Bro Daddy Review in one sentence is – a joy ride for Mohanlal fanatics, and certainly his combination with Prithviraj is quite admirable. The movie begins with a theory of a son raised by truly young parents. Mohanlal willingly played dad to a grown-up son, a man in his 30s with a job and a girlfriend and a ponytail.
Prithviraj, who plays the son and also directed the movie, has made every skill in the books to ensure dad and mom ( meena )are really young. The film, offers enjoyable moments and an interesting storyline, which the fans of Mohanlal, Prithviraj and Meena would love to watch.
Mohanlal, in his bearded form of the present, first appears at the end of an ad about his steel bar plant (after a dig at dramatic television reporting). There is no slow motion entry, no top to bottom close-ups, not even a dramatic tune.
Bro Daddy Review: Duo Mohanlal , Prithviraj Excels together again
The movie starts with Lalettan in cartoon form, animated pictures of his younger self – too young we are told through speech bubbles popping out of passers-by. A song, pleasing to the ear (music by Deepak Dev), in Mohanlal and Prithviraj’s voices, plays in the background. And everywhere cartoon Mohanlal and wife go – people express them being too young. By the time they have a baby, and another speech bubble pops out, you are almost sure the baby would say, but dad you’re too young for me.
Bro Daddy begins with a series of introductions . Mohanlal, in his most casual self, introduces the wife and the son to the parish priest. Meena enters as if on cue from behind the curtain to the stage, bearing a tray of coffee (coffee is a repeating prop in the movie, and used well for comedy). All through the film, sadly, that’s pretty much all Meena’s character has to do. Play the picture-book wife and mother she’s been dressed up for, uttering ‘Ayo Eeshoye’ (Oh Christ) or smiling warmly when prompted.
Eesho, by the way, is the son’s name, the Malayalam term for Jesus. Predictably there are many lines connecting Lord Jesus to the ponytailed human version. Human Eesho works in a reputed ad company in Bengaluru, looks down upon the local ad business of his father’s bosom buddy (Lalu Alex in a nice lengthy role for a change), has a carefree life filled with friends and parties and a girlfriend. Prithviraj actually gets the bottom to top treatment of the slow-panning camera, reserved for superstars.
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Kalyani Priyadarshan in the movie is an IT professional in Bengaluru dodging repeated pleas of marriage proposals from her parents (Lalu Alex and Kaniha). It could have been a very relatable situation for young women if only the dialogues did not sound so artificial.
Then the the part played by Soubin Shahir, a gifted actor, is exclusively written for humour and more often than not it only works to disrupt the flow and brings little laughter.
There are some cheery and joyous moments of in Bro Daddy Like Prithviraj’s drunken scene towards the end of the film, which he does adorably well.
At one point when the film tries to shed its light-heartedness and throw in a message, it seems to be one against abortion. Though not blatantly stated, at least twice the film highlights the “life inside the womb” when abortion as an option is suggested.
Then there is the room full of newborns, often used in old Malayalam films when someone is confused about having babies, to change the mind of the one who suggested abortion. This part – though not the premise of the film – appears to be in sharp contrast to last year’s Sara’s which strongly stated that abortion is a woman’s choice and underlined her rights over her body. Perhaps to avoid any controversy, Bro Daddy’s women are themselves the anti-abortion warriors, so there is no question of silencing women’s rights.
Bro Daddy does take a casual stand towards live-in relationships and premarital sex and even pregnancy in unmarried women. Mohanlal, throughout the film, is free and funny and wonderful to watch (except for a few clichés during songs).
There brief but applaudable performances by Mallika Sukumaran, Jagadish and Jaffer Idukki. Even though the movie falls short of expectation in some places it is enjoyable for all those fans who want to watch Mohanlal and Prithviraj perform together.