June Malayalam DVD Released

The coming-of-age story of a young girl who feels she doesn’t have any special talent, but gradually matures to an independent woman

Review: Ah, to relive those youthful days, when there was not a worry in the world except to look good and catch the eye of the opposite sex. Debut director Ahammed Khabeer goes all out to jog the viewers’ memories of the best of school days when you are in a rush to grow up and he does a good job of it. ‘June’ will appeal to the wide demographic of pre-teens, teens and all those who were teens.

Rajisha Vijayan competently plays the title character in ‘June’, which tracks the protagonist’s life from age 16 to about a decade later. Along the way, we catch her evolving dynamics with friends and her parents. The good thing about the movie is that though the relationships change, there is a foundation to each that stays strong.

The film starts out with the youngsters of June’s batch starting their first day of their Plus Two commerce class and spans the period from school to college, careers and married life. The nostalgia-inducing moments from school are rampant: the girls trying to hitch up their skirts when their mothers aren’t looking, the games, the competitions, the romance, the inspiring teacher, the icy sip ups. But while it makes for good memories, it also is also stretched out a bit and seems too literal. Thankfully, while the boys comment about the girls and pick out whom they would like to romance, there are no dialogues that leave a bad taste of make the audience uncomfortable. Writers Ahammed, Jeevan Baby Mathew and Libin Varghese have kept it all good, clean fun.

That said, the liberties in the father-daughter relationship seem a bit far-fetched. Yes, many fathers consider their girls as good as boys and feel they can aspire to as much as any man, but do they really share a beer with their teenage daughters? The jury is out on that one. Joju George makes his mark in the small role, as does Aswathi Menon as June’s mother.

The young men in June’s life are wimpy and sweet, but again the characters are not one-sided. Knowingly or unknowingly, they all push June to do more at the important junctures in her life. Noel played by Sarjano Khalid and Arjun Asokan, who portrays Anand, are scene stealers in their own right.

Just when you though the movie had some old-fashioned ideas and seemed like something you have seen before, the director skilfully turns it around and ends with a long climax scene that you don’t want to end. Watch this movie and leave with a smile on your face.