Milli Malayalam Movie Review

Make no bones about it. Rajesh Pillai's long in the making 'Mili' is quite a lazy effort. Even at the level of a character study movie or an inspirational make over tale of an introvert girl, 'Mili' counts much less than what you may desire to watch. What could have been Malayalam's own take on a famous genre, turns out to be quite a lackluster affair without much depth or interest. 'Mili' is quite a disappointment, to put it in milder terms.

The first half of the movie is kind of shocking, because it may make one realize how flimsy the whole plot is. Initial parts are confusing with really important characters related to Mili never being mentioned properly. Her family relations are presented in haste. Even her characterization looks uneven. She is presented as a harmless introvert,but soon is shown as an irritant to her room mates. Her mischievous and zero morale characteristics seem conflicting. Her family bonding never explored apart from her father's. What could have been a soulful lullaby song - 'Kanmaniye', goes almost unregistered in a new room clean up sequence. The Interval sequence and the facebook announcement are hard to digest. Below Average first half.

Post Interval, things start to look better. Mili's exchanges with Nivin's character and her opening of new day care etc are better portions of the movie. But issues created around the stopping of day care seem quite forced, artificial and for the sake of it. But by then you are kind of ready to take in anything, so that the plot progresses. Many portions seem edited out and characters do not seem to have needed relevance, due to edited portions. By the end, there is a fund raising event for starting new day care and Mili's customary speech. The end credits roll in without much sense of accomplishment or a triumphant make over story. Average second half.

Performance wise Amala Paul does her part quite decently but her character does not have much meat in terms of the plot. Nivin is quite an extended cameo without much of a character. His initial portions look quite in disinterest. Praveena, Sai Kumar, Sanusha, Shamna Kasim etc complete the rest of the cast. Direction by Rajesh Pillai is quite ordinary without creating the much needed gusto, gumption and triumph for Mili. Not even attempting comparisons with 'Traffic' but even on plain terms, it should be a disappointing outing. Music by Gopi Sundar is good but few tracks never get used properly. Camera suits the story and editing leaves much to be desired, even being about 10 minutes short of 2 hours.

'Mili' is based on a famous genre about personal triumph of an introvert, underdog girl but sadly it may not be the inspiring tale which it went out to achieve. Keep your expectations low and you may get a clean but slightly tedious movie to watch.

Verdict - Lackluster
Rating - 2/5