Sureshanteyum Sumalathayudeyum: A charming experiment that gets lost in its quirks

After Sureshan (Rajesh Madhavan) and Sumalatha (Chitra Nair) appeared in Ratheesh Balakrishnan Poduval’s satirical comedy Nna Thaan Case Kodu (2022), their unabashed romance in the courtroom became so popular that the director decided to make a spin-off with the two of them as star-crossed lovers. The title of their film is a mouthful – Sureshanteyum Sumalathayudeyum Hrudayahariyaya Pranayakadha (The Heartening Love Story of Suresh and Sumalatha) – and Ratheesh elevates this love story to epic proportions, scoring several political points along the way. Straddling three time periods and a mythological play that runs through all of them as a plot thread, this romantic comedy begins with the eternal symbol of love – the Taj Mahal. 

We have an era where everyone is dressed in black-and-white, another with ‘80s costumes, and finally, contemporary times. Sureshan, Sumalatha, and the characters around them jump from one time period to another, with the crux of the plot remaining the same. Boy meets girl and there’s the inevitable opposition to their love. What else could it be but caste? An unchanging reality of our society, no matter how many decades pass.

Sudhakaran Nahar (read ‘Nair’), Sumalatha’s father, takes great pride in his caste and disapproves of their love. Knowing that it’s going to be hard for them to spend time together, Sureshan comes up with the idea of putting up a play with Nahar playing one of the lead roles. Sureshan’s family is opposed to the play as well because they believe it to be a wasteful enterprise, but he pulls them into the scheme by dangling a property dispute. 

There is a lot of colour and quirk all through the screenplay, from the sunglasses and embroidered pants to the set design and colouring of the frames. The background is chirpy, the songs are fun. The characters are deliberate caricatures. Sureshan and Sumalatha – played wonderfully by Rajesh and Chitra – retain their crackling chemistry from Nna Thaan Case Kodu. There isn’t a reason for them to be attracted to each other, and that’s what is so compelling about it. There’s a physical intensity to their romance that drowns out all cerebral reasoning. Sudheesh Kozhikode as Chief Villain Nahar is often hilarious, oblivious as he is to the love story running right below his nose. 

The dialogues range from potshots at the Goods and Services Tax (GST) to meta lines on media slander about Malayalam cinema. One character speaks in Tamil, another in Hindi. ‘Woke’ lines are delivered in English. At one point, there’s a discussion on whether a supposed intellectual ‘MT’ should shave off his beard and moustache. It happens on a bus driven by his furious son. “It’s his freedom!” states Sumalatha boldly. Later, a Michael Jackson song appears at a crucial juncture. There are references to the Mahabharatha too – notably, before all this drama is unleashed, the scene playing on TV is that of Ashwathama the elephant being killed, a conspiracy by the Pandavas to kill Drona. Sureshan’s sister-in-law (Sharanya Nair) draws inspiration from Draupathi – married to one brother and lusted after by the others. 

But the writing is so consumed by the quirks and the references that it doesn’t let the story breathe. What we get are entertaining sequences that don’t quite melt into each other to give a cogent storyline. A lot of scenes seem extraneous, included only because they amp up the bizarreness. Tighter editing would have taken care of that. The film also assumes that Nna Thaan Case Kodu is fresh in your memory, bringing in Kunchacko Boban and other links from the first film to lend a surreal slant to the proceedings in this one. 

Like Kanakam Kaamini Kalaham (2021), this too is an experiment that depends on how much you buy into the moments. When making something eccentric, it’s important to stay in control and not get carried away. Sureshan and Sumalatha are all heart, but the film doesn’t let them be. Instead, it functions as an overenthusiastic tour guide who wants to rattle off every little fact about the Taj Mahal instead of allowing you to just take in the sight and be wowed. 

Disclaimer: This review was not paid for or commissioned by anyone associated with the film. Neither TNM nor any of its reviewers have any sort of business relationship with the film’s producers or any other members of its cast and crew.

Sowmya Rajendran writes on gender, culture, and cinema. She has written over 25 books, including a nonfiction book on gender for adolescents. She was awarded the Sahitya Akademi’s Bal Sahitya Puraskar for her novel Mayil Will Not Be Quiet in 2015.