Twenty:20

Making a film with more than 1 big star, let alone all of them, is no easy task. While the story must provide the actors with roles commensurate with their stature and fan following, it must be strong enough to hold our interest on its own. By that yardstick, Twenty:20 is a fantastic achievement. Featuring most actors of the Malayalam industry, it manages to give them - atleast the most important among them - meaty roles and spin an interesting yarn too.

Indrajit plays a college youth charged with murdering a fellow student. Suresh Gopi, playing a cop, arrests Indrajit but Mammootty, who plays a lawyer, gets him released. Within a couple of days, Indrajit is murdered and Suresh Gopi arrests Mohanlal, who was caught with knife in hand. Mohanlal pleads innocence and Mammootty, convinced by him and his mother and sister, appears in court on his behalf and gets him released too. But that turns out to be a mistake.

Twenty:20 starts off as a whodunnit but soon turns into a revenge saga. Similar stories have been seen in Malayalam before and so the story doesn't feel completely fresh. The twists and turns are a little predictable and once we get past the one big surprise right after Mohanlal gets out of jail, there are no real surprises in the way the story unfolds or the manner in which connections are established between the key characters. But it does hold our interest for the most part with a good pace and a fast screenplay. The climax feels overly long and messy and there's the feeling that its because of a need to give all actors their due.

But the movie's key attraction is ofcourse the chance to see all the actors share the screen. The big three - Mammootty, Mohanlal and Suresh Gopi - have been given roles that perfectly suit their images. Mammootty and Mohanlal are ofcourse the biggest stars and whenever they clash, like the meeting between them just before the intermission or the fight - and the following conversation - between them in the highrise, sparks fly. Suresh Gopi gets to mouth some strong dialogs with his usual intensity too and go up against both of them. Dileep steals the scenes he is in with his awesome comic talent while Jayaram gets to play a more serious role. Among the actresses, Kavya Madhavan goes against type in an enjoyable way, Nayanthara shows up for a song and Bhavana pairs up with Dileep. From what I could see, Nedumudi Venu was the only famous actor who didn't show up in the movie.