SCHOOL BUS MOVIE REVIEW

School Bus is the latest Malayalam movie by director Rosshan Andrews and scriptwriter duo Bobby-Sanjay. The movie falls into the children’s movie genre but it does send out a lot of messages to elders.

Aakash Muralidharan who plays Ajoy, the son of Jayasurya and Aparna Gopinath is the real life son of cinematographer Muralidharan. Angelleena Rosshan who plays Angelleena, Ajoy’s younger sister is Rosshan's daughter. It is the first time Kunchacko Boban plays a Police Officer.

The movie sheds light mainly on the life of children, and how their reaction to a problem is influenced by the relationship they have with their parents. The story tries to focus on parent-child relationship, relationship between siblings (both young and old) and becomes a thriller in the end. In the process of focusing on many aspects of life, the total movie slightly becomes out of focus, but the director and the scriptwriters have rescued the movie from becoming a cliché. The climax is well managed and it lifts the movie into a “feel good movie”.     

Cinematography by C K Muralidharan is splendid. The mysterious nature of the deep forest is gracefully portrayed. Jayasurya’s performance as a strict parent is very realistic. Kunchacko Boban and Aparna Gopinath have delivered decent performances. Aakash and Angelleena have done justice to their roles. Music by Gopi Sundar is average.

The attempt to highlight the after effects of wrong parenting on children needs to be appreciated.