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If IV Sasi intended Vellathooval to be a treatise on parental discretion and the rebelliousness often associated with those teenage years, I should say that the point totally escaped me while I was watching the film. For the major part of it, I was wondering why it is that the erstwhile stalwarts of Malayalam cinema go off on a tangent while dabbling with fresh colors and techniques on a clean canvas.

Jia (Nithya) is a highly volatile teenager who takes offence to the restrictions imposed by a supposedly meddlesome mom, and who has made a habit of walking out of her home whenever trouble brews.One such stormy session leads to her taking off for a while, as she hops atop a bike and decides to speed off to freedom with her classmate Manu (Ranjith Menon).Soon framed for murder, it turns out to be a long ride for both of them, and certainly not much of a fun trip either.

A good twenty five years back before Sasi had joined hands with Padmarajan to tell us a poignant tale of a young girl falling in love with her sponsor in ‘Kanamarayathu’.Indeed, there’s plenty to remember of the yesteryear flick that made for compelling viewing. A reason all the more that makes a lame, and frequently absurd piece as ‘Vellathooval’ from the same director a real tough watch.

Though my intentions are from that, to divulge the plot would never really spoil the experience. Because you’ll be stunned to discover, and maybe even taken aback to learn, just how cooked up the whole thing really is. I couldn’t find even an itsy bitsy jot of sparkle in John Paul’s script, and believe me I was trying real hard.

Sometimes it so happens that precise, smart dialogue makes up for a primarily inconsistent script, and sometimes well-paced direction covers up an absence of the first two. And on rare occasions as these, all three go crashing down the hill side, throwing brakes and brains to the winds.

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