41. Diwanjimoola Grand Prix; movie review

DIWANJIMOOLA GRAND PRIX
Cert 12A
124 mins
BBFC advice: Contains moderate violence, sex references

My January enthusiasm means that many evenings I can be found watching the most obscure movies released in Britain.
At Leicester Odeon, even the counter staff had not realised that Malayalam movie, Diwanjimoola Grand Prix was being screened.
No wonder. Mine was the only ticket which they sold.
So, I had just over two hours of bliss, watching Anil Radhakrishnan Menon's film alone, undisturbed by chatting, crisp crunching or phones going off.
Actually, I am stretching the word bliss a bit. I am not sure it should be applied to a 6/10 movie whether I watch it alone or not.
Menon's film is watchable but not especially memorable with a finale which could have predicted well before its end.
Its big plus is former radio presenter and beauty queen Nyla Usha as the daughter of a famous motorbike racer (Siddique) who was paralysed after a controversial crash 15 years previously.
She cares for him but is also a fearless campaigner on behalf of the district in which they live.
Thus, she challenges the new government representative (Kunchacko Boban) to come up with a way of improving the lot of the locals.
His answer is to restore the races which were the subject of huge pride in Diwanjimoola.
Menon's film then finds a hero in a deaf tearaway (Rahul Rajasekharan) who is asked to ride on the good guys' behalf against a dastardly foe.
He is then trained with great care by the old racer and his former team and...well, you can work out the rest.
There have already been worse films released than Dimanjimoola Grand Prix this year and they will live in my mind for the wrong reasons.
Sadly, this one will not linger long in the memory because it is so-so - neither good nor bad. It tries for comedy but achieves smiles instead of laughs and its moments of drama are not as tense as they might be.
And that is probably why I was the only person sitting in screen 12 of Leicester Odeon.

Reasons to watch: Nyla Usha gives the film a significant lift
Reasons to avoid: its conclusion was obvious long before its end

Laughs: none
Jumps: none
Vomit: none
Nudity: none
Overall rating: 6/10

The big question - Is there any health and safety legislation in India?

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