'Keshu Ee Veedinte Nadhan' review: A funny take on families and lottery money

Actor Dileep in 'Keshu Ee Veedinte Nadhan'. (Image: screen shot)

'Keshu Ee Veedinte Nadhan' translates to 'Keshu, Lord of this house'. And he had me giggling in the middle of the night as I watched the movie when it dropped on Disney+Hotstar Multiplex.

Usually, the comedy doesn’t translate into subtitles if they’re punning and puns are such fun if you understand the language. This film uses everyday scenes that you and I have all experienced and shows us the funny side of our lives. That’s why it’s easy to understand when everyone - sisters and their husbands, their children and spouses, brother and his wife and their kids - shows up at Keshu’s home to slowly begin to persuade Keshu to divide the family land.

Someone wants to sell their share of the land and start a business, another wants to fulfil their ambition of working in the movies, others just want to own property. But wily Keshu - who is understandably tight-fisted - explains that he finds it difficult to share anything. When the family protests, he tells them the story of how when his father died, he left behind a mountain of debts and how he got his sisters married and he barely makes a living running a driving school… Everyone groans but knows that Keshu is telling the truth.

When his old mother says ‘all of you want a share of the property, but none of you have found the time to go to Rameshwaram and scatter the old man’s ashes…’, it turns into a family trip across the state in a bus. And I’m happy to share that this trip reminded me of the super funny Bombay To Goa (starring Mehmood, Amitabh Bachchan, et al) and even Honeymoon Travels (Abhay Deol, Boman Irani and more). There’s not a single moment that is not funny.

The physical gags, like a sudden brake on the bus, may be old, but they're done delightfully.  In this movie the joke is set so smoothly that the punchline hits you in the face half an hour into the movie. I try to keep the review spoiler free, but all of us have that one person in the family who will walk away with the phone, still talking, trying to get a better signal, so watch out for Keshu, head of the family who does that. And it’s a super funny gag.

The men of the family drinking at the back of the bus, playing rummy also translates across all languages, because if you have ever taken a longish ride with the family, you have seen this scene. You have seen doting aunts who scold their sons for eating oily food (what looked like a deliciously sweet neyyappam made me hungry!) and make sure they apply red sandalwood paste to keep them from breaking out in pimples…

The character of Keshu could have been annoying, you know, because you watch him teach a carload of women driving. But it’s a funny scene and you start noticing how Keshu and his man-bag cannot be easily parted. The super talented Kavitha Ranjini (you know her as Urvashi) plays Rathnamma, Keshu’s wife. They have two children and they too have a part to play when Keshu tells them that he’s won the lottery.

The Beatles sang ‘Money can’t buy me love’ and this movie makes you realise the truth in that line. As soon as the family gets to know this, everyone turns into a vulture. Everyone includes the guy who sold Keshu the winning ticket and the villagers too… Everyone has a claim to the money. And there’s that neighbour who’s supposed to be a reformed goon…

Many of us are burdened with the difficult task of separating the artist from the man and the actor Dileep, who plays Keshu, has been mired in a sexual assault case in real life. That cannot be ignored. Those in power should not be able to bend the laws in their favour, no matter how funny they are on screen. Watch this film at home today, hoping that justice will prevail in real life.