Let me begin with a question, a rhetoric question, about ‘Diamond Necklace’. So, whose film is it? Lal Jose’s…or Fahadh’s? Well, it’s a real good Lal Jose film; it’s the story that’s the star, it’s the screenplay that steals the show, it’s the narrative that holds your interest. At the very same time, it’s Fahadh Fazil, or rather the actor in him, who leaves you wonderstruck. So much of acting potential, at so young an age?! Well well, age is no criterion for talent. So thanks Lal Jose for ‘Diamond Necklace’; and thanks Fahadh for making ‘Diamond Necklace’ so precious a film for any film-goer, err, any sensible film goer.
Let me not dwell too much on the story; it’s totally unpredictable and you don’t know what’s going to happen next. You might have seen so many films that now you can almost predict which scene is going to follow which. You try it out with ‘Diamond Necklace’, but then you understand that the film’s maker is much smarter and not a single scene would turn out to be what you had expected it to be.
Arun (Fahadh) is a young happy-go-lucky doctor working in a hospital in Dubai. He lives the life of the rich- goes about in expensive cars, lives in Burj Dubai (Burj Khalifa), the world’s tallest building, carries a number of credit/debit cards with him and dresses fashionably. But take a close look and you understand that all this is mere show-off- the cars that he travel in get confiscated every now and then, the flat that he lives in is in fact his friend’s, the cards that he uses mostly don’t work and every now and then he gets calls from the Bank asking to clear off his credit card liabilities and loans. He is very much like any other Malayalee working out there in the Gulf. In a sense Venu (Sreenivasan), who hails from Arun’s hometown and who is visibly poorer and lives in the workers’ barracks in Dubai, is much happier and even well off if you get to know things from a different perspective. Arun has as his mentor, guide and friend Dr. Savithri (Rohini), whom Arun calls Akka (meaning ‘elder sister’) and who helps him in every way. It’s then that a new nurse Lakshmi (Gowthami Nair) comes and joins Arun’s hospital. Arun and Lakshmi develop a very close kind of relationship, which gradually turns into love. Arun also comes across Maya (Samvritha Sunil), who is related to ‘Akka’ and who is a fashion designer and who plans to open a boutique in Dubai. In the meantime Arun has to fly back home as his mother gets hospitalized and back home, he is caught in a situation where he has to get married, to Kalamandalam Rajashri (Anusree), a dancer. How these three women- Lakshmi, Maya and Rajashri- shape and influence Arun’s life and how he shapes their lives and how their relationships evolve and what all happens to Arun’s life then on forms the theme of ‘Diamond Necklace’.
What I feel is that ‘Diamond Necklace’ in fact is Lal Jose’s best film till date; it’s his most intelligent film. Of course there are many other Lal Jose films that I like, many that we like to watch again and again, but ‘Diamond Necklace’ is a cut above the rest of them. It’s a multi-layered film, based on a very well-written script. It’s well conceived, well shot and has some brilliant performances as its highlight. The characters stay on in your memory and you wish you get to see such films more often. There are things that seem clichéd and which, you feel could have been done away with, like Sreenivasan’s character for example. But then, you feel the character is very much integral to the plot and that Lal Jose could have handled the character a bit more subtly. Well, despite all this, ‘Diamond Necklace’ is a film that needs to be watched, appreciated and analysed. Hats off Lal Jose and team.
Performance
Fahadh seems to be in full form these days. A friend of mine, a critic himself, was saying that Fahadh, through his acting, seems to be taking lessons in acting. He is exploring and at the same time revealing to us the many aspects of acting. He is definitely the main highlight of ‘Diamond Necklace’. The three lead ladies put in great performances. Samvritha is brilliant as Maya while Gowthami, who was earlier seen in ‘Second Show’, simply excels as Lakshmi. Anusree, in her debut role as Rajashri, does her job perfectly well. She is real good. Thanks Lal Jose for introducing yet another talented actress to Malayalam Cinema. The others too do their respective roles perfectly well.
Technical aspects
Hats off to Samir Thahir. He is proving it again and again that he is a cinematographer to reckon with (and of course a good director too, which he has proved himself to be, with ‘Chaapa Kurish’). Well, without Samir, ‘Diamond Necklace’ wouldn’t have been what it is. Good job, Samir. Mohandas on the art side has done a good job and Ranjan Abraham has edited it well.
Music
Vidyasagar has given us some good tunes that jell perfectly well with the theme and the mood of the film.
Script
It’s the well-written script by Dr. Iqbal Kuttipuram that forms the base of this excellent film. He has handled it with all deftness and he also deserves appreciation for the characterization part. Dialogues too are good.
Direction
Great work Lal Jose!! (Don’t want to say much, his film speaks for his work. Just go and see it)
Verdict: Excellent! Multilayered, well shot, well conceived and with great performances.
Rating: 3.5/5
Plot
It tells the story of a young high flying Oncologist working in Dubai. where we saw the low life of the working class in Dubai and here we see the razzle-dazzle of the rich that can starry-eyed youngsters.[citation needed]
Dr. Arun (Fahadh Faasil) lives off plastic money (he is shown carrying around a wallet full of credit cards), drives swanky cars and enjoys life to the hilt without worrying about the future. The risk of such a lifestyle comes into focus when we see his car being towed by the creditors. Next we get to see that his upmarket lifestyle is like a house of cards, as he is banned from leaving the country by his creditors, even to see his sick mother.
The focus is on his relationship with the people around him. There is Savithri Akka (Rohini), his boss in the hospital who, in a sense, spoils him with sisterly affection.[citation needed]
Lakshmi [Gautami Nair], a newly recruited Tamil nurse in his department may be the first girl Arun is seriously smitten by. Rajasree is played by débutante,Anusree with whom he is tricked into marriage.
[edit]Cast
- Fahad Fazil as Dr. Arun Kumar
- Samvrutha Sunil as Maya
- Gauthami Nair as Lekshmi
- Anusree as Rajasree
- Sreenivasan as Venu
- Rohini as Dr. Savithri
- Maniyanpilla Raju
- Guruvayoor Shivaji
- Moideen Koya
- Midhun Ramesh
Production
The movie have Fahad Fazil in the lead with three heroines played by Samvrutha Sunil[1], Gauthami Nair and Anushree. Anusree was the winner of a reality show on Surya TV called Vivel Active Fair Big Break, one of the judges of which was director Lal Jose. The movie is produced by Lal Jose and P. V. Pradeep, under the banners of LJ Films and Anitha Productions. Produced as a debut venture of his production house LJ films, the movie have him uniting with Ikbal Kuttipuram.[2] list of the movie which have Sameer Thahircranking the camera. Lyrics penned by Rafeeq Ahmed and music was composed by Vidyasagar.[3] It was widely reported that Amala Paul had agreed to play a female lead in the film[4], later she was later replaced by Gauthami Nair of Second Show fame.[5]
Few scenes of the film was shot inside and near Burj Khalifa in Dubai.
Soundtrack
| No. | Title | Singer(s) | Length | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Nilamalare" | Nivas | 4:12 | |
| 2. | "Thottu Thottu" | Najeem Arshad, Abhirami Ajai | 4:40 | |
| 3. | "Nenjinullil" | Sanjeev Thomas | 4:22 | |
| 4. | "Hey I am" | Sanjeev Thomas | 1:21 |
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