Sivaprasad’s ‘Maranamass’, starring Basil Joseph, is an enjoyable dark comedy with nutty characters in nuttier situations

The film isn’t consistent and the wild tonal shifts are sometimes puzzling. But none of that matters, because the jokes keep coming. The rest of this review may contain spoilers.

I’ll begin with two scenes from Maranamass. The first one is set around the eve of a birthday. An excited Jessie (Anishma Anilkumar) is in her room, waiting for the clock to strike 12. On the one hand, we have a man who loves her. His name is Luke, and he’s played by Basil Joseph. He has brought flowers and balloons for the occasion, and he is waiting outside the gate. On the other hand, inside the house, we get Jessie’s father and her grandmother, who has a more practical approach to gift-giving. The older woman gives Jessie a can of pepper spray, because “we girls need to protect ourselves.” Will Jessie meet Luke and have a romantic night, or will she take the pepper spray and go to sleep? All I will say is this. The scene ends with Luke’s image, as these words appear: “Sad Superstar” Basil Joseph. It’s a spoof on how our actors like to give themselves titles, and the film is saying: Why stop with one title for the hero, when you can have a title for every emotion the hero goes through?

You can read the rest of the review here:

https://www.galattaplus.com/sivaprasads-maranamass-starring-basil-joseph-is-an-enjoyable-dark-comedy-with-nutty-characters-in-nuttier-situations/

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