The main picture currently running with three shows daily is CHATURANGAM an action packed film that features Mohanlal in the lead. But the exhibitor displayed a large Dileep starred poster KUNHIKKOONAN still on the vantage point. KUNHIKKOONAN is listed for the noon show only. CHATHURANGAM poster was up in the front. A five feet cut out Mohanlal was hiding behind a tall tree in the theatre compound. Signs! Signs of a transformation. Time takes its toll ruthlessly. No Mohanlal film was released with out police closely watching the huge gatherings of box office queues earlier. Now tickets were available on a phone call.

CHATHURANGAM had been released towards the end of holy month in the Islamic calendar. They expected a good turn out. People accepted it alright but the enthusiasm for a Mohanlal film was a thing of past.

Surely the magic of Mohanlal was there in the film. His is a Superb and fine performer. His dialogue presentation in the Kottayam slang was scoring. But it was a null and insignificant role. A name does not give you every thing. Jimmy Aattiprakkal was not refreshing at all. The conflict within the man, the drama, the dialogues all were missing in Jimmy Attiprakkal. Jimmy was bit hurry on the storyboard. It was fast enough but there was no pace.

It is a story of a young man with muscles, turning soft at the end, who churned fire in local politics for quite some time. Mr Kora, a scheming political leader draws Jimmy to the power politics. He was only a wrestler. He has been shown all the ways of practical politics like the moves on a chessboard. Jimmy is subjected to his unscrupulous ways in carrying out the agendas (of the leader).

He dares the Superintendent of police who is a determined lady herself. He even kidnapped the home minister! He practically runs the town and creates its interests. But Jimmy always had shown certain directness in dealing with others. That was his strength. The group rivalry in the party changes its colors and Jimmy is pushed to the brink. The back stabbings follow. Jimmy is made a victim. He loses everything. He realizes his aberrations. He starts the final fight to recapture his lost reputation.

This is the gist of 'CHATHURANGAM' directed by K Madhu. Madhu is one director who cut a clear path for the kind of political action films in the eighties. It seems he is nailing the coffin of that genre himself with this film. The performance of the actor could not help lift the wrestler Jimmy to the heights of a fine character he was really intended to. The disorderly duel in the wrestling square is reflected in the conceiving of the entire film. What was it? Wrestling or street fight? It was neither the WWF style nor our traditional wrestling. Whatever you call it by, it did not entertain the viewers.

Nagma the actress who captivated a whole generation of filmgoers in the south till recent times, had left no charm whatsoever for the viewers in this film. Her lips and eyebrows twisted while talking prompted to one look away. Her role of superintendent of police in this film felt like an undecided IPS officer in front of Jimmy often. She was miserable in the uniform and we wondered why she has been cast at all in this role!

The opening song was well received by the audience applauding along with it for the entire length. One thought the film is going to be a good crowd puller. The feeling lasted only for a short period. It took the viewers along the beaten path and their interest declined soon. Jagathy was the lone actor who created interest in the audience once they have lost the interest in the film. The fact that Jagathy was introduced first at the fourth minute clearly shows the value he holds in the Malayalam film scene today. Lalu Alex was the other artist who made the viewers wait for the last scenes.

The execution of the scenes was just ordinary and no innovations were found any where in the footage that is necessary for a political action film. The dialogues were flat. This is a genre of films that carried the Malayalam cinema forward for almost a decade and half, and one sees the end of it. Could this be the last of a series of films that Mohanlal made legendary?