Saira Banu : No... Wait... What?!

I came to know that the story and script of Saira Banu was done by the Club FM radio jockey Shan. This actually made sense after watching the movie. RJ Shan has basically done what he does in a studio - talk about irrelevant stuff for an eternity and then play you a 3 minute song.

Let me tell you the story of Saira Banu, and you decide what to make  of it.

Saira Banu's son, Joshua, meets with an accident when his bike hits an immigrant worker. Meanwhile Annie, a leading advocate, is letting her 12 year old son drive around in the city at 120 Kmph, as its his birthday (of course, who wouldn't do that). The kid hits and kills the same immigrant worker, who is getting up from the same spot where he fell down when Joshua's bike hit him. Annie still lets her son drive further down the road without her taking the wheels. They nearly hit Joshua and his friend who are having a coffee from a road-side vendor, dazed after their accident. Joshua's friend throws a stone at Annie's car when it nearly runs over them. Annie takes the wheel at that point and comes back to have an argument about the stone pelting instead of getting the hell out of that sticky situation. The movie wouldn't exist if she had not done that. Anyway, Joshua is accused of the murder while his friend gets away because of his family connections in the police force.

The story goes on about how Saira tries and fails to get an advocate with her measly central government job salary. An advocate friend advises her to appear in court for her son because- " who else would want your son out of jail more than you do?" Apply that logic if her son needed surgery and she couldn't afford it. Now that's a movie I want to watch.

Finally Saira is able to defend her son successfully because of a technicality that the police had gotten the name of the victim wrong. The court acquits Joshua and he leaves to Paris on a scholarship. The movie ends with Saira stepping out of a train somewhere in West Bengal with the photograph of the dead nameless person. She starts asking about him to the first person she finds on the platform. By the time she reaches the fifth person she gets a positive lead. Was she going to console the family or offer them money? The movie ends on an unclear note about the fate of the characters.

Irrelevant facts (worth at least 90 minutes):

1. Joshua is actually Saira Banu's step son.

2. Joshua's father was a famous photographer who brought Saira into his home after her whole family committed suicide.

3. Joshua wants to be a photographer. (The story would have been the same if he wanted to be an art historian).

4. Joshua's father is supposed to be Mohanlal who disappeared during an assignment.

5. A girl who is supposed to be Joshua's love interest.

6. Appearances by John Paul and Joy Mathew.

7. The part of Annie is played by Amala Akkineni. Her character is devoid of anything that made the Malayali audience fall in love with her decades ago. Hence the casting only serves the purpose of having an antagonist worthy of Manju Warrier's lead character.

In spite of all this, the thing that sickened me was how the film tried to monetize the real life story of the legendary Malayala Manorama photographer Victor George. The makers have unapologetically used the tragic story to create sentimental value to the movie. They did not even try to name the character differently. If it was a homage they had in mind, I have to say it is in poor taste. As a person who personally knew Victor George, it was quite painful to see certain scenes. I can only imagine what his wife and children felt watching it. If it was his bio pic, then it is fair and understandable. They could have at least thanked his family in the long opening thanks list.

The Kerala audience should stop confusing  social relevance and political correctness with art and good acting. Manju Warrier more so. World class talent is being wasted here.

Rating: That 30 page TQM assignment in which you inserted 28 pages of Narasimham's story during engineering.