Idukki Gold does not touch the high standards achieved by director Aashiq Abu in the past. Still, it is a different experience, says Paresh C Palicha.
It’s a fact that as we grow older we feel the urge to reconnect with people we knew in our youth. Director Aashiq Abu tells the story of a group of friends who get together after 35 years.
Michael (Prathap Pothen) lands in Kochi Airport. We next see him in a newspaper office where he is putting in an advertisement to find his old friends. Two of them Madan (Maniyanpilla Raju) and Ravi (Raveendran) respond to the advertisement.
Madan who runs a farm, has just got divorced from his wife (Sajitha Madathil). Ravi, who runs an old world photo studio, is still a bachelor.
Michael has come from the Czech Republic where he had migrated as a youngster. He has fulfilled his duties as a family man.
The three hit the road to find two others who were part of their gang of friends. One of them is Antony (Babu Antony), a karate freak in the past who has settled in Fort Kochi with his French wife and runs a restaurant.
The other is Raman (Vijayaraghvan), a widower with a teenage son. He was a revolutionary in the past. He is in love with a colleague and is on the verge of marrying her. The situation turns violent for him, and his friends dramatically land up on the spot to rescue the lovers.
The narrative goes back and forth between the adolescent days of the five men and their present lives.
A little surprisingly there is none of the awkwardness among the men that could be expected of friends meeting after three decades. Their reunion plunges them into one of the darkest episodes of their lives, but all is resolved in the end without causing harm to anyone.
One of the brightest things about this film is the fact that a bunch of middle aged actors, who usually play supporting roles, carry this film without any push from the so-called star power.
Another thing that strikes us is that the actors are not averse to displaying their real age here, especially Babu Antony who generally sports a flowing mane, but displays his bald pate here.
Idukki Gold does not touch the high standards achieved by director Aashiq Abu in the past. Still, it is a different experience.
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