Chotta Mumbai

Plot

The film starts in a street in Fort Kochi where Vasco da Gama (Mohanlal),the son of a wrestler named Michael (Saikumar), lives. Vasco and his gang of five – Chandrappan (Siddique), Susheelan (Bijukuttan), Sainu (Manikuttan), Basheer (Jagathy Sreekumar) and cousin Tomichchan (Indrajith) are small-time goondas, involved in petty offences and as the movie progresses, these characters turn out to be more endearing than bad.

Vasco goes by the nickname Thala (head) since he is the gang leader. Though Michael (Saikumar) rebukes his son time and again for his lifestyle choices, he loves him and has big dreams for him. The plot progresses when a marriage broker contracts a wedding between Vasco and auto-rickshaw driver Latha (Bhavana), the only daughter of Pambu Chakochan (Rajan P. Dev) who is a heavy drinker and a longtime friend of Michael.

Vasco likes Latha, but she pleads with him to tell her father that he does not like her, because she plans to elope with her boyfriend. Overjoyed at having discovered a fellow drinker in Vasco, Chakochan doesn't even let him voice his opinion. Vasco decides to help Latha out, but her plan to elope fails when she discovers that her boyfriend Suni (Suraj Venjaramoodu) is involved in human trafficking. She returns to Vasco. Later when Vasco, Michael, Chandrappan and Latha travel in her auto-rickshaw, they clash with a gang that has been on the run after stabbing an honest police officer (Vijayaraghavan). Vasco and his father were witnesses to the murder which was committed by Satheesan (Vinayakan) who is the younger brother of a corrupt circle inspector called Natesan (Kalabhavan Mani). This leads to complications in the plot which end up with Vasco changing his lifestyle and stepping up to sort out the mess that his family and friends find themselves in.

Cast

Reception

The film was well received by critics. Unni R. Nair, in his review for Nowrunning.com said, "An out and out entertainer, it's a film that you would like to just sit back and enjoy, pushing all logical thinking to the background. Chotta Mumbai is a film that cashes in on Mohanlal's superstar image and its aim is merely to entertain and enthrall." () Paresh C Palicha of Rediff.com gave the film a rating and positively reviewed the film's script, Mohanlal's lead performance, Anwar Rasheed's direction as well as the performances of the supporting cast. Sify.com also published an extremely positive review and said: "What makes the film tick is Mohanlal's at the heart of this mad, mad, mad world with his impeccable sense of comic timing. Clearly he is at home playing this type of character- for him it is the equivalent of an old pair of Hawai slippers. If laughter is the best medicine then Anwar Rasheed has earned his stripes yet again."

The film was a blockbuster at the box office and ran for 100 days.

Music

Composer Rahul Raj made his feature film debut through this film. The songs Thalaa and Chotta Mumbai became chartbusters.