Praise The Lord Movie Review - A Simple Family Entertainer

Shibu Gangadharan's debut directorial venture Praise The Lord, starring Mammootty, is the cinematic adaptation of Paul Zacharia's novella which bears the same name. The movie though may not please everyone to the full, still carries the feel of the novella and can be termed as an enjoyable family entertainer.

Story
The movie revolves around Joy (Mammooty), a planter hailing from Kottayam district who looks after his land and properties. Joy is married to Ancy (Reenu Mathews) and have two children. Joy is a simple, easy-going village man and has no much knowledge about the hectic metro life. Joy and Ancy share a deep bond of love which Joy tries to express even in public.

One day Advocate Sunny (Mukesh), childhood friend of Joy, asks his help to hide Samkutty (Ahmed Siddique) and Aani (Akanksha Puri) in his house. Being pressured much by Sunny, Joy agrees to hide them. Samkutty, a firm believer in God, and Aani, a modern age spoiled girl who wishes to have an unmarried adventurous family life, fell in love with each other at a retreat center in Delhi, and later when their love life is threatened by Samkutty's father Kunjutty (Joy Mathew), they had to flee from there. Rest of the story deals with the struggle of Joy and others to hide the lovers and help them to live together.

Performances
Show stealer of the movie and the main positive of the movie is the character of Joy portrayed by Mammootty. His mannerisms, dialogues and expressions are just superb. Mammootty proves his ability to do fresh characters with ease. Reenu Mathews as Ancy is good, but not better than her previous roles. Ahmed Siddique as Samkutty does entertain with his preachy dialect. Aakansha as Aani is just okay. Rest of the characters including Mukesh, Suresh Krishna, Joy mathew, Noby (Kulappuram Vakkan), Kalabhavan Shajon (Fr Antony), Indrans (Chacko) have done justice to their roles.

Technical Aspects
Music by Shaan Rehman is good. Two songs of the movie, 'Innaleyolam' and 'Sharon Vaniyil' are hummable. BGM of the movie is average.

Cinematography by Pradeep Nair is no wonder, but has its charm of the beautiful locations of Kottayam.

Verdict
The movie is a pure adaptation of the novella and has no gimmicks attached to it. Beginning scenes post interval lacked a grip, but later on went well. On the whole, Praise The Lord can be enjoyed well if approached with less expectations.