Been trying to put finger to keyboard for sometime, but then after having written over twenty five thousand words, just as part of civil service exams, on paper makes one lose the free flow on typing to pour out my mind. I have backspaced atleast a dozen in these three lines and it has taken me well over 15minutes to consolidate what I had to say. But then, I am not sure about what I have to say? Today's movie? About the state of humanity? Corruption?
A movie review is long overdue and the movie that I saw today definitely deserves one not just due to the unreasonable incessant criticism it has faced from many quarters, but also because it is actually a good movie. The recent trend in Malayalam movies has been about adultery, women drinking, free exploration of sexuality and liberal references to swear words and kickstand jokes. This movie is not about that, it is not about a lot of adultery and then projecting it as the new reality or alternative.
This movie is about contrasts, it shows how different things can be, it shows how meaningless some relationships can be, how even some relations that can be frowned upon can have a meaning and also about tributes to some of the most wonderful and memorable characters in Malayalam cinema.
I would divide the relations in the movie into three- the first one involves just merely the physical act of love, lust and desire. It is about just the superficial aspects of it and about fulfilling one's basic needs and changing to suit situations. The characters of Dhwani, the one played by Devi Ajit, the one who gives others the false movie hopes etc fall into this category. This dominates the movie for more than forty percent of its duration. Then comes relations where people are actually good, but circumstances force them into difficult choices, seemingly shady and meaningless lives- in my opinion Abdu (Jayasurya), Kanyaka (Tesni Khan) and Thangal (Babu Nambudiri) portray such characters, the seemingly unholy partnership between Thangal and Kanyaka and the character that doesn't appear, but is actually an important part of the story- the original owner of Trivandrum Lodge, the mother of Ravishankar (Anoop Menon), too would fall in this category. This constitutes another twenty five percent of the movie.
By the time this sixty five percent of the movie was done, I had almost given up hope and felt this was one of those "new generation" stereotypes. But that is when the real purpose of the first sixty five percent became obvious- it is only as contrasts and backdrops for the real love stories- the one between Relton and Peggy Aunty, then the characters played by Bhavana and Anoop Menon, Anoop Menon and his son, this son and his young, innocent love with a classmate.
Perhaps this is the way everything is in life- there are those who do things just for the sake of it, some since they have no choice, some for the wrong reasons and with wrong priorities. But then there are some who do it for the right reasons, due to the right motivations and with the right intentions- a small minority.
The movie pays small tributes to one of the strangest, yet the most powerful driving force characters in one of Padmarajan's movies- Thangal from Thuvanathumbikal makes a brief cameo and is still in his old job. The portrayal of this character in both movies have been nothing short of exceptional and it does require skill to create such a character- acknowledged by borrowing the character full with references to the support received by Thangal in Trichur from Jayakrishnan.
Even the movie's title is meaningful not only because it brings together the characters or forms the backdrop, but it is actually a witness to all these relationships and the people tied together in it. The movie initially seems like a colossal waste of time, full of beeps and expletives and nothing even remotely resembling a story. But it takes on a new life when the story that makes sense of everything appears and gives us a glimpse of true love and if we can identify this play of contrasts and relations, then the movie becomes a truly enjoyable and meaningful one.
PS- If I sounded overly analytical or methodical, I put it down entirely to post civil service exam hangover.
A movie review is long overdue and the movie that I saw today definitely deserves one not just due to the unreasonable incessant criticism it has faced from many quarters, but also because it is actually a good movie. The recent trend in Malayalam movies has been about adultery, women drinking, free exploration of sexuality and liberal references to swear words and kickstand jokes. This movie is not about that, it is not about a lot of adultery and then projecting it as the new reality or alternative.
This movie is about contrasts, it shows how different things can be, it shows how meaningless some relationships can be, how even some relations that can be frowned upon can have a meaning and also about tributes to some of the most wonderful and memorable characters in Malayalam cinema.
I would divide the relations in the movie into three- the first one involves just merely the physical act of love, lust and desire. It is about just the superficial aspects of it and about fulfilling one's basic needs and changing to suit situations. The characters of Dhwani, the one played by Devi Ajit, the one who gives others the false movie hopes etc fall into this category. This dominates the movie for more than forty percent of its duration. Then comes relations where people are actually good, but circumstances force them into difficult choices, seemingly shady and meaningless lives- in my opinion Abdu (Jayasurya), Kanyaka (Tesni Khan) and Thangal (Babu Nambudiri) portray such characters, the seemingly unholy partnership between Thangal and Kanyaka and the character that doesn't appear, but is actually an important part of the story- the original owner of Trivandrum Lodge, the mother of Ravishankar (Anoop Menon), too would fall in this category. This constitutes another twenty five percent of the movie.
By the time this sixty five percent of the movie was done, I had almost given up hope and felt this was one of those "new generation" stereotypes. But that is when the real purpose of the first sixty five percent became obvious- it is only as contrasts and backdrops for the real love stories- the one between Relton and Peggy Aunty, then the characters played by Bhavana and Anoop Menon, Anoop Menon and his son, this son and his young, innocent love with a classmate.
Perhaps this is the way everything is in life- there are those who do things just for the sake of it, some since they have no choice, some for the wrong reasons and with wrong priorities. But then there are some who do it for the right reasons, due to the right motivations and with the right intentions- a small minority.
The movie pays small tributes to one of the strangest, yet the most powerful driving force characters in one of Padmarajan's movies- Thangal from Thuvanathumbikal makes a brief cameo and is still in his old job. The portrayal of this character in both movies have been nothing short of exceptional and it does require skill to create such a character- acknowledged by borrowing the character full with references to the support received by Thangal in Trichur from Jayakrishnan.
Even the movie's title is meaningful not only because it brings together the characters or forms the backdrop, but it is actually a witness to all these relationships and the people tied together in it. The movie initially seems like a colossal waste of time, full of beeps and expletives and nothing even remotely resembling a story. But it takes on a new life when the story that makes sense of everything appears and gives us a glimpse of true love and if we can identify this play of contrasts and relations, then the movie becomes a truly enjoyable and meaningful one.
PS- If I sounded overly analytical or methodical, I put it down entirely to post civil service exam hangover.
