Love in Singapore - Review

When you watch the first major release of 2009, director duo Rafi-Mecartin's latest Mammootty starrer Love in Singapore, you tend to agree with critics cribbing that Malayalam cinema today has lost its past glory due to the wrong scripts and themes selected and their presentation. Why? Because Love in Singapore is one among them!

The film is about 'Machu' (Mammootty), who rose to financial heights after starting his life as a scrap dealer. He lives in a posh house in a posh locality. One day, he sees a beautiful girl in a soap and talcum powder commercial and falls in love with her. To fulfill his dream to marry her, Machu follows the advice of his neighbour, business man Andrews Pereira (Nedumudi Venu), who gently persuades Machu to invest his earnings in stocks. Next, Pereira vanishes to Singapore with Machu's money. Left with no other options, Machu leaves for Singapore in hot pursuit of his lost money. When he confronts Pereira there, Machu proposes to marry Pereira's daughter Diana (Navneet Kaur) as compensation for his financial loss. The second half of the film is all about Machu's tricks to win Diana over.

Mammootty has tried his level best to save the show, but in vain. The script is illogical with a lot of ambiguities and incredible twists. For instance, the film gives no convincing explanation why villain Nedumudi Venu cheats Machu and escapes to Singapore. Perhaps shooting in Singapore is a reason for the director duo, which also produces the film.

The majority of the sequences are contrived and solely for cooking up some 'funny moments' with the cliched dialects of comedians Suraj Venjaramoodu, Salimkumar and Bijukuttan. Debutante heroine Navneet Kour as Diana has nothing to offer with a very weak character development. The only relief comes from some foot-tapping numbers by music director Suresh Peters, but even those songs fail to put the movie on track. The other technical crew members, including Sanjeev Sankar (camera) and Boban (art) have done their routine jobs. All in all, we can undoubtedly say Love in Singapore is one of the avoidable efforts by the director duo in recent times. However, the movie may excite Mammootty's child fans!

Banner: M.H.M. Productions
Production: Rafi
Cast: Mammootty, Navneet Kaur, Salimkumar, Suraj Venjaaramoodu, Harishree Ashokan, Bijukuttan, Rajan P. Dev, Lalu Alex, Nedumudi Venu
Direction: Rafi-Mecartin
Music: Suresh Peters
Camera: Sanjeev Sankar