It is like you have just been to a booze party and spent a carefree night before morning came and struck you right across your face. Jeo Baby’s new film Sree Dhanya Catering Service, centred on a booze party and a few men cooking biriyani together, is so inviting that it feels like it is happening around you. The director, known for his realistic treatment of stories and feministic filmmaking, has tried his hand at comedy and pulls off a decent job. Only, it seems a little clueless in its telling, and the camera takes time to settle.
For the first few minutes, you get a little dizzy with a jumpy camera moving between faces and places. There is the long-haired, bearded Mahonnathan (Phantom Praveen), acting like a leader of men, speaking against inequality. The title song – a charming one – draws pictures of Mahonnathan in all its frames, while a jeep full of men and a woman on a motorbike are also seen hopping around. You get the picture that the bearded man is going to lead this tale and it might contain a lot of boring speeches. Thankfully though, the script ditches him after the titles, putting him in the periphery of things, as we enter the homely home of a very typical man in Pala.
Jeo Baby plays the Pala man Sibi, a husband who tells off his wife for wanting to go on a Kudumbashree tour, then waits for her and their adolescent daughter to leave the house before planning a booze party. When his friend Shinoy (Prasanth Murali looking like an older Fahadh Faasil) wonders if he should cook biriyani for his child’s first birthday, Sibi eggs him on and offers his empty house for the cooking. A gang of men pour in, friends and neighbours happy to spend an evening of drinking and no responsibilities.
Watch: Trailer of the film
Humour breaks out every few lines, the natural ones that arise during every booze party, and the cinematic ones you get from a clever writer’s (Jeo) script. Some of the cracks circle around the very familiar biriyani fight where one man from Kozhikode just has to establish that only the biriyani from his hometown is worth anything. Kumar playing the Saudi-returned Kozhikode man is wonderful. So is Prasanth. The other men – Moor playing a tech-savvy non-drinker, other newcomers playing friends and an old teacher – are so likeable and familiar that you can recall an uncle or a friend who behaves just like them. There is no monotony of the drunken loose tongue, for you get songs in between to nod your head to – Basil CJ and Mathews Pulickan giving some enjoyable moments. And you get to see a love story, crisp and sweet and sad all together, led by Rahul Reghu and Vyshnavi Kalyani.
The actors do all the magic, the casting being simply terrific. Even when the script sometimes seems to throw you off, the performances make it real. And even though the film circles around a gang of men with no scruples about lying to have a good time, there are a few shots of women that make a lasting impression: Gilu Joseph on a bicycle, Beena Jeo looking out of a window, Anna Fathima conversing with a woman puncture fixer in the night and Kunjila Mascillamani with a flower above her ear. Jeo Baby doesn’t forget his priorities even in a comedy, and that’s good to observe.
Disclaimer: This review was not paid for or commissioned by anyone associated with the series/film. TNM Editorial is independent of any business relationship the organisation may have with producers or any other members of its cast or crew.