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 – Virus (2019)

A Disaster movie with a heart and soul

‘Virus’ is one of the sought-after films along with ‘Contagion’ in this lockdown period. This is the time when the events would make sense and the impact will be doubled. Like watching a horror movie alone at night. Also, while discussing the film there is a moral fear that something might happen to us if we criticize the film. That also works for both of the films. Both the films could be used a template for making disaster-based films and both come out as pretty interesting ones too.

If ‘Contagion’ was all start studded and quick based movie, ‘Virus’ thrives more on the mood. The former is like any American movie where things unfold quickly and the events are similar but with ‘Virus’ we feel the situations are more real. Also, the numbers game was blown out of proportion in ‘Contagion’. In ‘Virus’ the numbers are small but the situations are equally tense. We get to see the film from the Health Departments point of view. It was lovely to foresee a situation before it actually happens. Thinking of what the bigger impact would be.

The film could have definitely been pacy but that’s how it is in real life, it doesn’t happen fast but the situation is gripping. The way it unfolds as a thriller was terrific. Just like how the people in charge would have found out the cases, we too see them in same angle, so with every link found we feel as if we get close to a conclusion. The track of finding whether Nipah had really come from single cluster forms the heart of the film. That part was superbly made. And every actor who were part of the process had acted beautifully too.

There were ‘n’ number of actors involved in the film. It feels as if they had made this film to create awareness among the public. I wonder how so many actors would agree to act in a film which has so limited screen space. For me the two people who really stood out where Parvathy Thiruvothu as Dr. Annu and Sreenath Bhasi as Dr. Abid. They both were prolific. Dr. Annu was charming in every little way as possible. Parvathy could really do any role. I was bored of her short curly haired look and roles that she was doing off late, especially ‘Charlie’. It was blown over the top but here she is more rooted and it took me a while to know that it’s her. And Sreenath Bhasi was a revelation. He did his role with so much conviction. He demands respect right through his looks. He looks like a perfect doctor in distress.

The film talks only about the positive aspects of the people and no politics was involved. I don’t know whether it was really a good thing or bad thing. May be a few not so good things could have been shown which would have added dimension to the film but the risk is that those things would make the film a commercial one and we lose the connect to the films. With people always all so good it feels like we are fighting along with them to solve the mystery and find the root cause. Wish things were that simple.

The CCTV footages played a major role in the film and so were lighting. The colors used at some junctures were trying to give a hallucinating feel. The director was trying to bridge a gap between reality and fantasy so didn’t go into trance lighting full on but I’d have preferred it that way. Here it just feels like some other color bulbs instead of regular ones were used. It didn’t give the desired effect.

All in all, it’s a film definitely worth a watch but it’d work best if you watch it now during lockdown period because post that it would not be as interesting as something which would hold your attention.

Movie Review – Android Kunjappan Ver 5.25

A film which grows with every passing minute

It’s another feel good plotless movie which Malayalam cinema has mastered by now. So much so that, the movie wasn’t in my list because I know I’m going to feel good, but at what cost. Just like how ‘Sudani from Nigeria’ was above average and didn’t come as a striking feature, I knew ‘Android Kunjappan Ver 5.25’ too was going to fall in the category. It’s one of the reasons I wasn’t might impressed by ‘Varane Avashyamund’ too. If I had watched it when I wasn’t movies much, I’d have gone spellbound. But for now, it looked just a good movie but not great.

We see a robot killing its owner at the beginning of the film and then the title card appears and story goes to some other place. I’m not a big fan of this single shot lead. We know, something related to this would happen later but this single shot lead is something we tend to forget with time. For a change, we don’t here, because the act is inhuman, as well as the act is by a non-human.

Good thing about the film is as soon as the killing act gets over, we get to see a funeral where someone named Kunjappan is killed. We feel that he’s the person who got killed by robot in first scene. May be how Samuel Abiola Robinson gets named as Sudani/Sudu in ‘Sudani from Nigeria’, we feel that the African here would have been named as Kunjappan. But we are wrong. It’s totally different context and you know what, even the funeral is for someone who’s not related to the main story.

So finally, the story starts when Subrahmannyan / Chuppan (Soubin Shahir) and his dad Bhaskara Poduval (Suraj Venjaramoodu) come into picture. Soubin Shahir was as amazing as always and seems to be appearing in every film that I’ve watched off late after ‘Premam’. Suraj Venjaramoodu was a class act. He plays the father-in-disdain to perfection. The irritation, body language and even the wry smile suits him perfectly. The idea to have injury to one of the hands and a taller structure was minute details which worked for his look. Not sure it was the actor or the director who suggested it but it works well.

Hitomi (Kendy Zirdo) was another sweet character. Her chemistry with Subrahmannyan was perfect. Also, her Malayalam was easier to understand than the normal Malayalam. Even though the idea was to use VFX for robots, the use of a kid to play the robot suited better. It gave the life which Pixar gives without taking out the artificialness due to graphics. If VFX had been used, it should have been flawless like that of ‘Wall-E’ so better not use it if it can’t be made like that.

The film as such revolves around the antics of Android Kunjappan along with Bhaskaran. There were no startling revelations but cute little incidents here and there which makes the film move seamlessly. There were a number of fun scenes like the license of Kunjappan, Kunjappan in Temple and the dress he wears. It goes in a fun way throughout and then the seriousness strikes in.

Things could have turned disaster there but the director manages to get hold of the situation. The father blames his son for not being with him and the son blames father for not letting him get a proper job. There is no right or wrong here and people are in their crossroads of life. That was the best thing done here, no conclusion was provided on who was right and who was wrong. An average film till there gets elevated towards the climax when Bhaskaran takes Kunjappan to a temple where Kunjappan’s head gets knocked off and he tries to kill Subrahmannyan. The film would have been good enough even if it had ended at bus stop without a proper conclusion but when he calls out his son as Kunjappan and the helmet turns to be like the robot, it gets one notch higher. We now get to know the state of mind of Bhaskaran and know that he has truly got blinded by the affection towards Kunjappan, or in easier words, gone insane.