Movie Review – Maheshinte Prathikaaram

Not to the perfect size?

This movie was one of my long hauled overdue and somehow escaped my radar all this while. Considered to be the finest of Fahadh Faasil and start of a new era by Dileesh Pothan and Syam Pushkaran. Unfortunately as I had watched and blown away by ‘Thondimuthalum Driksakshiyum’, as a non malayalee who doesn’t understand the meaning of the words, even by the rhyme of it, ‘Maheshinte Prathikaaram’ was a little underwhelming. I guess both of it together would work as a dual feature, not like that or Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez, but something like that of ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’ and ‘Mr. Smith Goes to Washington’. The feeling was similar to how it felt after watching ‘Mr. Smith goes to Washington’ after being blown away by ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’

The initial vibe of the film was terrific, the elongation of the word “pennu” and the sudden halt while saying “Idukki” in the titular song would give smiles to anyone settling in theatre. It’d have given a proper settling of rustling leaves vibes when you had seen people enter the theatre and you’re already in your dreamland. I thought it was going to be one happy film seeing that song sequence but it was entirely not so.

Mahesh (Fahadh Faasil) is a normal guy, in writer Sujatha’s words, a satharanan, one who has lived his life in peace in a small town, known by his friends and hated by none. He’s neither skillful nor terrible. He lives his life as if he’s not even in the frame. He loves a girl who too has affection on him but it doesn’t materialize for obvious reasons, the reason not explained in the movie but it felt like an eventual. This breakup felt harsher and realistic than Fahadh Faasil’s highly acclaimed but terribly boring ‘Annayum Rasoolum’. He doesn’t grimace in pain, may be part of him too knew that it was not going to happen. There isn’t any bitching, thankfully. Furthermore, post her marriage we don’t see her suffer. There were mild cues in the movie where the groom was shown as a possessive man, but thankfully being a positive non melodramatic movie we don’t see her suffering even though a part of us who sympathize with Mahesh would want that.

Due a sequence of events, a Butterfly Effect may be, we see Mahesh getting into a fight and getting beaten up and he swears that he wouldn’t wear a chappal until he avenges his man. While we think that the movie was going to get into a serious tone, the man who beat him up goes to Dubai. It was a terrific interval. It’d have been great if the movie had just ended there. The second half felt obvious. A girl who’s a sister of that man, Mahesh avenging him and asking for the girl, felt a little bit preposterous. The punch that he had expected while the directors name flashes on screen actually happens during the interval block.

As much as one would want to appreciate Fahadh Faasil, not just him but everyone could be appreciated in the same vein. There wasn’t a single badly acted scene in the whole movie. Everyone did their role to perfection. Even Mahesh’s Kung Fu colleague who beats up the auto driver. The climax fight gets us on the hook but isn’t it a film which is greater than this to have our emotions ridden in such a straight forward scene.

There was a part where Mahesh’s dad asks him not to call his studio as shop. There was a slight “coming of age” touch there but it wasn’t overdone and didn’t drift the film in some other direction. But it’s something which could’ve even be taken off and the film would have still worked fine and his character would have felt earthier. For some reason I was constantly getting ‘C/o Kancharapalem’ vibes which made me feel that this film as a less great one among the two.

As I said before, this movie would have worked better if I had seen it first and seen it with less disturbance. It’s not a movie for pause and play, in fact no movie is. But as it plays around with the feelings and emotions more than the story, a strong settling time would be appreciated.

Movie Review – Vikram

Once upon a time, there lived a… oh, enough said!

First of all, it’s a great pleasure to see Kamal on screen. Happy about his unkept promise of not planning to act again. It’d have been a bummer if he had not made films any further. Quite curiously, for a Kamal film, the movie generated a lot of hype, first among me because of lot of coincidence like my name, birthday, friends name etc. but even amongst others, there were people wanting to catch the movie desperately, after the first review was out. Having said all that, I didn’t except such a movie from Kamal, it was a shocker, as cliched as it my sound, it was another truly different movie.

After settling to the FDFS ambience, personalized Kasi theatre engagement, papers flying, bouncers shouting, whistles, videos etc. it was finally time for the film to start. For a full-blown action film, a song like that at the start was needless. Don’t know why it was kept. Yea it was fun to see Kamal enjoying himself but was it apt for the film is the question and the song wasn’t done with full conviction. Like my friend pointed out when the song ended midway, “ipo lam pattu podrathukae bayapadranga” (nowadays, people are afraid to keep songs in the film). And he was right, I felt how Lokesh was in two minds when he wanted to both have a song as well as not have it. From that point to the interval, it was a blast, with only one bad scene where the prostitute tells what Kamal does physically to her. It was emotionally cringe.

The first scene of the film where Kamal dies would have been a shocker for many. Even though we all know its not the end of him, the way the director delays the character entry and keeps us in hooks was something no director had done before. When was a hero, let alone a big budget mass action hero, had appeared only during the interval. That’s what makes Kamal different from others and he must be appreciated for that. For a comeback film he appears only in the interval block. With that, he answers the the complaint about how he never gives chance to other actors, in style. The interval scene seriously is a blast. I was telling how it could have been one of the best first parts of the movie if it had been released separately. It would have had a ‘Kill Bill’ kind of impact with the Tamil audience.

The problem starts with second half. I’d rather not say problem but the film fails to elevate the protagonist like it does for other actors. After a brilliant Fahad Fasil show in the first half with menacing Vijay Sethupathi. The scenes with Narain, Tina and everyone of his aid works big time but for Kamal with a couple of punch dialogues and absolutely needless “Nalavara, Ketavara” dialogue, it was only compulsive applause he was getting. May be just like ‘Jigarthanda’, people loved the first half so much so that they couldn’t hate the second half. They were applauding for the Vikram who was in search in the first half rather than the Kamal on screen. I was in fact shocked that the film became such a huge hit. I thought I’d be writing about how it’s a great film which was again misunderstood by audience but I’m doing the opposite. I was proved wrong by the audience who were able to accept the fact that in spite of Kamal being in the film, it was a Lokesh film in which Kamal has acted.

Action sequences could have been definitely better. His mannerisms of shaking his shoulder were done one touch too many. Probably the only action scene that worked was the Tina transformation. Even though I guessed, it was lovely. Also the names of all the agents were displayed at great junctures. Probably the film shouldn’t have been shown with the title at first, rather should have been shown only when the Agent Vikram’s name gets displayed during the climax.

I know it’s wrong to expect an emotional performance in an action film, but I felt it would have been nice if some more time had been given for him with his grandson, their chemistry was lovely (Remember the dad son scene in ‘Uttama Villain’, can it get any better than that). Especially the crying scene which Lokesh repeatedly points out gave us a glimpse of Don Corleone scene with his grandkids in the field. Maybe it was intentional. Whether it was intentional or not, another inspiration definitely seemed to have come with Nolan’s batman series. The interval close up shot of Kamal, the lights off scene from marriage hall, the restaurant scene where the kid looks for his grandfather etc. But the important thing is everyone of this scene worked. In fact, everything did except elevating Kamal as a mass actor.

The climax could have bene brilliant and explosive as Lokesh intended if only had ‘Kaithi’ not come earlier. As soon as we saw guns and drugs in the first scene, we knew what was going to be the climax and cinematically there was nothing new in the climax blow up. It was underwhelming to be honest. With ‘Kaithi’, we got a terrific feel, the silence after the gunshot there was lovely, here it was just a repeat. Even Kamal bringing the barrel to ground, Fahad Fasil rescuing the kid was all cliched.

People fondly call this a Loki Universe, it is nice to see him get all the love. He too calls it his world. It is good to see him doing a connect with his other movies and be proud about it but hope it doesn’t become a template and he yields to a compulsion to connect every movie of his after this.

Movie Review – 22 Female Kottayam

Surprisingly good but expectedly not so good

It was one of the movies which I don’t know how it ended up in my list and for some reason I was very disinterested too, so watched it hastily. But quite surprisingly, it was an interesting watch. The movie was quick to grip. The typical feel goodness of Malayalam film was there to be seen in the first act and that’s the best part. The way their love casually blossoms, the not so meaningful scenes and all those niceties were superb, just when I thought I was going to settle it for a surprise feel good movie, the typical Fahad psycho mode started and movie got out of place…

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The movie begins with Tessa (Rima Kallingal) escaping from someone’s clutches where she phones and thanks him. It then shifts to flashback mode where we see her try to go out of the country. She meets Cyril (Fahadh Faasil) from the travel consultancy agency and they both fall in love with each other. It was a cute love story till then and Fahadh Faasil was excellent in that. Plus, there was no sign of any doubt in their relationship. It felt as organic and natural as it could be. Even the introduction of Hegde (Prathap Pothen) and all of them being together was as natural as it could be.

The first twist was when Hegde asks Tessa whether he can have sex with her. Generally, Prathap Pothen is really good in psychic characters but he wasn’t as menacing as he would generally be.  At that point we’d be thinking of how Cyril would take revenge on him but the second twist happens when he too becomes psycho. Even though the first act was best, the way the movie transforms too was nice, even though I didn’t like the idea, the execution was good but it’s the part post that which was entirely a debacle.

The jail scenes in the second half was a total let down. What should have been a hard-hitting passage of time was let down by poor story which looked like yesteryear antics. That part had an uncanny resemble to ‘Ek Hasina Thi’, wonder whether there could be so much coincidence. Thinking about the film now, the entire story feels like it, just that the first act was lovely here. The jail part was the best one in ‘Ek Hasina Thi’ and that’s the reason why the film worked. Whereas it’s the opposite here.

She comes out and takes revenge. That was of no surprise but I loved her collaboration with DK (Sathaar). That was a lovely character who looks flirty and villainous in the first half but becomes a hero of sorts in the second. Also, I loved his concept of love. Though he has multiple affairs he doesn’t cheat any. May be even his wife knows about it and approves. And he’s someone who never shies away from mentioning about his wife, to which no muses of him get irritated. It was a welcome change from typical ‘minor kunju’ types in Tamil cinema.

The revenge scene with Cyril was inevitable but wish we could have seen more resistance from him. Also, as per Wikipedia, she tries to woo him by being a typical “femme fatale”. Seriously? She looked hardly any different. The final dialogues between Cyril and Tessa were nice with Fahadh Faasil taking the onus. Good that the movie doesn’t end with Tessa killing him. It would have been mundane. Plus, she even after doing penectomies, has a little bit of sympathy on him and he has more agony on her. He challenges her and she still looks weak somewhere. That passage of play was nice to watch. May be with a better actress, it would have been nicer.

Movie Review – Athiran

You’d need therapy post watching the movie

Like I promised here is the second unknown (by me) Fahadh Faasil film which I mentioned when I wrote about ‘Varathan’. Even the name rhymes similar to it. With this I also exhaust the Hotstar watches for the year. So, it’s a lot more nostalgic than what I expected. Plus, this film didn’t have subtitles. It’s not a big deal anyways. The movie is plot driven, so even if you completely don’t understand the language you can still get the story. But being a Malayalam movie, it was fairly understandable too.

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The movie happens in 1972, for reason unknown, not sure why a period setting was selected but what should have added charm to the movie actually acts as a hindrance. It was fairly shot indoors with no real scope to explore the outside world of 70s so its quite a safe bet but the mansion, costumes, make up and even people don’t look like they belong to 70s. Everything looks superficial and cheaply made. May be the director would have thought it’s a clever idea when he chose just an indoor space to showcase 70s but even that doesn’t feel like it.

On top of it, the movie starts in 1967, where we witness a number of dead bodies strewn around a house. With time we get to know that it’s Nadakkal Kovilakatthu Karthika Thirunaal Nithya Lakshmi or simply Nithya (Sai Pallavi). Actually, the twist is quite evident, I got it at the very beginning that it wouldn’t be something which Nithya would have done. I even got who would have done the killings and what’s really happening in Mental asylum. Anyways that’s alright but at least the making could have been interesting. Being a film with period settings is fine but it looked like a film of 70s with old age twists.

May be the filmmaker wanted to use the traditional method so Dr. Mooledatthu Kannan Nair (Fahadh Faasil) coming out of a secret room without the key and falling into the water were all made to look visibly fake. Some interesting technique to mask it would have been nicer, even though making it without giving a clue would have been a total disaster.

Sai Pallavi was a wrong choice for the movie. May be the director, Vivek wanted to break the image of her in the movie and she too wanted the same but it totally doesn’t work. Her charm is her weapon but here she has none. It’s evident that she has tried to be sane and doesn’t want to overdo things but frankly, for some scenes she looks clueless. Fahadh Faasil too doesn’t have much scope to act. Maybe he’d have chosen the movie for climax but it was such a bore.

Somewhere I read the movie to be an adaptation of ‘Shutter Island’ and I was hating myself for knowing the fact because not only would it spoil the suspense but it’s also one of my favorite movies. Even though I was relieved in the end that it’s not a remake of it but was irritated beyond words that the original end was disappointing. Anyways, for the fact, the film is a cultural remake of the movie Stoneshearst Asylum, which I’ve no idea what it is.

The main problem of the film is it tries to project itself as a psychological thriller but has all the horror elements in it which makes it look superficial. It’s not intelligent enough to set the right mood for a psychological thriller. Take for example, a ‘Shutter Island’ which was not even rated among Scorsese’s best works. Yet, the mood setup in the film is terrific. It makes us feels as if we are hallucinating. That’s how one should be making a psychological thriller and not like ‘Athiran’.

Movie Review – Varathan

Love, lust and smoking barrels

‘Varathan’ has one of the most generic, mundane of openings. It was one of the two Fahadh Faasil movies in my list which I had not heard of, but still added to my list. I’ll come up with the review of the next one in a couple of days. The opening of the movie being such a lull, made me think, that is the reason why it isn’t as famous as Fahadh Faasil’s other movies. But with time it slowly builds up and has a great ending. From a boring opening to a showy second act, it blasts open to an extremely satisfying third act. It could serve as a great guilty pleasure movie and satisfy all our senses in the end.

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The first twenty minutes or so of the movie is such a lull, where you’re not sure what you’re watching, its so easy to even stop the movie and pass off after the first fifteen minutes. It has three songs, a needless Dubai setting and worst of romances. The events too are too mundane like Abi Mathew (Fahadh Faasil) losing the job, Priya Paul (Aishwarya Lekshmi) having a miscarriage and them two returning home. The flashback song was so needless. I can understand that all that was done to showcase their love but it totally doesn’t work. ‘Ishq’ is a similar movie where the first act had been done superbly. Even though it totally transforms into a different movie after that, the way the romance was shown keeps us longing for it.

The second act is all about built up. It’s of course showy. Amal Neerad is a showy guy. It worked in ‘Iyobinte Pustakam’ which too was a Fahadh Faasil one vs all movie. But the making of it was lovely. The built up suited it because the environment was like that. The period setting added charm to it. But here with just a resort, Amal Neerad couldn’t do much. He uses a typical thriller film template. It of course makes us glued to the screen. General audience wouldn’t find a fault. But cinematically it’s not such a great skill.

The villains do a decent job but instead of heavyweights, he had used young guns here. Arjun Ashokan was terrific in whatever little screen space he gets. The new gen actors like him, Sreenath Bhasi, Shane Nigam and all are such a pleasure to watch. Even though Sreenath Bhasi is my absolute favorite, whom even I thought would have done a great job if he had been in place of Fahadh Faasil, Arjun too is an actor who does so well without being so loud.

Even though the whole film is a lead to the final act, it could have been named differently. The title was too plain and simple. Just by the title the director makes it evident that he doesn’t care about others. But for such a movie to work, more than the fight, the reason for the fight is important. The reason here is Priya. The movie could have been even named as Priya. That would have served a whole lot of purpose. She was terrific in the role. Right from the time she says that she didn’t see heartbeat in her child to the climax where she shoots his abuser, she was fabulous. And a whole lot sexy too. Her costumes were brilliant. Except for one bad scene which brings in a transformation in Abi, other scenes were good.

Abi explodes in the climax. It would have been a total fanboy moment for all Fahadh Faasil fans out there. It’s a piece of cake for him which he does effortlessly. One should appreciate the fact he leaves the last bit of pleasure to Abi. It was so satisfying. Both the shot and her expression. But till the end, they don’t reveal what job he was doing, how he garnered all these Mission Impossible skills. It was still a “nee idhuku saripatu vara matae” setting. But it’s not a movie to criticize that deep, it’s a movie to watch with emotions. If it had to be criticized, there are lots to be done before the third act.

Movie Review – Thondimuthalum Driksakshiyum

The gold that it chokes

What started as a typical Fahadh Faasil film with a slow start of unsuspecting characters takes a U turn as soon as Fahadh Faasil arrives on screen. It has all the elements like his other movies which starts with a story without him in the beginning, an everyday routine of them, to the point that it makes us feel we need a breather, then we yearn for his arrival so that there could would be some entertainment and finally bam he arrives. It’s one way of writing massy entertainers which is wrapped in the artsy format. Fahadh Faasil somehow gets these roles or the makers write one for him always.

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Fahadh gets a terrific intro in the bus, post which he’s caught red-handed and handed over to police station. It’s doesn’t take much time for us to develop hatred towards him. Given the way the couple complaint, it’s only easy to deduce that the incident has happened for real so it’s an open and shut case for police but they use them to fullest of advantage so that they could mint as much money as possible. What looks like a story between the couple, Sreeja (Nimisha Sajayan) and Prasad (Suraj Venjaramoodu) and the thief, Prasad (Fahadh Faasil) has police also playing a substantial part.

It’s like a game of Raja Rani, where everyone has equal importance. In fact, they have more importance. It’s typically a scene or a sequence which put in plain words show how the judges are bigger thieves than the culprit and the victim. But the way its built, it’s a careful constructed maze. There is no loud music, there isn’t any tools which manipulate us, but plain straightforward acting. As honest as the couple are, we can’t help but feel sorry for them. Seeing the confidence, we doubt ourselves whether Fahadh has really stolen the chain and the way the police perform, especially A.S.I Chandran (Alencier Ley Lopez) we feel he’s for real. In fact, the way the duo of Chandran and the other police officer (Sivadas Kannur) perform, they were equivalent to Om Puri and Naseeruddin Shah in Maqbool. Only that, here they’re not together but their act together is nothing short of spectacle.

In a movie like this, it’s really tough to hold the curiosity of audience. Editing here is lovely. The opening part where they both get married are not shown on screen but we get to know it in bits and pieces in the middle. The tension is not evident on screen but they’re not a romantic couple, the strain of what they’ve undergone in life shows on screen. That’s where both Suraj Venjaramoodu and Nimisha Sajayan are excellent. In fact, Suraj looks first choice for roles like this where he shouldn’t cry when sad. Maybe it’s becoming a template role for him but his innocence is lovely. Even though Fahadh mercilessly manipulates his, he still has an ear for him. He couldn’t leave him to walk free because he feels it would be a cheating for his wife yet he couldn’t hold on to him to bring him down because he’s not powerful enough and he has a little bit of sympathy towards him. He does both of it and struggles to survive. It’s typical of any man in a middle-class family. Every middle-class member could relate to it. On the other hand, Nimisha’s role is straight forward, she has a motherly innocent nature about her who first feels angry and then doesn’t.

This has got to be Fahadh Faasil’s best. When the film was taking a familiar twist with police trying to use wrong evidence, the way he asks Prasad to tell the truth in court and make him free was one of his masterstrokes. It looks all good till the end but there is one frame where he stares at the couple and through that one stare, his villainous nature becomes evident. That’s some lovely acting. I didn’t like the way it ended which gave a ray of hope as if all is fine. I couldn’t deduce much from the couple’s angle, who looked satisfied but may be the police had mellowed down, still he’s doing his job of not being an honest man. It’s not outrightly told that he has taken leave or retired. And Fahadh through to looks of it, feels like a man who’s searching for job. But nothing could be deduced so easily from his character. Maybe he’s looking for another robbery. But I’d like to take it in a negative angle which makes it more interesting.

Movie Review – North 24 Kaatham

Just another average Joe

It’s just another average flick about a simple-minded man, a cute girl and an old man. The situations are convenient and the film breezes through their journey. The characters look like something taken right out of template and stick to their definitive goals. Like Fahadh being a typical OCD person, Swathi, a typical cute girl and Nedumudi Venu, a typical old man. By chance they meet in a train and carry on with a journey which would change their perspective. The movie is average at its best, wonder why it got National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Malayalam. There are far better Malayalam films than this.

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The first act is where we get introduced to Harikrishnan (Fahadh Faasil), an IT professional from Kochi, who’s hated by everyone. May be the initial antics when the title card appeared was good but post that it was mundane and boring. Siddharth (Sreenath Bhasi), his brother was far more fun and had a swag even though he had little screen space. He had a certain vibe around him. His colleagues try to avoid him at every possible junction but because he’s a supposed genius, his boss likes him. By chance encounter he gets into the same cabin as that of Gopalan (Nedumudi Venu) who gets a minor heart attack hearing the sudden news of his wife’s ill health. Nani on the other hand is a girl with helpful tendency who travels along with Gopal as he doesn’t look fit enough to travel alone. With them Hari too tags along.

The initial train scenes and railway station scenes reminded me of ‘Jab We Met’, not a movie that I liked but that was somewhat interesting. Here a naïve Hari tagging along with them didn’t look practical. But the characters were built as if they’d be okay to accommodate anyone tagging along. Like how ‘Neelakasham Pachakadal Chuvanna Bhoomi’ was a convenient road movie, ‘North 24 Kaatham’ too is one. The situations are convenient enough to bring various drama and draw to a conclusion in the end.

There isn’t anything to hate in the movie but the writing looks lazy. I started liking the movie when they entered the toddy shop but again Swathi almost gets abducted by one of the guys. The turn of events towards a pessimistic side was annoying. Even though they tried to make the scene a cute one by Hari scolding her, it was all too easy to conceive. Similarly, the climax where he becomes a charming normal person is something which was quite obvious. The reason why he turns like that is not quite convincing. Even though his visit to doctor where he’s not sure what he’s exactly feeling, kind of summarizes that there need not be a specific incident to change a person, it was still a dull scene. The journey could have been more inspiring at the least and the acting too could have been a little bit underplayed. All these stats make it a typical run of the mill movie.

Movie Review – Oru Indian Pranayakadha

A distressing exercise

Choosing this movie was such a big mistake from my end. Guess I referred the wrong list for Fahadh Faasil’s best works or may be this is the bottom of it. Still it wasn’t a movie worth selecting. Being a comic love drama, the film has to invest in the characters so that we could connect with them. But the movie doesn’t try anything of that sort. The characters were so brittle with absolutely no background, the screenplay is too lull and mainstream and the leads were pathetic in their role. So, all together, the movie was a debacle.

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The movie opens with a quite hyped up entry of one Aymanam Sidharthan (Fahadh Faasil) where everyone talks about how famous a personality he is. In reality he’s a nothing guy. This phase before his introduction looks like a precursor to ‘Njan Prakashan’, where he does nothing (which is by the same director, coincidentally or not). Here he does a lot many things but nothing is of use. So, in a way both are similar. Being a political aspirant, he tries various methods to woo everyone but as he loses to another candidate who’s associated with a political family, he loses interest in it and tries to help someone whom his mentor Uthup Vallikkadan (Innocent) asks him to help.

Irene Gardner (Amala Paul) is that person. Even though from Canada, she respects Indian values and in addition to it, generous enough to pay two thousand rupees per day to her assistants. In that process Sidharthan becomes her assistant. With due course she knows that he’s an innocent guy. His love affair is least impactful. He must appear cunning but as the director couldn’t unleash Fahadh’s psycho mode which has become a trademark of him in the last few years, the character appears rather naïve throughout. Ideally, we should have hated him for being opportunist or at least laughed at him for being so funny but we only end up irritated by his acts.

Amala Paul too doesn’t have anything to do apart from carrying camera with a puny face everywhere. She looks reasonably good but other than that she couldn’t exhibit her acting in any impressive way. Also, the twist which they try to show during the interval too was so meek that when we eventually discover the truth, its easily evident that it was just an interval gimmick. We get to know the big fat twist in the second half about his past. Even an acclaimed movie like ‘Lion’ didn’t work for me because its farfetched, so naturally the idea of finding her parents didn’t appeal to me at all.

Generally, an exercise like this must excite. For example, there is a beautiful phase in Kabali where Kabali searches for Kumudhavalli, there isn’t a single phase in ‘Oru Indian Pranaya Kadha’ like that, which makes us long for the characters desires. Sidharthan is a superhero who finds about her parents in a span of couple of days. First, she goes for an ayurvedic treatment and then for a bai veetu kalyanam. Both conveniently feel good and enjoyable. So, there is absolutely no drama there too. They needn’t have gone till Rajasthan to shoot that portion. Maybe they wanted a song there and filled up a story around it.

I only feel sorry for Fahadh Faasil here. It looked as if he acted in the movie as some sort of obligation, like serving bond in a company. He neither could elevate the stature of the movie nor could be practical. Wonder why Irene doesn’t right away says that she loves him. She makes him wait for a couple of years so that he could read Gandhi ji’s ‘The Story of My Experiments with Truth’ and become a better politician. Anyways there is no tension when she flies off to Canada and no elation when she returns back to see him. It was just another page in an uninteresting saga.  

Movie Review – Iyobinte Pusthakam

Visual retreat

For anyone who had read Brothers Karamzov, this movie would be a treat. Not in my wildest imagination did I think that a Dostoevsky novel would be adapted this good. May be it’s not really an adaptation and has only few elements from the novel, it still passes down as one of the best ever movies made which employed the visual storytelling technique to a great extent. Best thing about the movie is even if you know none about it, it’s still appealing. A movie made on grand scale which has an impact like that of ‘There will be Blood’ is not something which comes quite often in Indian cinema.

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Grandeur is what happens in ‘Iyobinte Pusthakam’, not the seven wonders in Shankar song. ‘Iyobinte Pusthakam’ spells grandeur in each and every frame. With an excellent cast, topping with Fahadh Faasil, there is never a dull moment in the film. It’s good to see a maker making movies in such vast canvas and succeeding in it too. People mostly associate big budget movies with that of action adventure or epic movies or may be even war movies. But period flicks are never given its due when it comes to budgeting. In fact, of all, the eye pleasing stuff happens more in period flicks than the remaining. Just look at the cars in the film. It was such a treat to watch them in slow motion.

The only problem I had in the movie was the way it opened. With a voice over narrating too many stories, it was a tedious watch. But maybe they wanted it to be Dostoevskian too. Even though a lot of details were infused, the film still holds our attention. Just in those few minutes, there is a superb graph for Iyob (Lal). Someway the feel of a Dostoevsky novel gets into us and we start to follow the film curiously.

Fahadh Faasil takes his own sweet time to enter the screen and once he does, he’s ravishing. Ivan (Jinu Joseph) and Dimitri (Chemban Vinod Jose) too are excellent as his brothers. Especially Jinu Joseph who looks like a WWE star. Bray Wyatt to be precise. He carries on the charisma like a wrestler and was a pure evil faced person. It’s good to see such characters nowadays in cinema, where all we see is grey and boring.

The film is rightly titled ‘Iyobinte Pusthakam’ because even though Aloshy (Fahadh Faasil) is the hero, it’s still a film about Iyob. He’s the one who comes to power, then goes powerless and there is a proper character arc in his story, both through self-realization as well as from the outside. That’s why it makes for a great character. Except for him, most of the others are straight forward characters. Rahel (Padmapriya Janakiraman) is another interesting character who deals with a lot of men. A truly vicious character who manipulates men till her death. I thought Padmapriya was a wrong choice but she did really well.

Kazali (Lena) and Martha’s (Isha Sharvani) character too was well written and superbly shot. Kazali was given a great Indian make up and Martha had a halo around her face. Her presence meant angelic divinity in the frames. Isha Sharvani’s casting was a master stroke because she has this weird goddess daughter face which works for the movie.

It’s good to see Malayalam cinema trying out new stuffs rather than doing the same things again and again. And this was one movie where the experiment worked wonderfully for me. So it was a double joy of watching something new as well as watching something solid. It truly was a mesmerizing watch.

Movie Review – C U Soon

A neat film for its style

‘C U Soon’ is a film, which looks to have been born because of the style. Given the restrictions outside, they wanted to make an inside film and adopted this style called ‘computer screen film’, to be more specific. In the line of ‘found footage film’, to be more generic. The only film, which I remember in the latter category, is ‘The Blair Witch Project’. No other film registers in mind because if you decode the style, there is not anything interesting to watch. The rabbit out of the hat moment is gone. Moreover, with such a technique it is tough to hold audience interest. ‘C U Soon’ was able to bypass that initial curiosity and make us get involved in the story. That by itself is a success.

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The making reminded me of an episode in ‘Modern Family’ where everything happens in FaceTime. It was a superb episode. Even though it is not a series known for its making, I found that to be unique. ‘C U Soon’ employs the technique, with a little bit excuse but does it fairly well given the limitations. Like how it is important to forget the technique and get into the film, like appreciating a film by not mentioning about its style, for example, instead of being called a great anime, it should be called a great film. While watching an anime or any film for that matter, the technology must be forgotten and the film has to be remembered. Similarly, here ‘C U Soon’ makes us forget all the intricacies and gets us involved in it, in some time.

Jimmy (Roshan Mathew) and Anumol (Darshana Rajendran) are excellent as on screen virtual couples. They are in love and are ready to get married. Throughout the movie, I felt that Shane Nigam would have been a great choice for Jimmy’s role. Nevertheless, Darshana was perfect as Anumol, with a no makeup look and honest acting. She was prolific. But it’s Kevin (Fahadh Faasil) who steals the show. The role was tailor made for Fahadh Faasil, and given the nature of the role, he does it with ease. It feels like he has the super power in the entire film and everything acts in accordance with him. Other characters too were well etched.

What looks like a feel good film to start with, develops in a deep film about relationships and then goes on to become a thriller, effectively so. The film takes an issue and walks us through it. The whole thriller part is make believe, there could be flaws but I do not really mind them as long as it works and I do not really get them too. With a close up throughout Fahadh Faasil enjoys the limelight and acts his ass out, especially in the crying scenes, something which Kamal loves to perform.

There were a couple of scenes, which I loved for the impact. One being scene where Anumol was given a sluttier make up on compulsion due to the act she was about to perform. She breaks down in that scene. Generally in a scene like that, a lady wouldn’t be made to look beautiful but here we see her look good but her emotions are opposite, and even bends down with a little bit of cleavage visible which acts as a distraction. Question arises as to whether a girl will make a call to her mother in such situation. Point is that she had totally forgotten what state she is in. That is how desperate she is. A similar scene in ‘Queen’ where Lisa Haydon gets involved in a video call with Rani’s parents is funny but it’s easier to make for the same reason. Here it is tougher and riskier. Another scene is the one where Jimmy has a virtual drink with his younger cousin. It opens up nice where his cousin asks if she drinks. It was cute but ends when she is on high and stares at his crotch for an extra second. The crush/lust was shown rather quickly and was done well.

Overall, for the genre, it feels like a neat film, which holds our attention for a good one and a half hour and would be remembered for its making and the time of the release. Not sure whether it would have been more widely watched, if not for the COVID restriction. With it on, it does a fair job.