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Review: Njanum Ente Familiyum is average

Paresh C Palicha feels Malayalam film Njanum Ente Familiyum starts of on a high note but loses the plot midway.

Actor Jayaram has the loyal backing of family audiences and director K K Rajeev has been directing long running television serials. They join forces in Njanum Ente Familiyum scripted by Cheriyan Kalpakavadi.

The film tells the story of a gifted and successful cardiologist Dr Dinan (Jayaram), who is in such demand that he has to cut short his vacations to tend to his patients.

But this does not affect his family life as his wife Priya (Mamata Mohandas) is also a doctor and partner in the hospital he runs. She understands his situation and never complains. They have two daughters. The decision of not going for a third child seems to be mutual and this is shown to underscore the fact how well adjusted this couple is.

In contrast is Dr Moorthy (Jagathy Sreekumar), a Chennai based psychiatrist, who always calls in Dr Dinan to attend to his emergency cases. He is henpecked by his wife (this provides for some comical interludes), is childless,

and is on the brink of becoming an alcoholic.

Moorthy calls Dinan to check on a terminally ill patient called Scotch Johnachan (Manoj K Jayan), a young man who has survived a stroke and two heart attacks.

Dinan promises that Johnachan can be cured by surgery, but then backs out of performing it when he sees John's wife Sophie (Mythili).

It turns out that Sophie was his girlfriend in medical college and they even had a registry marriage before he left for London. He doesn't want to perform the surgery fearing that if it fails, she will accuse him of being vengeful.

The initial portion of the story is gripping, but that does not last.

Jayaram has a sober role after a long time and he does dig his teeth into it. Mamata repeats her charming wife act one more time without blemish. Mythili, as the mystery girl, does very well. Manoj K Jayan is becoming an indispensable part of every film and leaves his mark in the small role he is given here.

On the whole, Njanum Ente Familiyum is an average but well-packaged family film.

Rediff Rating: