The trailer and the song ‘Ashubha Mangalakari’ from Super Sharanya generated interest among viewers, with many assuming that it is a movie narrated from the perspective of a college girl. The scenes of the song had realistic visuals of a girls’ hostel and bonding between hostel mates, which was refreshing to see as our makers mostly present hostel life from a male perspective.
However, it seems that was all the innovation that the director and scriptwriter of Super Sharanya, Girish AD, had in mind. Instead of a boy, he took a girl as his lead and then served us a storyline similar to that of his first movie, Thaneer Mathan Dinangal, which was a surprise hit. Instead of a school in Thaneer Mathan Dinangal, Super Sharanya uses an engineering college as the setting. Anashwara Rajan, who played the female lead in that film, is cast in the titular role of Sharanya in this movie. However, it is never explained why she is called ‘Super Sharanya’. The movie, which appeared like a campus caper told from the perspective of Sharanya’s life from the songs and trailers, is just another love story narrated in a candid and humorous way, like Girish’s first movie.
Watch Super Sharanya Song here:
The movie starts by following Sharanya, who is struggling to adjust in her college in Thrissur and always finds reasons to go back to her village in Palakkad. The interactions of Sharanya with her hostel roommates in the initial parts of the movie are engaging and humorous. Other than that, the whole plot revolves around Sharanya’s love life and how she evades the unwanted love interests in her college.
The comedy in the movie comes from the character named Ajith Menon – a satirical and troll-like depiction of the movie and character, Arjun Reddy. Ajith Menon is similar to Arjun Reddy, who was heavily criticised by many for romanticising and glorifying misogyny and toxic masculinity.
Ajith Menon sets eyes on Sharanya and tries to establish his authority over her without her consent or permission just because he’s the college hero with anger management issues — like Arjun Reddy’s problematic character. There’s a young college professor named Arun and a classmate of Sharanya named Sangeeth, played by Thannir Mathan fame actor Naslen, who are also interested in Sharanya. However, she falls for a random guy named Deepu, and from then on, the movie turns into a predictable, slow and stagnant love story.
There’s no character development in the storyline, even for the lead character Sharanya. She’s shown as a village girl who is low on self-confidence at the start of the movie and there’s no development of her character till the end. The only important moment is when she tells Ajith Menon to his face that he is useless, after he has been beaten up by Sharanya’s boyfriend Deepu and his friends. Though the movie ridicules Arjun Reddy like character, in the end Sharnya falls for a guy who is soft on the outside but has a history of violence, which seemed a bit ironic.
All the actors in the movie do justice to their characters and their performances make the movie engaging. Sharanya is safe in the hands of Anashwara whose knack for comedy is evident again. Arjun Ashokan also put up a convincing performance as Deepu, especially in romantic scenes.
The songs composed by Justin Varghese are refreshing and go well with the story. Sajith Purushan’s cinematography also helps the realistic narrative style of the movie.
The movie would have been a lot more entertaining and easier to watch if the director could have told an almost empty plot in a shorter time, rather than stretching it for nearly three hours.