags her/ his story along. This makes the narrative go all over the place at points, leaving the audience with no clue as to what is going on.

This one flaw apart, the film is a perfect laugh riot with logic defying but still somehow convincing situations & a plot with rapid twists & turns. The end of the film is refreshing, even something of a surprise.

Paresh Rawal carries the film on his shoulders literally. Fantastic performance by chocolate hero Ritesh Deshmukh & Reema Sen. Om puri, Asrani & Rajpal Yadav are the other stars who send the audience into splits. Om puri is especially good in a role that makes demands on his histrionic skills in a different way from what this actor is usually known for.

Sudha Chandran is a surprise package. Her unconventional role is full of possibilities & she exploits them to the fullest.

Overall Malamaal Weekly makes for good entertainment. The film is mostly clean & the humour is mostly healthy.

Could well be the entertainer of the month.