Movie Review – Moonnam Pakkam

From lovey dovey start to an emotionally strong end

I thought ‘Moonnam Pakkam’ here was “third page” but it ended up to be “third day”. Eventhough that point comes much later in the movie, till then I was thinking what was that “third page” all about. That’s where it transforms from a good old Fazil like film to something strong. Even though it ends on a sad note, the goodness of the film remains intact, I guess that’s what makes the film a memorable one.

The whole film had a feel-good vibe to it. The location, sound, settings, environment and everything was laid back and reminds only of the goodness of the past. Right from song one where the grandfather, Thampi (Thilakan) gets his house ready for his grandson Pachu (Jayaram) there is an oozing feel goodness to the movie. May be because of Ilayaraja, the song reminded me of “Devathai Pol Oru” and “Poovae Poochudava”. Both music wise and mood wise.

Wish the movie had been a little subtle instead of being too cute. At times it gets on to us. But the good thing about it is, it talks about a grandson instead of a granddaughter. Especially take “Poovae Poochudava” for example, the chemistry between Padmini and Nadhiya is exemplary, but with women its easier, the affection looks more natural. Even if it had been a granddad and granddaughter, still it would have been easier because there will be a natural admiration when looking up to opposite sex, but for a granddad and grandson it’s far tougher, to have an affection sans ego. That’s why the film scores. Thilakan was extraordinary in his role, first as a doting grandfather and later as a mature grown up. Jayaram didn’t have much to do but instead of being an alpha male he was a good kid who merged with the surrounding and didn’t provide any needless edge to the film.

Apart from cuteness, certain other annoying factors were the imposition of knowledge on various subjects such as literature, cinema and music. The talks didn’t feel organic. Acting too was naïve, especially Jayaram’s friends, with the exception of Rahman. Rahman in fact was better than Jayaram in acting. The female leads too were trying to be too cute and spoiling it. These are the kind of movies which one should have watched during school days with granddads/moms during summer holidays. While watching it now, it would have been a nice reminiscence of the past. Now it’s tougher to accept all the goodness of the movie.

All the goodness in the film comes to a sudden halt when Pachu loses his life in beach. Things turn awry post that. Even though the incident was a shocker, the screenplay was done in such a way that it all felt practical. Like how a household would cope up with a sudden loss. Nothing was exaggerated. When movies suddenly become from good to bad, we lose our concentration or feel as if it was done only to make audience cry but here it looks natural. The loss feels personal. And actors too do a fair job in the sad scenes than the happy scenes.

Generally, in films where accidents happen, we tend to see overtly happy faces just before it, it feels as if it’s a cue for an impending disaster but here it happens all of a sudden, yet we feel as if we are travelling with the movie. Something opposite to what ‘Alaipayuthey’ did, which transforms the whole feel of the movie and makes us uncomfortable. Similarly, in ‘Avan Ivan’ where its as if we were waiting for a disaster to happen because it was Bala’s film, the change of events doesn’t work in these films like how it did in ‘Moonnam Pakkam’

The transformation of film from its happy phase to sad phase is what worked for me but still felt the two hours to be such a long time. ‘Manjadikuru’ which treads on a similar line doesn’t feel as slow as this one in spite of being longer than this.