Oru Jaathi Jathakam Review..!!

Oru Jaathi Jathakam is a mishap designed on a pointless script that pretends to be a satire.

Rating – 1.5/5

Oru Jaathi Jaathakam talks about an old fashioned individual who is a misogynist, casteist, narcissist, homophobic etc.. Vineeth Sreenivasan plays this character, Jayesh. Jayesh lives by the moral code set by a conservative society and opposes every other idea. He has been looking for a perfect match for over 8 years but he has some absurd conditions about his future wife. This premise fits the bill as a social satire. There are a lot of artists in this film, which is directed by M Mohanan. He has previously directed the hit movie Aravindante Adhithikal with Vineeth Sreenivasan.

The film features individual fun-filled episodes rather than a constructed screenplay. The episodes go from one humorous situation to another. In the meantime, it tries to mock the protagonist’s perspectives and takes a dig at the societal norms as well. Some of the comedies are too forced while some land safely. This is the problem with the film. They are made like separate clips to generate laughter by bringing several characters out of nowhere. It never sticks to a storyline. Several characters pass through without making any impact. On a whole, the film lacks a solid screenplay that can engage the audience.

Again, by the time it reaches the intermission point, there is a weird plot twist to create confusion. This doesn’t look promising either. The biggest issue was the treatment of satire in the film. It never looked like a genuine effort. On the pretext of supporting the progressive ideas, some of the episodes demean the very same idea. The LGBTQ ideas are broadly ridiculed in this film in the name of a plot twist. You could hear the word ‘Kundan’ (homophobic slur for gay men) used intentionally for humor in the film. There is a scene where the mother of the protagonist sexualizes a girl wearing short dress. The mother enquires whether Jayesh, ever tried to misbehave with the girl after seeing her in a short dress. Shockingly, she is devastated to know that her son hasn’t misbehaved with the girl or shown any sexual feeling towards her outfit. In another scene, Jayesh’s father confronts an old man who taunts him calling his son a ‘Kundan’. His reply was even appalling, where he fumes at the old man to send women in his family to prove the sexual orientation of his son.

The film is unbearable in the final 30 minutes. It seems like they had no idea on how to end this film. Suddenly, the makers have forgotten the character arc of the protagonist and all the characters around him started to become clowns in a circus. The entire plan to make a satire film has become a complete mess towards the climax. The characters became annoying and their performances were going downhill. Vineeth Sreenivasan was pretty decent in the initial portions but the script demanded nothing from him after the first hour. Rest of the artists were also ordinary and never nailed the humor portions with consistency. The making is really poor, where there is no real connection between the scenes or real focus on the protagonist. The director never understood the humor or the purpose of satire in the film.