Cast: Nishan, Ragini Nandwani, Leona Lishoy
Music: Sharreth
Director: Unni Pranavam
Hadiyya, which comes with the tagline ‘A gift of love’ tries to convey that religion is founded on love and humanity. But, it loses the plot midway, leaving the audience baffled, unable to understand what Unni Pranavam intends to say. The movie revolves around an architect named Brahmanandan, played by a stone-faced Nishan; Sarah, the pretty Ragini Nandwani, a nun-turned-babe; and Leona Lishoy, who adds one more role to her series of duds.
Right from the first dialogue, drama rules the scenes. The introduction of Sarah as a Mother Teresa-like nun with rouge-reddened cheeks and fake eyelashes evokes a hearty laugh. Despite their respective parents agreeing to their marriage, the couple is forced to convert to each other’s religion and so they choose Islam. In the haste to treat all religions with equal importance, the director turns the whole movie into a long-winded narrative. Khadija (Leona), whose story runs in parallel to that of the lead pair’s, suddenly gets pushed to the front and adds to the complexity. Leona puts up a fine performance and is a talent to watch out for, but she needs to be more careful with her choice of movies.
In her umpteenth role as the aristocratic mother, Urmila Unni delivers a good show as Brahma’s mom. In the humour department, Lukman, Jayakumar and Kottayam Pradeep evoke a few belly laughs. Dharmajan Bolgatty starts to get on one’s nerves with his repetitive acts. If you choose to ignore his cameo in the opening song, Sharreth has done a good job as a composer. His comeback songs, though melodious, are not his best. The two who deserve a special mention are Saran and Devi. They had the tough job of lending their voice to the lead pair.
Watch Hadiyya if you are impatient to wait for the episodes of daily soaps and want to experience mini-screen drama in one go!
