Alexander the Great

Alexander, the original Greek version must have belonged to the prestigious royal lineage of Mediterranean Varmas because his Malayali namesake definitely does. Varma, a surname attributed to the ruling Kshatriya clan(back in the days when royals were still in fashion) in Cochin and Travancore is  a favorite class of Malayalam film makers. Anyone with the name Varma is attributed the extremes of everything - money, power, greed, beauty, intelligence, good nature, evil. You say it Varmas have it.

Alexander Varma is the out-of-wedlock son of a major Varma in a major Varma family, who is now spreading their wealth all over Middle East, as if the sheikhs haven't gotten it right. Mohanlal, not to be left behind Shah Rukh Khan(My Name is Khan), Hrithik Roshan(Koi Mil Gaya), Anil Kapoor(Yuvvraj) and Dustin Hoffman(Rainman, which is supposedly the inspiration for this movie, looks like even inspiration is affected by recession, nothing much can be seen) takes on the role of an autistic genius. His acting reminds me of early 80s kids' dubbing in Malayalam movies where you know the words spoken by the kid on screen is actually mouthed by someone middle-aged who think they are doing a pretty good job of impersonating a child's voice, when in reality they sucked, big time. If only they had let the kids use their original voices.

There is Sudha Chandran, surprised to see her here, did Ekta Kapoor let her go? Then there is Bala, Jagadeesh, Nedumudi Venu providing the necessary moral support for the autistic genius and also a host of others like Siddique, Ganesan etc who are waiting for the genius to bite the dust, as if that'll ever happen. But I've to appreciate the film-maker for showing restraint in one thing - not conjuring up a nubile 19 year old heroine for our wig-clad hero. Bravo! Keep it up.