Maniyarayile Ashokan Review: Simplistic and Cheerful in its Approach!

Debutant Shamzu Zayba’s Maniyarayile Ashokan is a cheerful drama that revolves around a young bachelor who hopes to have a beautiful marriage life and showcases the struggles that come around. Produced by Dulquer Salmaan and Jacob Gregory, Gregory himself portrays the primary role of Ashokan braced by a strong supporting cast like Vijayaraghavan, Shine Tom Chacko, and Krishna Sankar. And the 110-minute comedy-drama is elevated by the elegance in narration and is released during the Onam festival season on Netflix. Maniyarayile Ashokan Review

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The storyline of Maniyarayile Ashokan is set in a small countryside village and details us to the wishes of Ashokan (Jacob Gregory) to have a lovely marital life and his phase in life when he is in a gaze to find the complete partner. Subsequently, the narrative also explores the life of Shaiju (Shine Tom Chacko) and Ratheesh (Krishna Sankar) and gives us a few insights on the different perspectives of love and marriage. Maniyarayile Ashokan Review

On the other side of the movie, Shyama (Anupama Parameswaran) is a charming young girl who sets her heart on Ashokan, which awfully turns the life of Ashokan. The rest of the plot portrays the hardships of Ashokan and what life has to offer him to make things right.

On the bright side, Maniyarayile Ashokan succeeded in delivering a simple storyline, written by Magesh Boji, and supported an artistic narrative style by Vineeth Krishnan. It flows smoothly between the different characters without deviating much from the primary storyline and provided a larger view within a minimal screen time. The comedy sequences blended well with the realistic vibe of the film, and the dialogues were virtuous, which makes Maniyarayile Ashokan suitable for the family audience.

The music by Sreehari K Nair was tailor-made to this film accompanied by some gorgeous camera shots by Sajad Kakku, and all the songs lead me to some fantasies, which every bachelor desires. The production design department had done an exceptional job of finding the right components required to showcase the countryside wonderfully. Furthermore, from a technical standpoint, Maniyarayile Ashokan did a decent job in the post-production in clubbing the background score well with the visuals.

Performances by the cast were on-point, especially from Jacob Gregory, who navigated his career in the right direction. Jacob Gregory’s casting was spot-on in picturing Ashokan and showcased his profound ability to handle a lead role for the very first time. Shine Tom Chacko and Krishna Sankar complimented well with Jacob Gregory and the Ashokan’s father’s role played by Vijayaghavan was refreshingly good. Dulquer Salmaan’s cameo appearance added excitement and those few minutes were filled with his charm.

Overall, Maniyarayile Ashokan managed to maintain a simple storyline and transform it into a cheerful drama that portrays the heart-warming insights on marital life and romance. It is a perfect watch in this festival season and lets us shower the flowers for Ashokan! Watch ‘Maniyarayile Ashokan’ on Netflix here.

Rating – 3.5/5 | Grade – B+

Images via Wayfarer Films