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Sunny Movie Review: Jayasurya's Powerful Performance Saves This Brave Attempt
Sunny, the emotional drama that features Jayasurya in the titular role, is finally released on Amazon Prime Video. The project marks the talented actor's eighth collaboration with his close friend and popular filmmaker, Ranjith Sankar. The movie that focuses on Jayasurya's character Sunny, features several popular names including Innocent, Aju Varghese, Sshivada, Siddique, Mamta Mohandas, and others in voice roles.
Did the Jayasurya-Ranjith Sankar project impress cinema lovers? Read Sunny movie review here to know...
What's Yay:
Jayasurya's Performance
Excellent casting of voice actors
Background score & Visuals
What's Nay
Predictability
Slow pace
Plot
Sunny (Jayasurya) smuggles himself from Dubai to Kerala, amidst the pandemic. He is a musician-turned-businessman who has failed both in his career and personal life. Sunny's heavily pregnant wife Nimmy (voice by Sshivada) has filed for divorce, while he is also struggling with his alcohol addiction.
Rajesh aka Kozhi (voice by Aju Varghese), who is a close friend of Sunny and Nimmy, is his only support. The movie focuses on Sunny's quarantine life and how he finds hope in his life again with the guidance of Dr. Eerali (voice by Innocent).
Script & Direction
Ranjith Sankar, the director has narrated the story of a man's isolation - both physically and psychologically in Sunny, which marks his reunion with Jayasurya. The filmmaker definitely deserves applause for experimenting with such a rare genre. The leading man's struggles with his alcohol addiction are narrated with absolute conviction. Sunny also discusses the mental health issues faced by the people in quarantine, without going over the board.
However, the movie begins at an extremely slow pace and spends a bit too much time detailing quarantine procedures. This slow pace makes Sunny a tiring watch, despite its minimal runtime. The narrative loses its grip at several points, where it leaves loose ends on the protagonist's backstory. After a point, Sunny's loneliness and his struggles become repetitive and tiring to watch. The movie demands its viewers to be extremely patient until it gets into the main plot.
The scenes featuring Sunny's conversations with Dr. Eerali are well-written and executed. The little mystery that is added to certain characters works well. However, with the introduction of Sunny's wife Nimmy, the predictability factor hits the narrative. The audiences are easily able to guess where the film is heading, which severely affects the overall impact of this Ranjith Sankar directorial.
Performances
Jayasurya once again proves his mettle as an actor with his performance as Sunny. The actor carries the film completely on his shoulders, and scores with his portrayal of the complexities of a man who lost all hopes in his life.
The voice cast, including Innocent (Dr. Eerali), Aju Varghese (Kozhi Rajesh), Sshivada (Nimmy), Vijayaraghavan (police officer), Siddique (money lender), Mamta Mohandas (Dr. Anuradha), have played their respective roles to near perfection. Shritha Sivadas's (voice by Shruthi Ramachandran) blink-and-miss appearance was okay.
Technical Aspects
Madhu Neelakandan has done an excellent job with the visuals of the movie. The senior cinematographer's frames have conveyed the journey of Sunny inside the four walls of the quarantine room, effectively. The editing is not up to the mark. Music director Sankar Sharma has done a brilliant job with the background score, which perfectly goes shoulder-to-shoulder with the narrative of Sunny.
Verdict
Sunny manages to shine at parts despite being an experimental film, thanks to Jayasurya's powerful performance. However, this Ranjith Sankar definitely had the potential to be much more.
