Couple of days back I was watching “Kallan Pavithran” on television, and it occurred to me; how unimportant the story was to movie making. This is not a universal statement but is true, as the Sun, only for directors who know their craft. 

A commoner rising to a don and then falling back to the gutters, is not a new story, it is a cliché. But what makes “Second Show” stand apart is its style of making. The director (Srinath Rajendran) has made use a style of narration which is new to the Malayalam film industry, and seldom seen in the west. There may be a handful of international films that has the same style of filming. 

What makes a movie special? What makes a movie good? There seems to be a misplaced notion that a movie can be made good if they use a bunch of expensive cars, exotic locations, and girls in skimpy outfits. What happened to the simple story line? What happened to tales of (believable) heroism? What happened to realistic movies? And what the hell happened to sensibility?

“Second Show” is the kind of movie that you hope to see when you go to the theatre. It has a well balanced mix of everything.  The genre best describing these films would be “Dark Comedy”. The realities of life mixed with a pinch of salt, is one of the best cocktails available. 

Sticking to the age old convention; the first half of "Second Show” has a light mood, it is not heavy on the viewers, and can be enjoyed with a relaxed mind. The dialogues are witty and there are some classic one-liners. In the second half the movie takes on a serious air. The mood is a bit tenser, the climax and the scene preceding the climax is captivating. These scenes bring out the gravity of the script. 

The style and flow of the film is nicely supplemented by the camera work. Sound Design and Background Score is very supportive.The script and dialogues by Vini Viswalal are solid. Dulquer Salman has tremendous screen presence and is capable of making it big in the industry. Sunny Wayne, who plays Nelson Mandela, has done an amazing job. 

The songs by Avial are awesome; though the other tracks in the movie are a huge let down. There could have been more damagecontrol to acting in the case of the new faces (except Sunny Wayne and Dulquer). 

“Saima, Second Show is a good movie!”