Author: gopakumarpurushothaman

Oru Kuprasidha Payyan : Madhupal Turns Grisham.

It took his debut film as a director, Thalappavu for the general Malayali audience to finally accept Madhupal as a serious film personality. Then he further cemented his position with his second film, Ozhimuri. He had finally shaken off his percieved image in the collective psyche of the Malayali film going crowd, that of a man with sinister intentions thanks to his acting debut decades back  in the Suresh Gopi vehicle Kashmeeram. After a string of insignificant roles on the same lines as his debut, Madhupal finally found his silver lining and broke through with Thalappavu as a director. Both Thalappavu and Ozhimuri drew inspiration from historical and social events which had left scars in Kerala’s past and questioned our claims of progress and enlightenment. So it was only natural that Madhupal was as much the reason as the leading man Tovino why Oru Kuprasidha Payyan was one movie to look forward to.

Unlike his earlier films Oru Kuprasidha Payyan is almost entirely commercialised to cater  to the needs of the box office and the persona of the rising star it’s leading man is. Author   Jeevan Job Thomas turns screenwriter with this film and is again based on a real life incident. If a genre has to be named the film would definitely fit the description of a legal thriller though it unintentionally reminds the viewers of many recent movies namely Visaranai and Saira Banu. The writer and director have tried to explore how the enforcers of the law treat the individuals on the lowest rungs of our society. Tovino  who is on a roll with consecutive hits has plenty of scenes to test his emoting skills. Madhupal has tried to infuse comedy though it’s short lived in the shape of Balu, who on the otherhand gets a chance to explore his serious side as an actor. The actor who takes the cake here is Nimisha Sajayan in a role that’s performed and has been written with equal brilliance. It’s not exactly the kind of character that we come across in Malayalm Cinema everyday and Nimisha has proven again that she is a talent to look out for. Her choice of films too speak of her approach to the art, I feel. Every story that’s told in a movie with commercial intentions needs an antagonist  whose purpose is to act as the pole against which the viewer’s moral compass aligns and here that mantle has fallen on veteran actor Nedumudi Venu. Anu Sithara plays a character that’s a bit more than the regular romantic interest. Saranya is at home in the pivotal role she plays.

Oru Kuprasidha Payyan is not the most cinematically perfect movie by Madhupal and doesn’t compare artistically to his earlier works but it has succeeded in delivering some of the most realistic court scenes we have ever come across as viewers in Malayalam Cinema. The sequences would have made John Grisham proud. Jeevan Job Thomas’s scripting of the court proceedings and the detailing which reflects his scientific temperament is complemented by Madhupal’s visualisation. Veteran producer Sureshkumar turns actor here and maybe it’s a deliberate choice given the impact in terms of novelty the depiction of the judge character he plays has on the court scenes which almost entirely make up the second half of the movie.  Oru Kuprasidha Payyan is ultimately the tale of an underdog who is betrayed intentionally by some and out of helplessness by others. Ironically it’s the judiciary who comes to his aid here when he almost loses himself in the penal system. In the movie hall when the lights go off almost all of us root for the underdog though it’s another question if we would do that out in the real world in the harsh light of the day.

 

 

Thugs Of Hindostan : Swashbuckling, Indian Style.

No, that’s not what I meant. Indian film industry has never shied away from giving every genre out there a desi twist. While Feroz Khan was dishing out curry westerns to the Hindi speaking audience, down South the likes of Rajnikanth were seen in cowboy gear, replete with spurs.Now, what exactly was a  cowboy doing in the land of Periyar, I’ve absolutely no clue. Bollywood of yore even found a desi Native American in Danny Denzongpa.Well, where there is a will, they say. Not too many desi swashbukcling films come to my mind but, they did do a desi version of Zorro in the mid 70s. Two of the most influential individuals ever in Tamil  Nadu, MGR and Jayalalitha came together on screen for the first time in the swashbuckling saga Ayirtahil Oruvan. As long as it was our favorite stars who brandished the swords and swung from chandeliers, we never really cared for the cultural, geographical or historical accuracy of the story or the settings and that’s precisely what Thugs Of Hindostan was banking on.

YRF, Amitabh Bachchan and Aamir Khan, not necessarily in that order, are reasons galore for the audience to barge into the theatres and when it’s a period drama touted as one of the most expensive films ever in Hindi, expectations were expected to skyrocket and hype to go through the roof in ways that would turn Elon Musk green. Vijay Krishna Acharya who had helmed the third Dhoom movie for YRF with Aamir was back in the director’s seat and also had written the film. Aamir was seen flaunting his look for the film as is the custom since his Lagaan days. The shoot, we were told was progessing in exotic locations like Malta. Making videos released few weeks before the release showed the time and effort put in by the crew, behind the scenes. Actual ships had been built in Malta and that’s where and how the film was being shot.The trailer gave an impression that what’s on offer was a desi version of Pirates Of The Caribbean but that turned out not to be entirely true.

Thugs of British India were murderers who snuck into travelling groups and strangled people for their belongings. William Henrey Sleeman was the British Officer who was credited for suppressing the Thug menace in India. Other than this tryst with the law the Thugs were never known for fighting the Brits for the sake of anything or anyone, independence the least. Vijay Krishna Acharya here has taken the liberty of turning the titular thugs into freedom fighters of sorts, who rebelled against the ruling British. Aamir Khan is seen scheming with some actual thugs to rob some travellers but he ends up persuading them not to strangle their victims to death. Acharya’s writing and direction is the weakest link in this film that struggles to stay afloat upon the screen presence of Bachchan and the charisma of Khan. Big B gets to growl to his heart’s content and still looks good in the action scenes though the costume threatens to weigh him down. Aamir is at ease as the sneaky Firangi. He must have been well aware of the comparisions his role would draw to Depp’s Sparrow and has tried his best to stay original though its evident that Acharya was indeed heavily inspired by Sparrow when he wrote Firangi. For a movie that aspires to set ambitious visual standards the plot and the progression of the tale follows the age old formula of Bollywood revenge movies. Some of the plot twists are downright silly and forced. In his pursuit for excellence in the action scenes, Acharya seems to have lost his grip on the tale being told. Fathima Sana is either angry or sad while Katrina Kaif is around looking for excuses to break into song and dance. Watch this for Aamir, Amitabh and the ships, in that order.

Kanalkaattu : A Late Night Rendezvous With Some Lohitadas Characters.

Kanalkattu is just one of the many movies in Malayalam which I have never watched in full to date. Maybe it’s the character played by Mammooty which was totally removed from the conventional concepts of a typical leading man of the 90s. In 1991, the year Kanalkaatu was released, Mammooty appeared in roles as diverse as the iconic Achu of Amaram to one of his most remembered police avatars, Inspector Balram in the eponymous film. He played a politician whose family ties strain against his political ones in Nayam Vyakthamakunnu and thrilled the audience with his outing as an advocate in the murder mystery Adayalam the very same year. Neelagiri, his second film with I.V Sasi that year didn’t make waves but remains a personal favorite for reasons I cannot put a finger on. Another Mamooty vehicle that I havn’t watched yet, Anaswaram too hit the screens in 1991.

Even today when I chanced upon the film on TV late into the night on Surya, over a quarter of it’s total runtime had passed. The scene playing when I switched channels had Mammooty’s small time crook Nathu Narayanan squirming before Mohanraj’s Karim Bhai, not exactly the kind of role you’d expect an actor to play at the peak of his career as one of the reigning stars. Few scenes later another stalwart of Malayalam Cinema, the quintessential embodiment of defiance, Murali was seen joining Mammooty on the screen. The exchange between the characters set me thinking. The roles played by the actors and the words they spoke had the signature of none other than Lohithadas. See, at that moment I didn’t know for a fact that Lohitadas was the writer of the film but there was this gut instinct that told me that these men and women  who were disavowed and disowned  by their closest of kin but found solace in the company of eachother couldn’t have come to life from anywhere else but the pen of Lohitadas. These were people who spoke about the pleasure in sleeping on pavements, individuals who exist and thrive in the spaces between the edifices and compounds owned by the priviliged. Wiki confirmed that it was indeed Lohitadas, few minutes later.

Nathu is more or less an orphan who left his home as a child when his father was killed and his mother remarried. He is a small time crook until he turns murderer accidentally. He has a brother from another mother in Murali’s character with whom he has practically grown up and is willing to bleed for. Another character who bears the Lohitadas signature is that of KPAC Lalitha’s. Her Omana lends comic relief for most part until Lohitadas turns the tables on the viewer with a scene that’s performed by KPAC Lalitha like only she can. In one scene you see her practically trying to push an autorickshaw over and the next she leaves the viewer with a lump in his throat. Emotional rollercoasters, Lohitadas scripts are. What was more surprising was the discovery that the film was directed by Sathyan Anthikad because while it did bore the stamp of the writer, it had no resemblance to any of the movies that we have come to associate Sathyan Anthikad with as viewers. Movies are rarely known in the name of their writers unless of course you’re M.T but even M.T had a perpetual Hariharan tag to be honest. Lohitadas, I guess left his eternal tag on all the scenes and characters he has written.

Bodyguard | S01 Netflix | BBC

Twenty minutes. That’s all  it took for Bodyguard, the BBC show that debuted on Netflix the other day, to get me hooked. And I presume I’m not the only one, if the rave reviews and ratings the show garnered on it’s original release on the BBC network are anything to go by. In fact those  very twenty mintues are all it took again for none other than Theresa May to switch off the show too, as she herself told the Press. Now, that should add some perpsective if you’re looking for some. Whatever you have heard or read about the show is entirely justified I vouch, now that I have binged through the six seaons of some very  British intrigue and thrills. Come to think of it, from Sherlock to Line of Duty to The Night Manager, the BBC have proven time and again that when it comes to the very serious business of classy thrillers and gritty police procedurals, they are past and reigning masters.

For a show that moves at the pace it does, Bodyguard  touches upon on a range of issues from PTSD to xenophobia while telling a decent tale of intrigue. Hollywood has used all variants of PTSD to set the cash registers ringing right from the Vietnam War days  to the American campaigns in the Middle East and around but it’s not everyday that you get to see a troubled British war veteran on screen. In fact I’d go so far as to say that David Budd, the central character played passionately by Richard Madden is nothing less than a modern British version of  John Rambo, that quintessential poster boy of PTSD, on celluloid. Bodyguard was fearless too I felt for most part as it did not stick to stereotypes and shunned prejudice early on but it has to be said that it turned out to be a deftly played card of a plot twist which was indeed disappointing to an extent. Reminded me of the regular Dan Brown template for thrillers where every major instituition as we know it is attacked  and portrayed as agents of evil but the actual acts of crime turns out to be the doing of one deranged  mind. The writers have obviously heavily borrowed from current day British politics and the PM in Office currently was interestingly the Home Secretary too earlier, which is one of the main characters here, played by a short-haired Keeley Hawes. In a curious gender reversal of sorts the incumbent PM in Bodyguard resembled Boris Johnson and the Home Secretary is the one who is after his job here, deft sleight of hand by the writers indeed.

Apart from the writing, much of the intensity on the screen owes it to the performances of the lead actors, namely Madden and Keeley Hawes. Richard Madden who made a name for himself as the short lived but much loved Robb Stark on HBO’s Game of Thrones is the mainstay here and has delivered a moving and engaged performance. Keeley Hawes plays a character that has shades of the one she played in Line of Duty, to an extent and is most probably the reason why she was cast in the role of Julia Montague, the Home Secretary. Other actors who make more or less silent entries early on but go on to make their mark towards the end. Nina Toussaint-White, Ash Tandon and Anjli Mohindra stands out in their roles and something tells me we’d be seeing more of them in the future as actors. Recent BBC shows have displayed active engagement in the cause of diversity when it comes to casting and is essentialy a reflection of the British society at large too I feel. Bodyguard is not without faults entirely but it makes for an engaging and intelligent watch. One thing I like about the BBC shows is that they are short but intense affairs in contrast to epics like Breaking Bad. Unfair, unnecessary and pointless comparision I agree but that’s just me and trust me I’m not complaining.

 

The Night Manager | S01 Amazon Prime

If you have wondered how and why did Tom Hiddleston’s name came into reckoning as the new James Bond you do not need to look for more reasons to watch The Night Manager, which I came across on Amazon Prime a tad late. You knew Tom Hiddleston as Loki in the MCU and yes, that didn’t necessarily qualify him as a contender to the Bond mantle by any stretch of imagination. Though he has supposedly lost out, his role and performance in this BBC original to an extent justifies the proposal and I can see now why he was in the news as a wannabe Bond but then John Le Carre’s operatives are diametrically oppostie to Ian Fleming’s and is not exactly a stepping stone to the Bond franchise. Joining Hiddleston is Hugh Laurie, in a role that’s basically Goldfinger sans the theatrics.

Le Carre’s spies almost have desk jobs unlike the gun gadget and girl swapping Bonds we have come to love over the years on the screen. They are conflicted, torn individuals who are affected by the ways of  lies and deciet they have chosen or been sent down in life. Guns or fist fights are rarely a solution to their problems. They are no different from moths caught in a spider’s web. In The Night Manager, BBC has rebooted an eponymous Le Carre novel giving it a contemporary backdrop against conflicts more recent and ongoing in and around the region where the story unfolds initially. The series looks at the business of war and drives home the fact that greed drives people like no other desire in this world. Lives are collateral damage and death is the actual produce being exchanged here. Governments are ultimately nothing but ordinary people with extraordinary powers and the intentions  of a governement are only as good as the principles that drive the individuals or the lack of it.From corrupt bureaucrats to idealistic intelligence officials, Night Manager has them all. The hero if I may call him that is not led by ideals but a thirst for revenge, is how i read the character.

The Night Manager is fast paced and makes for excellent binge watching on a lazy weekend.The proceedings on screen are quick and not much time is wasted between deaths,betrayals and bondings, pun unintended.For a show that scorched ahead from episode to episode the ending I must admist came across as a bit of a low key affair but I guess that’s how the”bad guys” go down in the real world, if they do at all that is.Olivia Colman who has made a career of playing the working class crimefighting mom plays a very pregnant intelligence officer and is a delight as always.Tom Hollander successfully irritates the hell out of Hiddleston and the viewer in a man Friday role to Laurie’s Roper. Elizabeth Debicki proves that she is not just a very pretty face. If you are looking for some fast thrills and international intrigue, The Night Manager is a perfect watch.Everything about The Night Manager is as British as it gets but the series doesn’t take sides or point fingers in the name of ethnicity or skin color and maybe the makers of a terribly biased and superficial series like Jack Ryan which debuted on Prime recently could take a leaf of out of this Le Caree book adaptation, so to speak.

 

 

 

Andhadhun : Sriram Raghavan Does A Hitchock, Or Is It A Coen ?

Of the four movies made by Sriram Raghvan until Andhadhun, Johnny Gaddar defines his sensibilites as a filmmaker the most I’d say. The man obviously has an obsession with Bollywood thrillers and music from the 70s and makes conscious effort to use it as a motif in every movie of his, not much unlike Tarantino’s thing for B movies from Italy and Hong Kong. Though his debut as a director was in the Ram Gopal Varma stable with Ek Haseena Thi, it was indeed with Johnny Gaddar that Sriram Raghavan truly came into his own. Everything about the movie was alien to Bollywood at the time it was released. Sriram Raghavan had quietly slipped in neo-noir into the Bollywood portfolio. He has the most outlandish choice of lead actors too interestingly. Saif Ali Khan broke new ground with Ek Haseena Thi, Neil Nitin Mukesh had a gritty debut in Johnny Gaddar, Varun Dhawan dropped his Govinda-born-again desi boy act for the first time, briefly though and asked the audience to take him seriously as an actor in Badlapur and now Ayushmann Khuranna has gone and done the same, explore new territory as an actor, I mean. The twist in Sriram Raghavan films starts right with the casting I guess.

Andhadhun is Sriram Raghavan in top form and he makes your time in the dark hall worth every second of it. The premise was initially Hitchcockian with a dash of Billy Wilder thrown in. More noirish than neo- noir, the proceedings on screen early on invoked memories of classics from Vertigo to Double Indemnity to The Big Sleep. Sriram Raghavan is a man born in the wrong age of cinema I could’nt but help feel and that’s when I noticed a thematic homage to the Coen Brothers brand of filmmaking, a cinematic wormhole between ages I’d say. Like in life and in the Coens’ world, most notably the one in Fargo, in Andhadhun too ordinary people have their lives turned topsy turvy by extraordinary acts of crime in the heat of a moment. Quirky criminal characters are around here too. Sriram Raghavan’s greatest success in Andadhun is that he has managed to imbue a genuine element of humor throughout the film without compromising on any elements of suspense in this taut thriller. It’s that humor factor which might make this film more endearing to the viewers in stark contrast to the gritty thriller that Badlapur was.

Any discussion about Andhadhun would be incomplete without an elaboration about the two individuals who carry this film almost entirely on their shoulders, a measured Ayushmann Khuranna and a terrific Tabu at her wicked best, the Ruk Ruk girl almost but with a deadly twist. She pulls off the difficult role effortlessy and when I tell you that you can’t hate her even in her meanest moments on screen, you could accuse me of being a biased fan boy but trust me, once you get to watch her you’d agree too. You can tell she’s having fun with the role too. Anil Dhawan relives his brief glory days in a role that’s almost him playing himself. Radhika Apte is her brilliant self again and no she’s not frowning, entirely. Zakir Hussain is a Sriram Raghavan regular and transforms into character like always. Another Sriram Raghavan favorite Aswini Kalsekar makes her mark in a brief yet fiesty role. Manav Vij was a new face to me. From the guy who played the autodriver and Chaya Kadam who played Maushi to the kid next door, no character, however short their screen time, is without reason in a Sriram Raghavan film. Everything counts and nothing is what it seems to be, so don’t blink when you’re watching Andhadhun.Kidding.Am I? Find out for yourself.

ഫഹദ് ഫാസിൽ ഈസ് വരത്തൻ.വരത്തൻ ഈസ് സ്ട്രോ ഡോഗ്സ്.

പണ്ട് ഹിന്ദി പടങ്ങളിൽ ധർമേന്ദ്രയും ജിതേന്ദ്രയും ചെറുപ്പത്തിൽ കുംഭമേളക്ക് പോയി വേർപെട്ടു പോകുന്ന പോലെയാണ് ബിഗ് ബിക്ക് ഞാനും കണ്ണനും വീരയ്യയിൽ കേറി ഇരുന്നത്. ഫസ്റ് ക്ലാസും ഹൌസ് ഫുൾ ആയ കൊണ്ട് ഞങ്ങൾക്ക് അടുത്തടുത്ത സീറ്റ് കിട്ടിയില്ല.ഒരുമിച്ചു പടത്തിനു കേറീട്ട് കൂടെ വന്നവനോട് ഇടക്ക് ഇടക്ക് കമന്റ് പറയാതെ പടം കാണുന്നെന്റെ വിഷമം കല്യാണം കഴിഞ്ഞവർക്ക് ഒരു വല്യ സംഭവം അല്ലായിരിക്കാം എന്നാലും ഏതാണ്ട് പകുതി കഴിഞ്ഞപ്പോ ആണ് ഇതൊക്കെ എവിടെയോ കണ്ടിട്ടുണ്ടല്ലോ എന്ന് തോന്നിയത്. സണ്ണിയെ കണ്ട തിരുമേനിയെ പോലെ. ചോദിയ്ക്കാൻ ആണേൽ ലവൻ അടുത്തും ഇല്ല. കുറച്ചു കഴിഞ്ഞാണ് എനിക്ക് ഫോർ ബ്രദേഴ്‌സ് ആണ് ബിഗ് ബി എന്ന് കത്തിയത്. ഒരു ഡിസപ്പോയിന്റ്മെന്റ് തോന്നിയെങ്കിലും ലോകത്തിന്റെ ഒരു ഭാഗത്തു ഒതുങ്ങി പോകേണ്ടിയിരുന്ന ഒരു കല സൃഷ്ടിയെ ഭാഷയുടെയും ഭൂമിശശാസ്ത്രത്തിന്റെയും അതിരുകൾ കടത്തി ജനകീയവത്കരിക്കുന്ന സേവന കർമം ആണല്ലോ അണിയറ പ്രവർത്തകർ ചെയ്തത് എന്ന് ആലോചിച്ചു ആശ്വസിച്ചു. ബിഗ് ബി എന്നാലും ഇഷ്ടപെട്ട സിനിമകളിൽ ഒരെണ്ണം തന്നെ. സാഗർ ഏലിയാസ് ജാക്കിയുടെ ടീസർ ഒരു ബി എം ഡബ്ള്യു പരസ്യം ഓർമിപ്പിച്ചു കെട്ടടങ്ങി..അൻവർ കണ്ടപ്പോൾ പക്ഷെ ഡിസപ്പോയിന്റ്മെന്റ് കോപ്പിയടിയുടേതായിരുന്നില്ല ട്രെയ്‌റ്റർ പോലൊരു സിനിമയെ വെറും സ്ലോ മോഷൻ മഹാമഹം ആയി കുറച്ചതിന്റെതായിരുന്നു.വീണ്ടും ഇത് പോലെ ഒരു അനുഭവം ഉണ്ടായതു ചാപ്പാ കുരിശ് കണ്ടു ഇറങ്ങിയപ്പോഴാണ്. വീരയ്യയിൽ തന്നെ.അന്ന് പക്ഷെ കണ്ടിറങ്ങിയപ്പോൾ അറിയില്ലായിരുന്നു കൊറിയൻ ഹാൻടെൽഫോൺ ആണ് മലയാളവത്കരിച്ചിരിക്കുന്നത് എന്ന്. വണ്ടിയിൽ കേറി വീട്ടിൽ എത്തുന്ന വരെ മലയാള സിനിമ ഒടുവിൽ പ്രമേയപരമായും അവതരണശൈലിയിലും കൈവരിച്ച മാറ്റങ്ങളെ പറ്റി ഞങ്ങൾ വാചാലരായി. അന്ന് സ്മാർട്ടഫോണും ഡേറ്റയും ഇല്ലാത്ത കൊണ്ട് വീട്ടിലെത്തി ബിഎസ്എൻഎൽ വഴി പിസിയിൽ നിന്ന് നെറ്റിൽ കേറി കുത്തുന്ന വരെ ഡിസ്പ്പോയിന്റ്മെന്റ് കാത്തു നിന്നു. ഒരുമാതിരി പണ്ട് ഹൈസ്‌കൂളിൽ വെച്ചൊക്കെ നമുക്ക് ഇഷ്ടപെട്ട കൊച്ചിന് വേറെ ലൈൻ ഉണ്ടെന്നു അറിയുമ്പോ തോന്നുന്ന ഒരു ഫീലിംഗ് പോലെ ആയിരുന്നു. എക്സൈൽഡ് ബാച്ചിലർ പാർട്ടി ആയപ്പോ പക്ഷെ കോളേജിലെത്തിയിട്ടും ലൈൻ ആവാത്തവന്റെ മരവിപ്പ് ആയിരുന്നു . ഇയോബിന്റെ പുസ്തകം പക്ഷെ ഒരു അപവാദം ആയി, ലാസ്‌റ് ഓഫ് ദി മോഹിക്കൻസിലെ ഡാനിയൽ ഡേ ലൂയിസിന്റെ കാട്ടിൽ കൂടെയുള്ള തോക്കും പിടിചോണ്ടുള്ള ഓട്ടത്തിന്റെ പാവനസ്മരണ ഒഴിച്ച് നിർത്തിയാൽ. ഇതിനിടക്ക് ട്വന്റി ടു ഫീമെയിൽ കോട്ടയത്തിന്റെ പേര് പല ഇഗ്ലീഷ് പടങ്ങളുടെ പേരിന്റെ കൂടെ പറഞ്ഞു കേട്ടെങ്കിലും എനിക്ക് അത് ബ്രോക്കേഡൗൺ പാലസ് ആയിരുന്നു. സ്റ്റേക് ഔട്ട് വന്ദനവും വൺ ഫ്ലൂ ഓവർ ദി കുക്കൂസ് നെസ്റ്റ് താളവട്ടവും എ റോമൻ ഹോളിഡേ കിലുക്കവും ആയപ്പോഴും പ്രിയദർശൻ സീൻ ബൈ സീൻ പുനർനിർമാണം ഒഴിവാക്കിയിരുന്നു എന്ന് ഞാൻ പറഞ്ഞാൽ എന്നാ പിന്നെ സ്‌ട്രൊ ഡോഗ്സ് വരത്തൻ ആയാൽ നിനക്ക് എന്നാടാ എന്ന് ആരേലും ചോദിച്ചാൽ ഒരു കുഴപോം ഇല്ല ചേട്ടാ ആയിക്കോ എന്ന് മാത്രമേ എനിക്ക് പറയാൻ ഉള്ളു.ഇതൊക്കെ പിന്നെ എന്തിന് എഴുതിപിടിപ്പിച്ചത് എന്ന് ചോയിച്ചാൽ ഇന്നസെന്റ് ലോ ലാ പടത്തില് രാത്രി കുന്നിന്റെ മോളി കേറി നിന്ന് വിളിച്ചു കൂവുന്ന പോലെ ആണെന്ന് കരുതിയാ മതി.ബട്ട് എ പവർഹൌസ് ഓഫ് ഒറിജിനൽ ടാലന്റ് ലൈക് ഫഹദ് ഫാസിൽ സിംപ്ലി ഡിസർവ്സ് ബെറ്റർ എന്ന് പറഞ്ഞു കൊണ്ട് ഞാൻ ഉപസംഹരിക്കുന്നു.

Theevandi : Far From The Madding Crowd.

That there was something endearing about the visuals of Theevandi was evident right from the time the first song streamed it’s way into the hearts of Malayalis across the globe. If you were away from Kerala, the song made you want to hop on the next ride home. It presented before us a place that we wanted to go back to, away from the maddening swipes left, right, up and down our lives are. A place you were not quite sure if it existed for real anymore but desperately wanted to believe it did. Of late more than one film maker has used this as a tool to rope in the audience in the southern most tip of the country who feeds on anything nostalgic with fervor. It started with Maheshinte Prathikaram if I’m not wrong. Felt its tugs again when the song of Thondimuthalum Driksakshiyum debuted and then to some extent in Godha. In Theevandi director Fellini TP and writer Vini Viswa Lal have done their  best to ensure that this element of nostalgia flows unhindered throughout the movie.

Theevandi chronicles the lives in a rustic smalltown and the characters are a cross section of the people we would find in a place like that in any part of Kerala. The film focuses on the problems faced by a chain smoking slacker whose habits ultimately end up having even political ramifications in the sleepy laidback countryside where the stroy unfolds. Opening to an incident which lays a sort of mystical foundation for the significance of smoking in the life of the character played by Tovino, the movie is part family drama,part love story and part political satire of sorts. There’s no magical realism  here, in fact Mario Vargas Llosa whose book is seen to be held by a character in a passing scene was never exactly an exponent of the literary style though it could be an indicator to the inclinatons of the individuals at the helm. The film takes it’s sweet time to tell the story and there are more than a few laughs once the film gets going. Every actor has delivered in perfectly cast roles. Tovino, Suraaj and Surabhi prove their mettle again. Samyukhta Menon has made a decent breakthrough though it remains to be seen if she is going to stick around or move to the more lucrative industries next door. Most notably Sudheesh has finally shed the tag of the eternal boy next door of Malayalam Cinema that he held close for almost three decades here and makes a mark too.

When it comes to humor in Malayalam Cinema, the bar was set more than a bit high by the likes of Sreenivasan, Sathyan Anthikad, Siddique-Lal and Priyadharshan. In fact these stalwarts themselves have never come close to the standards they set from the mid 80’s to the late 90’s in their more recent works. So it’s hardly surprising if the new crop of filmmakers and actors have fallen short often in their attempts to make Malayalis laugh their hearts out. Sequels to the most loved classics were attempted by desperate wannabes and the results are unforgiveable, at least in my book. Theevandi may not be perfect but it is indeed a functional homage to the golden era of humor. Tovino, who has won hearts with compelling and diverse performances is on a roll with movies like Mayanadhi, Maradona and now Theevandi striking a chord with the audience.

 

 

 

Stree : Raj & DK Gets It Right Again, So Does Rajkumar Rao.

If you have followed the work of writer-director duo Raj and DK in Bollywood in the recent past you obviously do not need to look for more reasons to spend your hard earned money on their latest offering, Stree. They have stuck to just production and writing this time around but their brand of humor and quirky filmmaking is more than intact here. Unlike most Indian filmmakers who try to emulate Hollywood genre films the duo have always tried to put a delicious Bollywood spin to the most western of themes. They did it to the zombie genre with Go Gone Goa, gave us the slick spy action-comedy A Gentleman and now they have decided to give horror a most desi of twists. In Stree they have ventured into Anurag Kashyap territory, the North Indian hinterland, only gleefully.

Stree manages to make you laugh and scare you in equal measures successfully and that is no mean task, in fact its the most difficult thing to do cinematically. The movie is based on an urban legend, a ridiculously true one as the makers proclaim in writing on screen early on. Lending his creative energy in abundance to the brilliant writing is Raj Kumar Rao who has literally stretched every acting muscle in his body to the limit. His performance in the climactic showdown with the titular demon is worthy of an Oscar I’d say. Giving him ample support are Shradha Kapoor, Aparshakthi Khurrana,Pankaj Tripathi and Abhishek Banjerjee. Atul Shrivastava who plays father to Rajkumar’s character makes his mark too. Stree is one of those movies where you the viewer, at some point stops being just a viewer and becomes a part of the events that unfold on the screen. You are not watching a movie anymore, you are in fact hanging out with the characters and you love it so much so that you end up not wanting the movie to end.

Amar Kaushik has graduated from assistant to independent director with flying colors. Raj and DK have  helped him deliver a slick yet intelligent debut film here. Strewn liberally across the are hilariously bold digs at the political situation in the country. They’re so subtle that you might actually miss it if you’re not listening intently. Some you might miss because it’s almost hidden in plain sight. One such joke that runs throughout movie is  about motorcycles that run out of petrol constantly because people just can’t afford to fill up their tanks like they used to do. There’s one about how some people think peacocks reproduce. Another deadpan line asks you not to be a blind believer. That brings me to the fact that seeing and hearing is believing and believe me this is one movie which proves that despite Netflix and it’s clones watching movies in a packed house where people laugh out loud at the same jokes and jumps at the same scares is an experience in its own. You end up taking sides when you are watching sports. Cinema on the other hand brings people together like no other form of entertainment. Stree is that kind of cinema.