What can you do if you’re totally broke and a bag of cash, say, of around one crore rupees, literally falls into your lap and refuses to leave you? Well, the first thought that runs in your mind may be to either keep it for yourself or to find the owner. But after a while, if you’re such a person as Neil John Samuel (Fahadh Faasil) in Money Rathnam, you’ll perhaps be compelled to believe that it’s a design of destiny.
The characters are many and the storyline is simple. A bunch of starving clowns have a precious stone (rathnam). Their prospective buyer is on his way with the money: a cool hundred lacs. Something happens. The money goes missing. A philanthropist pledges a sizeable amount of money to a girl working for a charity. A pair of college lovers elope. Neil clutches the money bag. And a gang of rowdies chase him.
A story set in a single day and revolving around several groups of characters who are all somehow connected isn’t novel anymore, of course. But it could still be very challenging. Unfortunately, this one has loose ends and no proper understructure.
What is really nice is that the perspectives capture the varied intentions, actions, moods and reactions of the protagonist. Care has been taken to ensure a fine lighting. The editing is class, and compliments the camerawork. Jump cuts are used too, and quite effectively, to both quicken the pace and enhance the humor. And all the jokers get their timing right.
As is often the case, these days, with films that have Fahadh in the lead, his is the performance that stands out tall. Riding down the highway in an open pajama robe, he is quite a sight, even if not as hilarious as a certain Hollywood comedian in a similar scene. Fahadh’s character alternates between the comic and the conscientious, and transforms suddenly from a frightened fellow on the run to a fearless martial artiste with astounding stamina, style, and technique.
Debutant Santhosh Nair may be noble in his intention, but the ethics of his protagonist’s deed is highly questionable. Further, while a pure comedy can get away with a lot of rubbish (since belief is expected to be suspended in such a genre), a semi-crack action thriller that wants to be taken seriously needs to first pull up its socks and stitch all its little flaws.
