Sarvam Thala Mayam

There are many music based films like Rudraveena, Sapthapadi, Shankarabharanam that talk about casteism and outlook of some of the higher caste people who oppress the lower caste persons even in creative field. Sarvam Thala Mayam tries to find its own tone among such classics. Could it be the modern day classic? Let’s find out …

Plot:: A music instrumentalist, Peter (GV Prakash) is a good drummer and he wishes to learn mrudhangam from a specialist. He aspires to become one of the disciples of Vembu Iyer ( Nedumudi Venu).

But the casteism, becomes an hurdle for his goal and Mani (Vineeth) starts to pollute Vembu Iyer’s mind further with his casteist outlook. How Peter wins over Iyer is the complete story.

Performances:: GV Prakash as the instrumentalist and aspiring musician did a good job in this one. Seems like Bala’s school of acting training helped him sharpen his skills.

Aparna Balamurali is a good find. Vineeth as the negative character with unwanted hatred, performed well. Looking at him on screen after a long time is a pleasure.

Nedumudi Venu, one of the Malayalam All-Time Greats, delivered again a commendable and believable performance. His screen presence is the best and he shouldered the movie pretty well. All others are decent.

Technicalities:: AR Rahman is highly consistent in his score for this film. He is the main asset too. But he did not get much support from writing and direction department.

Ravi Yadav did a great job as the cinematographer. His visuals are a plus point and Rajiv Menon himself is a master in using the colors. They both gave a visual treat.

Rajiv Menon went with casteism, theme Balachander explored in a movie like Rudraveena with more adept touch musically. Rajiv tried to make it more musical but his ideas to merge the latest trends and mainly the reality show angle are far-fetched ideologies. He could easily made it an intense drama between the three characters which could have helped the movie to become better.

Analysis:: Rajiv Menon as a director has been a bit erratic in his earlier movies with inconsistent scenes and pace. But he delivered better climaxes and made the films box office earners. But in Sarvam Thala Mayam, he failed in nailing the climax and dragged the known stuff with lengthy scenes. Still he had a heart and soul of the movie is AR Rahman. Hence, the movie ends up as a watchable attempt with some distress.

Rating: 2.5/5

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