Producer: Subbair
Director: Bhadran
Cast: Mohanlal, Nana Patekar, Innocent, Sreeraman, Biman Raghu, Jagathy, Laya, Sukanya, Bindhu Panickar, Manoj K Jayan 
Music: Ouespachan

The much-awaited Mohanlal film ‘Udayon’ has at last hit the screen. The expectation in regard of the film is skyrocketing and thus a very good opening is very much predictable. To start with, the first glimpse of the film makes it very evident that director Bhadran has etched out the concept and character from his former film ‘Spadikam’. ‘Udayon’ begins where ‘Spadikam’ ends. But the former film was a classic in a typical Syrian Christian milieu. What does ‘Udayon’ has to offer!

‘Udayon’ is the sketch of Sooranadu, the era in which he belonged and his life then, his brave and valorous characteristics, the tales of his hard work. He was a settler who set an empire of his own, grooming it on the strength of his hard work, confidence, willpower and toil. In this manner he turns the hilly lands into agriculture farms and takes it as his full time occupation.

‘Udayon’ is an extract from ‘Spadikam’, but it fails to be in the league of where that film belonged. The strength of the film is the freshness that it offers with astounding cinematic glory. The film is a watch out, if you want to try on anything that is novel. And the only plus that the film holds the pillar of strength is Mohanlal as a rough and tough 74-year-old Kunju.

Sooranadu Kunju (Mohanlal) is an optimistic man who holds a large vision of life. He is an innate farmer and has his faith on the lands he ploughs. He moves ahead on the strength of his mind power. He is brave and bold enough to fight against the odds and this evens includes even the fury of nature. His only vision is to build his own empire. What ever he is it’s on the strength of his self. He has a family of five children and two wives. They are Rarichan (Innocent), Pappoyi (Mohanlal), Itti (Babu), daughter Molly (Sukanya) and an eight-year old son.

Kunju however is disillusioned by his children’s because they don’t think the way he does. They’re not interested in land and agriculture, the dream that he lives upon. He gave 10 acres of land to his three grown up son but instead of cultivating it they opted to sell it out. They have their ambition and they don’t want to become like their father. Rarichan wants to be a clock mechanic, Itti is a potential politician and Poppoyi is a gambler and a good for nothing person. Kunju hardly bothers about them, as he believes that they’re all fools and good for nothing. He always maligns them and is hardly concerned with them. He takes a stance not to give away his money to them and also doesn’t get his daughter married due to this.

His domestic life gets into a crisis when his sister Ichamma (Bindu Panikkar) claims the 5 acres of land that Kunju has cheated her of. But Kunju refuses to give it away to her. This makes the children of Ichamma, Mathan (Kalabhavan Mani), Thoma (Jagathy) and Pottan (Manoj K.Jayan), turn against Kunju and they seek to revenge him. The conflicts lead on between them and it ends in the climax of the film.

‘Udayon’ is a film about the characters and the heavy dialogues that they deliver. But the association with the characters takes time and this hackens the pace of the film. Another disadvantage is the comedy of Jagathy who plays the character Shavapetti. The songs composed by Ouseppachan are good enough. However they have been placed wrongly in the film and this leads to more sluggishness. The background score and the cinematography of Ramachandra Babu go fine. Performance wise the supporting cast do a good job. However Innocent, Jagathy, Salim Ghouse, Laya and Sukanya gets little chance to deliver their histrionics. The show stealer is none other than Mohanlal as Sooranadu Kunju. He steers the film all the way with his negative shades done with awesome cadence. From his looks, to the dialogues, antics, he is just superb. He is a thing to watch out with out a miss!