Charles Enterprises movie review: Urvashi and Lord Ganesha take a backseat to listless storytelling

Cast: Balu Varghese, Urvashi, Kalaiyarasan, Guru Somasundaram, Abhija Sivakala, Manikandan Achari, Bhanu, Mridula Madhav, Geethi Sangeetha, Rajesh Sharma, Sujith Shanker, Harish Pengan Director: Subhash Lalitha Subrahmanian Language: Malayalam with Tamil A young man with declining vision, relatives coveting a prized antique statue of a Hindu deity in his home, an unlikely friendship with a petty criminal from another community in the same city … these are among the multiple themes with promise in the new Malayalam film Charles Enterprises. Doctors can tell us whether the film’s writer knows his genetics and has correctly understood the science of retinitis pigmentosa, Ravikuttan’s hereditary eye disease, but it will take more than a medical professional to diagnose the reason why, with so many potentially exciting elements on which to pin itself, Charles Enterprises does not settle into any one of them. And so, instead of going somewhere with the bitterness and despair of a youth who knows he is likely to be completely blind someday, or Gomathi’s extended family faking reverence for Ganapathi when in truth they are devoted to financial gain, or Ravikuttan’s relationship of trust with Charles in a metropolis that views its Tamilian poor with suspicion, Charles Enterprises floats over each of these threads. Urvashi’s comedic talent needs no introduction to Malayalam film followers, but the shallow characterisation of Gomathi makes this beloved veteran one of Charles Enterprises’ primary casualties.