Oru Adaar Love

 It is their first day at school. She looks at him and blushes. His eyes light up and a big smile is plastered on his face. Love is clearly in the air. Both are already attracted to each other and they both know it. 

Omar Lulu explores teenage romance, the first flush of love and the unforgettable feelings associated with it even as kids transform into adolescence. However, one is reminded of George Bernard Shaw’s quip on first love, that it is only a little foolishness and a lot of curiosity. Is there nothing else on a teenager’s mind other than being desperate to be with a girl?

The protagonist, Roshan, is in love with Priya with all his teenage fantasies. The roles are played by Roshan Abdul Rahoof and the famous Priya Prakash Varrier whose names are the same in the movie too. Roshan’s single-minded mission is to win her hand and his partners in the mission are his friends, including his best buddy, Gadha John (Noorin Shereef). While boys including Roshan are desperately trying to ‘set’ – a colloquialism of the time -- themselves with the girls they are attracted to, Gadha believes that life is much more than chasing somebody. As the movie progresses, it makes one think about the differences between attraction, infatuation and love.

Interestingly, the perspective is more or less from a male point of view, the exception being Gadha’s character. In her case too, there is not much of difference in approach; there is a scene where two of her friends fall for a girl and she suggests that they settle the issue by tossing a coin. Teachers are portrayed as buffoons and they often become the laughing stock. The sequence where the students pay a tribute to Kalabhavan Mani is wonderfully choregraphed. 

The movie expectedly has all the commercial elements from songs to colourful visuals besides of course the biggest trump card of all, Priya Prakash Varrier. Unfortunately, the girl doesn’t get much screen space and the audience may not get enough material to judge whether she is just a one-wink phenomenon or whether she has acting potential. It is Noorin who stands out in the movie with her convincing performance essaying a character with some substance.

It is no surprise that an Omar Lulu movie has double entendre dialogues. But it is disappointing to watch scenes where women including teachers are objectified. This at a time when there is an ongoing debate about insensitive and misogynistic dialogues in Malayalam films. ‘Orupadu vikshepanam kazhinja missile anade’ is just one example of a derogatory dialogue and let’s not forget these are mouthed by teens. 

Oru Adaar Love seems like a quickly put together movie trying to cash in on the rather unexpected publicity that came its way. There are unpredictable twists in the tale, however, that may keep viewers hooked till the end.