Paresh C Palicha feels Orkut Oru Ormakoot is redundant as Malaylam cinema has moved on to tackle innovative subjects.
The Orkut in the title Orkut Oru Ormakoot refers to the social networking site that was very popular a couple of years ago but has disappeared from public notice since. This also gives an idea of how outdated is this film written and directed by newcomers Manoj and Vinod.
The film is about four urban youngsters who exist in the vacuum of their own friends' circle and in the digital world. Their concerns are limited to this small circle and their wants are immediately met by parents who are eager to please them.
The four actors are all star sons and newcomers. Rima Killingal is the only familiar face. She plays Crystal, a German national, who befriends one of the boys on Orkut and expresses a wish to visit them if they can arrange a place for her to stay.
It is only when they see her that they realise that she is actually a Malayali who was adopted by a German couple and is now in search of her real parents.
The apartment building they all live in has an ageing superstar (Siddique), who hides his real age under his wig and has a nagging wife. There is an Akademi Award winning author leading a retired life with nobody to talk to except a dim-witted security guard. His neighbours come to know about his stature only after his death. The film touches on drug abuse and teenage suicide.
In contrast, rural life is shown as much more fulfilling. The youngsters get a taste of it when they join Crystal in her quest to know more about her past and stay with her grandmother for a few days in a typical tharavadu.
There's some dreary preaching that goes on and on. The performance of the four young actors doesn't go beyond showy hi-fives and using new-age lingo.
One can only hope that Orkut Oru Ormakoot is the last film made on the worn-out theme of the abuse of the internet and the disadvantages of an urban lifestyle.
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