Mohanlal and Ranjith is a combination that has produced countless hits in Malayalam, including classics like Devasuram, Aaraam Thampuran, and Narasimham. Ranjith is a highly talented director with films like Nandanam, Indian Rupee, Pranchiyettan & the Saint, and Ravanaprabhu that come under different genres, in his bag. The expectation goes overboard when these two renowned artists join hands to make a movie.
Shot mostly in the United Kingdom, Drama is about Rosamma John Chacko's (Arundhathy Nag) last wish. Mother of five, she was brought to the UK by her younger daughter Mercy (Kaniha), almost two weeks before her untimely death. Rosamma's last wish was to be buried at Kattappana near her husband's grave. She had shared this with Mercy and her (Rosamma's) youngest son Jomon (Niranjan). Jomon is financially weak but strongly wishes to take his mother's dead body to India. But Rosamma's other children Philip (Suresh Krishna), Benny (Tini Tom) and Ammini (Subi Suresh), who are settled in the USA, Australia, and Canada have other plans. They decide to organize the funeral in the UK itself and assign it to a service provider firm owned by Dixon Lopez (Dileesh Pothen) and Rajagopal/Raju (Mohanlal). Will Rosamma's last wish be granted is the crux and the core of the movie.
One may feel that this plot could've been worked out as a way better screenplay. Drama is now just a loose and humor-imposing script built on a wafer-thin plot that tries to become emotional towards the end. It is not something that anyone would expect from the master craftsman who created Mangalassery Neelakandan, Jagannathan, Pranchiyettan and Induchoodan. Despite having many talented actors performing, the screenplay is lagging and predictable.
Apart from small flaws like some continuity errors, dubbing mistakes and people waving to the camera, the duration of some performances could also have been cut short. The creation and reasons for the characters to behave in a certain manner has not been developed convincingly and thus the movie has a plastic and artificial feel. Unfortunately, humor has also not turned out to be as effective as expected, but there are some counters capable of generating huge laughter. Titled as Drama, the movie is too melodramatic and not as funny as perceived by the makers. Performances have been affected by the light script and unavailability of something solid to perform on.
Alagappan's cinematography is good and the beauty of the United Kingdom has given a fresh feel to the movie. Background score by Bijibal is average. Neither cinematography nor the background score does anything to uplift the movie from its slow-moving nature, but are decent when considered individually.
Where did Drama fall short?
Screenplay
Direction
Humour
Character development
Engagement
Freshness in theme