Janamaithri follows the lives of 4 sets of people on the inaugural night of the “Oru chayakku oru jeevan” an initiative by the local Peerimedu police station of the land, to spread a positive image of the police force among the people in their jurisdiction. The idea is to distribute a cup of tea each to every citizen driving a vehicle/in a vehicle passing through their main junction to keep them from sleeping at the wheel to avoid accidents at night. Such a promising idea, thought the DYSP played by Irshad, who wants to make his “brilliant” initiative go viral statewide to fetch a name for himself in the police circles as part of the Janamaithri Day.
Such good intentions as we have seen before ought to go out of hand in this slapstick genre to make it comical ð. But all the story threads are tied at the end.
Soon after Samyukthan (Saiju Kurup) finishes his supper at a roadside shop on his Kochi-Kannur trip, his tummy begins to bubble and rumble. As he is driving in the hope he can contain his urge to go to a loo until he reaches his destination, he is stopped by our friendly police force for his free cup of tea. He tries his best to decline the offer, but he is forced to drink it, pose with them for pictures as per orders from their DYSP. As one of them records the moment, the police tea threateningly increases the pressure in Samyukthan’s tummy dramatically spiralling his urge to reach out to a loo asap. Seeing his inability to drive further without taking a dump in the open, the Sub Inspector (Indrans) assigns Constable Ashraf (Sabumon) to him to find a toilet in a nearby house in this midnight hour to relieve himself. And thus begins the fun … of knocking at doors, sleeping people woken up, their valid doubts about people knocking at their door at a night hour, questions, explanations, requests in the backdrop of Samyukthan’s increasing discomfort in his tummy. Meanwhile, the police serve tea unknowningly to two sets of thieves, take pictures and videos with them, share them with their DYSP who in turn religiously posts them to his Facebook page in the hopes of being reposted on the main page of the Kerala Police.
I laughed a lot, the lol kinds at confusions and bloopers of the characters, and in anticipation of their actions and predicament further in the film. Be it Irshad, Indrans, Vijay Babu as the elder brother & upholder of his family business. Shit always brings in a weird kind of funny humour to the stories, taboo topics on civil tables, but they are part of our daily inevitable routines. Remember Piku?
One time watch ð laugh riot.
Directed by John Manthrickal, he co-wrote Ann Maria Kallippilanu & Alamara.
Aside:
- The title, Janamaithri, in connection with a police station brought back memories of Jeethu Joseph’s Drishyam, a film centred around a Janamithri police station in that town.
- Coming on the heels of Mammotty’s Unda, I’d love to make a comparison but other than the premise of the Kerala Police, the two films of different genres.
A rating guide to films here …
- I loved it .. ðĨ°
- Watched it more than once. (I watched #Virus about 5 times) ðĨ°ðĨ°
- Had to watch another film to wear off the hangover ð
- Slept off in the middle of it ðī
- Didn’t like the first half, wanted to run away from the theatre. Post interval was superb ðĪŠð
- Popular opinion vs mine ðĪ
- Watch at your own risk. I didn’t enjoy the film ðð
collecting stories 