An original movie may be appreciated by a lot of people. But then it inspires a sequel, which is literally the worst enemy of originality. The review for which I got most appreciation was for a bunch of Malayalam movies that I saw last year. And I shamelessly set out on a sequel! Don’t say I didn’t warn you!
Njandukalude Naattil Oridavela (Director: Althaf Salim)
It’s hard to be objective when a movie strikes this close to home. The wish for it to be good may be high, but the critic in one will be merciless if it is not. Njandu is good as a family movie. It is very good considering the scope of its ambition and the challenges it takes to achieve it.
The Chacko family is in turmoil. Mother Sheela (Shantikrishna) has just been diagnosed with breast cancer. Chacko (Lal), till then the loud head of the family, goes into pieces. Junk-food eating son Kurian (Nivin) was summoned from London. Daughters Mary (Srinda Ashab) and Sarah (Ahaana Krishna) have their lives and aspirations brought to a standstill. Bedridden grandpa (Antony Kochi) has to get used to not being the primary rogi in the house. How will the family cope? With laughter, of course.
Cancer and comedy don’t go hand-in-hand. Till now that is. Can you bring laughs around a life-threatening disease? Can the suffering of the patient and the family be used for humour? It’s easier to make Chathiyan Chandu a good guy or tell the story of tiger hunter in a land where the only tigers are only to be found in zoos. But the new breed of directors in Kerala do not lack in courage, if anything. Add to it the fact that cancer has become so widespread, this is no longer a road not to be travelled.
The cast rise to the task with no exceptions. Nivin Pauly uses his new found girth in the best way possible – by making fun of it and his eating habits. The potato chips brand Lays is a character in this story. Lal is spectacular, playing against type. Shantikrishna, one of my favourite yesteryears actresses, plays a difficult role with aplomb. You cannot say that she was away from the screen for 20 years.
Director Salim, who wrote the film with George Kora, strives to find a balance in creating a comedy around a family battling cancer without closing an eye to the suffering. They succeed immensely. Introducing very believable characters, they don’t so much tell a story as they invite you to be a part of a family that faces a crisis. Many a time, I felt like I had shared instances of my life with them. On the basis of this movie, I can say Althaf Salim is a director I would pay to watch.
Happy Wedding (Director: Omar)
Njandu rang too close to my own experiences, so I sat to watch something which definitely would not be – Happy Wedding! Guess what! The hero is a Civil Engineer from Thrissur. Will Malayalam cinema leave me alone already?
Hari Krishnan (Siju Wilson Joseph) is a Civil Engineer who is trying to get lucky in love. He attempts to get cosy with his colleague Lakshmi (Delna Davis), who prefers to play the field. He is desperate to have a love marriage, as opposed to the arranged marriage his mother threatens to set him up with. After another unsuccessful attempt to woo Lakshmi, Hari and his cousin Manu (Sharafudheen) end up drinking in one of the few Beer and Wine parlours open in Kerala. They meet a guy who claims to be a motivational speaker. They are drunk and do not even ask his name, but address him as Bhai (Soubin Shahir). Over a few mugs and pegs we get to know Hari’s story from his Engineering days and his affair with his classmate, Shahina (Anu Sitara).
The three of them decide to travel to Thrissur in one of them fancy AC buses. In the bus they meet Drishya (Drishya Raghunath) and get chatting. Hari starts to fall for her, but back home, amma has been going through matrimony agencies to find a bride for him. Will Hari finally set up shop with someone? Who the hell is Bhai and what is his angle?
Unfortunately, the hero’s job was pretty much the only good thing in an otherwise forgettable movie. The story meanders along with flashbacks and sad jokes. Siju and Sharafudheen try gamely, but the script doesn’t do them any favours. Soubin has the most interesting character, but he resorts to hamming. The sequence in the bus was well shot and threatened to become interesting, but it was a mirage.
Newcomers in all areas have brought a fresh wind to Malayalam cinema, but the law of averages will still be there. Even if we have a bunch of good movies there will be a turkey here and there. Happy Wedding is a dish best forgotten fast.
Thondimuthalum Dhriksakshiyum (Director: Dileesh Pothan)
What is needed to convict a thief? A witness who saw him? The stolen article that is now submitted as evidence? Or is it something else altogether? Who suffers when a theft occurs? Who benefits? Director Dilesh Pothan and writer Sajeev Pazhoor do not want to give us the obvious answers. Yet, is what we see onscreen any different from what happens in real life?
Prasad (Suraaj Venjarammoodu) and Sreeja (Nimisha Sajayan) are a young couple travelling by bus in Northern Kerala. Sreeja, who was dozing off, suddenly awakens to find the man behind her stealing her necklace. Caught in the act, he swallows it. At the local police station, they find he is also named Prasad (Fahadh Faasil). Constable Chandran (Alencier) is the person tasked with getting the evidence and charging the culprit. Easier said than done.
All-round comedian Suraaj and debutante Nimisha are sensational as a couple caught in the middle of a crime. It is a perfect two-hander of a performance rather than two distinct ones. The supporting actors, led by a convincing Alencier are excellent. Fahadh has a very different role and he is amazing. Already proven to be one of the better actors we have, he uses his smile as an acting tool. I can’t recall seeing something like that before.
Kerala went gaga over actor Pothen’s first feature as director, Maheshinte Prathikaram. I liked it, thought it was beautifully shot, had great visuals and music, but was not bowled over by it. Thondimuthal changes that. You can see an assured director in control of his art. There is a long tracking shot that lasts for a couple of minutes. It serves no purpose. But you don’t mind because it is a young director trying out new tricks and getting more and more confident in his art.
Thondimuthal’s premise may sound cynical, but onscreen it is all heart. It shows that even a minor crime is not minor in our judicial universe. The line between who is a perpetrator and who is a victim gets blurred as time goes by. And with a strangely feel-good ending, you actually understand more about how our judicial system has its flaws and its benefits. It just depends on how we view it.
Ayal Sasi (Director: Sajin Baabu)
The proper noun Sasi has assumed a slightly derogatory verb status in Malayalam in the recent past. It stands for someone who unwittingly ends up a loser, or someone who has zero watts in his bulb. Social media is rife with Sasi jokes, a la Santa Singh ones. So, when someone made a movie titled Ayal Sasi (literally, That Man Sasi), starring the peerless Srinivasan, I was intrigued.
Sasi is someone we often see around us. Someone who tries to wedge himself into every conversation and attempts to increase his circle of contacts every few minutes. A man whose livelihood depends on more people recognizing him. Our Sasi is a painter. More accurately, he paints his signature on paintings done by Fine Arts students. He has a coterie around him, a bunch who know him for who he is and yet stick by him. Once, after a particularly boisterous party, Sasi is taken to the Emergency Room, where it comes out that his days are numbered.
Hearing the news he relocates to his village. One day, he reads the news of a company selling smart coffins; the kind that operates with finger print identification and has four TV screens. Whether it is for the people who come to pay their respects or for the ghost of the dead man to watch his own exploits is not clear! But Sasi decides to buy one. He becomes a minor celebrity and his lifetime ambition comes true. But at what cost?
Srinivasan thows himself fully into the role. However, the ravages of age are very visible and it is painful for us to see a beloved actor struggling. The supporting cast, made exclusively of non-famous actors, play their part ably, but there is no standout performance.
Black comedy is not something common in Malayalam. Ayal Sasi is definitely one. However, between trying to find humour in the absurd, proclaiming a message in a wry way, and attempting to make a slow-moving art movie with extremely long cuts, director Baabu loses his way. The result is a frustrating movie. One that could have achieved so much more if it had just stuck to one purpose. And the audience becomes sasi.
Take Off (Director: Mahesh Narayan)
‘Inspired by real-life events’ is a tricky affair. How much do you take from actual happenings? How much of what the protagonists tell you is true? How much masala do you add? How much cinematic license can you take? When the event in question is still in people’s minds how do you go about it?
Based on the rescue of 46 nurses from IS-occupied Tikrit in Iraq, Take Off takes liberties, but stays within the realm of possibility for most part. Instead of becoming an all-out thriller, it spends almost half of the movie building up the characters whom we would empathize with.
Sameera (Parvathy) is a divorced nurse trying to get a visa to work in Iraq to pay off her family’s debts. Her colleague Shaheed (Kunjacko Boban) is in love with her, but she spurns his advances. Faizal (Asif Ali) is her ex-husband who has custody over their son, Ibru (Eric Zachariah). We learn through flashbacks the story of their life and how they parted ways. Once in Iraq, Sameera has other challenges to meet. Shaheed goes to Mosul to take care of injured in fighting and the IS take over the hospital. The nurses become human shields. How does Sameera, with the help of the Indian Ambassador Manoj (Fahadh Faasil), escape their captors? That is the crux of the second half that moves to full-on thriller mode.
Editor Mahesh Narayan moves behind the camera for the first time. Working off a script he co-wrote with P.V Shajikumar, Mahesh shows tremendous confidence as he weaves a tale straddling countries. Except for a few scenes in the beginning when I couldn’t figure out what was real-time and what was flashback, he has control over the flow of the story. You see the hardships that force people to go to the desert, the family dynamics, a mature marriage and even a mini revolt over unpaid dues. And, yes, in Kerala, even though you may be a nurse, you still know nothing about birth control! The two halves of the film are quite distinct in pace, but do not feel out of place. In fact, one feels it necessary to have the two follow different beats.
The performances add weight to the film. Of course, it is made easier because they have such developed characters to enact. Kunjacko Boban is extremely believable as a considerate lover, while Asif Ali gamely takes on a thankless role. Fahadh Faasil changes track to play a suave, modern ambassador. Prakash Belawadi, who played an important role in Airlift, the Akshay Kumar drama about the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, essays the role of the Secretary of External Affairs. The various actors portraying the nurses are quietly efficient.
But, at the end of the day, most movies live or die by one critical performance, something the other actors recognize and support. Here, it is the role of Sameera that is enacted by, no, lived by Parvathy. This is one of the best performances in Malayalam for quite some years, by a male or female actor. She is the heart of a movie that beats to her tempo. She essays an extraordinary human being in the most ordinary way. She has her faults and she is stronger because of them. The title of the movie may allude to the rescue of the nurses. It could just as well point to a career that should surely go places.
