Diwanjimoola Grand Prix review: flimsy but not really boring

Diwanjimoola Grand Prix has two actors who carry the responsibility of making it engaging. Siddique and Vinayakan are those two names. The simple and predictable Diwanjimoola Grand Prix is a clichéd assembled story with a lot of subplots that doesn’t really connect with each other smoothly. With a lot of dependency on spontaneous dialogue humour, this film is passable but not memorable.

Diwanjimoola is situated in Thrissur and back in the time it was known for its racing legacy. Jithendran was a famous racer who unfortunately got paralyzed after an accident during a race. On the present day scenario the race isn’t happening and the movie is telling us about how a newly appointed collector decides to revamp the tournament and how Jithendran plans to settle the score for the foul play that changed his life.

The collector character played by Kunchacko Boban is almost a burden for the film. Prashanth Nair who has co-written the film has poured in the peripheral visuals of his experience in Kozhikode to this character but it was very difficult for the viewer to attach this character to the main narrative. The main part that has a cliché racing story is uninspiring. The fun we used to see in Anil Radhakrishnan Menon films is terribly missing her and it is only in the last quarter where Vinayakan appears in the film, Diwanjimoola Grand Prix gets a life. The natural behaviour of the characters saves it from being boring.

The central character of the film is actually Jithendran played by Siddique. As usual he gets into the skin of the character so easily. The humour and sentiments worked out very effectively. Nyla Usha was good as the daughter of Jithendran. Vinayakan was impeccable in his avatar. Kunchacko Boban’s character is struggling for existence. Anil Radhakrishnan Menon has tried this thing of placing other famous Thrissur characters into the movie through actors like Ashokan, Tini Tom, Sudheer Karamana, Hareesh, Nirmal and a few more.

The kind of witty humour we have seen in the director’s previous works is there in this film as well. But there is no real excitement to keep us engaged in the story. The predictability is a major drawback of the script. And the assembled feel reduces the fun. It is hard to digest how a first time racer won a race after so many setbacks. Cinematography and music were good. But the edits were poor.

The two hour long Diwanjimoola Grand Prix is never really boring. But a film has to have a unique theme and compelling narrative to leave a mark in the audiences mind. In that aspect this film hasn’t achieved much. It is Siddique and Vinayakan who made this movie alive.