Nivin Pauly – gopakumarpurushothaman

Hey Jude :The Review.

A Shyamaprasad film that didn’t drag you into the depths of desolation and gloom along with it used to be a rare phenomenon until he supposedly went commercial with Ritu close to a decade back, yet it was far removed from the usual fare that you came across in Malayalam cinema though the veil of melancholy that almost always hangs over Shyamaprasad’s themes was absent in it.He explored the dark recesses of the human mind and the complexities of human relationships in Ore Kadal, Akale and Elektra and in the meantime he surprisingly chose to expose the lighter side of his creative mind to the audience with a short in the anthology Kerala Cafe.He went down that lane again in English and Arike but it’s with Hey Jude that he has truly picked off from where he left off in Off-Season i can’t but help feel.Or maybe it’s the common backdrop of the ocean and the beach that’s giving me those vibes.

This is Nivin Pauly’s third outing with Shyamaprasad who has not had frequent collaborators in the past and it looks like its third time lucky for Nivin.Set in Goa, Hey Jude is a breezy feel-good film considering what Shyamaprasad could’ve instinctively done otherwise with the story of a man with Asperger’s Syndrome and a woman with bipolar disorder and the credit i think goes here to the scriptwriting duo.Shyamaprasad’s deviations from his favorite themes have always been when he associated with other writers.Interestingly Nirmal Sahadev who was Chief Associate in Ivide has co-written the script for Hey Jude with George Kannat and he’s also set to make his directorial debut with another story set in the U.S, Ranam which has Prithviraj playing the lead.

Nivin was at the receiving end of some unfair criticism in Ivide where he shared screen space with Prithviraj but he has silenced his detractors in Hey Jude with his inspired portrayal of the troubled charachter.Siddique excels yet again as Nivin’s father in a role that’s not too different from that of Lal’s in Njandukalude Nattil Oru Idavela.Coincidentally that film too dealt with a medical condition in a lighter vein though Hey Jude is more of a romantic comedy, which for some reason reminds of Adam Sandler’s Punch Drunk Love.Vijay Menon,whom the Malayalam film industry had reduced to the in-house psycho-drug addict over the years gets liberated here with a full length role thats almost tailor made to suit his on screen persona.Trisha gets to play a next door girl character that’s quite the opposite of the one that earned a cult status among the audience a while back, that of Jessie from Gautam Menon’s VTV.

Though the script is not without a few holes,with Shyamaprasad’s trademark unhurried approach and his skill as a director with a level of sophistication that’s not exactly at home in Malayalam cinema, Hey Jude makes for a pretty good weekend watch to unwind yourself with.

Richie: Review, of sorts.

Ulidavaru Kandanthe was a film that was deeply rooted in the culture and life in the coastal belt of Karnataka, in the vicinity of Udupi.From the painted tigers to Yakshagana to tales of Madhvacharya and sunken treasures, the Rakshit Shetty film had all the makings of a cult classic.Shetty himself has gone on record that he had Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction on his mind when he was writing the film, the glowing,mysterious content of the bag in Ulidavaru is an obvious reference apart from the non linear narrative and names of characters.Shetty delivered an inimitable performance as the central character too.So when Nivin Pauly announced a remake of UK he had a task cut out for him and was a bold decision too I’d say considering the fact that he chose to make the film in Tamil.Listening to him speak on air the day before the release i had the impression that he had no illusions whatsoever that he could beat or match Rakshit Shetty’s work.The Richie bashers are barking up the wrong tree too early, i have to say.

Nivin Pauly’s Richie is a diluted version of Rakshit Shetty’s UK but not a bad one at that as some of the opinions doing rounds online would have you believe.Though the teasers and trailers might have sent out wrong messages to a wider audience, those who had watched UK must have had their apprehensions early on about the kind of expectations they would generate amongst Nivin’s audience and this could be one reason why some of the viewers who went in looking for an out and out actioner ended up disappointed.If Pulp Fiction were to be released in theaters in our part of the world, how many of us would actually hail it and obsess over the tiny details that make it a film worthy of its cult status, except for the connoisseurs?In fact Ulidavaru Kandante was more of a critical success than a commercial one and found a following amongst film lovers beyond the barriers of boundaries and language.

Comparisons to the original apart, Richie as a standalone work of art is indeed noteworthy in terms of making and performances but then again the comparisons are inevitable and is something Nivin and crew would’ve to just live with.I’d go so far as to say that the Raghu bit here in Richie felt more realistic than the one in UIidavaru.UK, true to its Pulp Fiction roots offers no explanations for the incidents that unfold on screen and leaves it to the audience to figure it out for themselves unlike Richie which chooses to make it easier on the audience to follow the narrative and the fate of the characters.Nivin Pauly admitted beforehand that he had a tough time dubbing in Tamil and he has a done a pretty decent job here,considering.Diction and delivery is something he would want to work on, in the long run.Sraddha Srinath is in her elements here too. To compare Natraj Subramaniam to Kishore is as unfair as comparing Nivin Pauly with Rakshit Shetty but that’s not saying he’s not up to the task, just putting things in perspective here, for the benefit of the detractors.Democracy unfortunately is reduced to comic relief here.Richie might not be for you if you’re looking for a Nivin Pauly vehicle with all the ingredients of a regular Tamil action movie, but that’s not what the makers have intended here either.Uprooting UK from coastal Karnataka and bringing it over to Tuticorin is no mean task and Nivin Pauly and team I must say have been fairly successful at that.
#ആമാണ്ടാപേപയല്ലേ #richie

Njandukalude Nattil Oridavela: The Review.

Nivin Pauly tells Altaf Salim in a scene from Sakhav that its not acting but planning that matters, when told that his acting skills weren’t much to write home about.It was less of an innocent line from the film if you ask me, considering the rank outsider’s career in the malayalam film industry until now and more of a jibe at his critics and detractors.Ironic , because he garnered your attention as a viewer with brief sparks of intensity in his debut movie and you had this feeling that this guy was here to stay.The actor has made the right moves and wise choices to be where he is today and it shows that he has a plan indeed.Nivin without this planning would be say, Unni Mukundan, if you know what I am talking about.The actor proves himself right again with his latest release, Njandukalude Nattil Oridavela.He knows his cinema i should say.

Njandulakude Nattil Oridavela is not the best of the Onam crop of films, it is in fact one of the best films of the year, easily.To say Altaf Salim makes an impressive debut as a director here, would be an understatement.The debutant makes two cameo appearances in this film although one is just his voice and he has earned those, i would say.Poignant and delightful in the same breath, this gem of a film offers a thoroughly refreshing take on a topic that would have otherwise been reduced to another grim tearjerker.For a movie that dealt with a crisis of the greatest magnitude that could hit a family, the theatre was filled with sounds of laughter for the entire running time and none of these were forced or out of place.The casting is pitch perfect and Lal delivers another memorable performance.Shanthi Krishna couldn’t have asked for a better comeback vehicle.Nivin Pauly plays to his strength here as the next door boy and is a reunion of sorts for him with the Premam team with the exception of Alphonse Puthren and Shabareesh Varma.
The movie caught me off guard when it choked me with emotion right before the end titles rolled and the lights came on as my ego certainly didn’t want people to see me with my eyes welled up.Reminded me of an anecdote from a time when you actually relied on big brothers in the neighborhood for movie reviews and its just a coincidence that it’s about one of the greatest family tearjerkers of our times, Akashadhoot.Story goes that two friends are out watching the movie and one of them is wiping tears off his face every other minute thanks to Sibi Malayil when he notices in the dark hall that his pal next to him hasn’t budged in the seat.While he was wondering if his friend was that hard hearted, the lights come on for the interval and he turns to see the guy sitting there with tears rolling down his cheeks and hands gripping the seats hard.
#njandukaludenattiloridavela

PS: വെളിപാടും ആദാമും കണ്ടു ഇനിയൊരു അങ്കത്തിന് ബാല്യം ഇല്ല എന്ന് കരുതി ഇരുന്ന ഞാൻ ഞണ്ടുകൾക്കു കേറുമ്പോൾ മൾട്ടിപ്ളെക്സിന്റെ മൂലക്കിരുന്നു ഒരു “പുള്ളിക്കാരൻ” ചിരിക്കുന്നുണ്ടായിരുന്നു, ചാത്തന്മാർ നിന്നെ കൊണ്ട് വരും എന്നും പറഞ്ഞു