Casting : Praveen Kishore, Gaurav Kaalai, Esther Anil
Directed By : Halitha Shameem
Music By : Khatija Rahman
Produced By : Manoj Paramahamsa ISC , R. Murali Krishnan
Kelurao Kalai, who studies in a school in Ooty, is an outstanding football player. A new student in the same school, Praveen Kishore, is often teased by Kelurav Kalai, who likes to befriend him. But, not understanding this, Praveen Kishore stays away from him. Kelurao Kalai, who tries to save his fellow students from an accident in a school bus carrying students, dies of serious injuries while trying to save Praveen Kishore. Praveen Kishore, who learns that she wanted to befriend him after his death, is overcome with guilt and begins to live the life of Kalarav Kalai.
Esther Anil, who survives and starts a new life thanks to Kalarav Kalai’s organ donation, joins the Ooty school she studied in, as a thank you to Kalarav Kalai, knowing her future aspirations and fulfilling them. There, Esther Anil is shocked to see the condition of Praveen Kishore who is unknowingly living the life of a bull, out of guilt, and tries to rescue him from it. For that he has to undertake a journey beyond the school period. Was the trip a success for Esther Anil? That is ‘Minmini’.
Director Halita Sameem has filmed the actors and actresses in their early years and then waited 8 years to cast them in their teenage years. Although director Halita Sameem has succeeded in such an attempt, which no one has done before in Indian cinema, it is a matter of pride, but has such an attempt added strength to the screenplay? If so, then it must be said that it is definitely not.
Even though the school period incidents between Pari and Sabari are routine, Pari’s actions create anticipation in the audience. If the scenes of their childhood are supposed to tell the story of those expectations, director Halitha Sameem, who only shows it in one place and takes the story in a different direction, takes the audience on a journey with Sabari and Praveena.
Although the message was told through a peaceful and beautiful journey, the message that we have to overcome the bitter experiences we face in the journey of life and travel towards the next destination, as if we are traveling without a destination, but the message that it was told as a long journey makes the fans a bit tired.
Praveen Kishore who plays the role of Sabari Karthikeyan, Kalarav Kalai who plays the role of Pari Mukhilan and Esther Anil who plays the role of Praveena have done their job flawlessly. Both in school age and youth, their impressive performances attract fans. Especially Praveen Kishore and Esther Anil’s journey as teenagers is slow, but the search scenes of the duo are enjoyable.
It is evident from the footage that director Halitha Sameem and her team have worked hard on the way the story is told and the way the film has been made technically. Cinematographer Manoj Paramahamsa’s portrayal of the Himalayan journey is particularly striking. All the amazing things there are brought to the attention of the fans and the explanation about it is sure to make the travel lovers celebrate.
Music composed by Khadija Rahman, the songs and the background music are well suited to the story. Cinematographer Raymond Derrick Krusta has elegantly brought to the audience the locations he wanted to show rather than the story the director wanted to tell.
Director Halitha Sameem’s unusual venture and journey to the Himalayas, while all the philosophies she talks about in that trip are commendable, but the things she says and the scenes she creates as a film fail to make any impact on the populist audience.
Knowing that this is how a Halita Sameem film is, and this is how she tells such things, fans who celebrate her films and her storytelling will surely enjoy her long journey.