Mera Naam Shaji Movie Review: This 'Entertainer' Struggles To Entertain!

Mera Naam Shaji is the comedy entertainer which features Asif Ali, Biju Menon, and Baiju in the lead roles. The movie marks the third outing of multi-faceted talent Nadhirshah as a director, after the successes of Amar Akbar Antony and Kattappanayile Hrithik Roshan. Nikhila Vimal essays the female lead in Mera Naam Shaji, which is scripted by writer-director Dileep Ponnan.

Did Mera Naam Shaji succeed in impressing the audiences? Read the movie review to know...

Plot

Mera Naam Shaji depicts the story of three men who share a common name. Shaji Usman (Biju Menon) is a local goon who hails from Calicut and comes to Kochi with an agenda. Shaji George aka Udayippu Shaji (Asif Ali) is a jobless youngster from Kochi. Driver Shaji (Baiju), on the other hand, is a taxi driver from Trivandrum, who leads a peaceful life with his family. How Udayippu Shaji and Driver Shaji gets involved in Shaji Usman's mission and what happens to the trio forms the crux of the story.

Script & Direction

Mera Naam Shaji marks Nadhrishah's third outing as a director. The movie is scripted by writer-director Dileep Ponnan. Unlike Nadhirshah's last two directorial ventures, Mera Naam Shaji struggles to entertain the audiences. Despite having a great scope for genuine humour, the movie is filled with boring WhatsApp jokes and some misogynistic dialogues which were supposedly used for the sake of humour.

What the movie truly lacks is a well-written script. The writer's struggle to create subplots for each character is quite evident in the narrative. However, the movie does manage to make you laugh at certain portions, all thanks to the very few situational comedies and one-liners by Baiju.

Performances

Biju Menon, who essayed the role of Shaji Usman, has played his part convincingly, but his struggle with the Calicut slang is quite evident. Asif Ali, who appears as Udayippu Shaji, has nothing much to do in his repetitive role of a jobless youth.

Baiju, who plays Driver Shaji, has scored with his natural performance and funny one-liners. Nikhila Vimal who appears as the female lead is totally wasted in her minimal role. The rest of the cast, including Sreenivasan, Bheeman Raghu, Jaffer Idukky, Dharmajan Bolgatty, Surabhi Lakshmi, etc., have done justice to their respective roles.

Technical Aspects

The visualisation by cinematographer Vinod Illampilly is strictly average. The songs composed by newcomer Emil Muhammed are pretty good, but the background score of the movie fails to create any impact.

Verdict

This Asif Ali-Biju Menon-Baiju starrer, which was supposed to be a complete comedy package for this Vishu season, struggles to entertain.