Malayalam movies still can produce Masterpieces

Malayalam cinema industry had been in need of really quality stuff for quite sometime now. Lots of movies came from big names only to falter in the delivery. Three of the movies that really had some quality came from Mammootty and I have seen two of the lot.

Paleri Manikkam, an adaptation of novel, by Ranjith was the first one. It is a crime thriller, based on the first recorded murder case in Kerala. The movie was shot in a true sense, and with lot of visual aspects going into the cinematography to make it into a really period movie. It also had the seductive Shweta Menon, a role for which she won a state award.

Shweta Menon

Mammooty in the triple role of Ahmed Haji and his two son was superb. The entry shot of Ahmed Haji in the movie highlights the importance of editing; credit, Vijay Sankar. Ultimately the feel of movie is set forth by how the vision of director mates with the cinematographers mind's view. Here Manoj Pillai meets the expectation. The tone of the movie is excellent. The expressions by Ahmed Haji when he sees Cheeru(Swetha Menon) is perfectly put forth to the audience by the virtue of the cinematography. The movie is an absolute male supremacy/fantasy piece with the struggle that a woman has to undergo portrayed through the charectors of Cheeru, Manikkam etc. Still the movie is a bit tame in its depiction of certain post independence Kerala system. The movie is almost flawlessly constructed, not a brainer, but a good entertainer.

 

Paleri Manikyam: Oru Pathirakolapathakathinte Katha as a movie was good. A thorough entertainer, something which everyone expects from Ranjith. He delivered it again, with Pranchiyettan and the Saint in a spell of less than a year. As a Thissoorkaran, I loved that movie. 

I believe people will say Mohanlal's Bhramaram and Thanmathra might equally fall into Paleri Manikkam's category. I would not say no, but will say yes only after seeing those two movies.

The second of the two movies is Loudspeaker. I have to see this movie, but I believe it to be good from the storyline that I heard. 

The third movie of the lot, and the best of the decade as such is Kutty Srank from veteran director Shaji N. Karun.

Kutty Srank, titled in English as The Sailor of Hearts, is an awesome movie. I cannot start without this superlative. I am writing this barely five minutes after finishing this movie. The movie is awesome on two respects, the story/characters and the camera. I was not able to see anything else except bold colors and shadows. The masterly use of shadows for showing the feel of the situation is excellent. Anjuli Shukla who has done the cinematography stole my heart with this. I see traces of Santhosh Sivan in the way she has captured the rains, soil and sky. The cinematography is a masterpiece only because the director is absolute master. Shaji N Karun delivers again after Vaanaprastham, another gem of the 90's.

I was impressed by the strenght of charecters. The movie is about women, and about the way they feel for the man they love. Mammootty plays the title character of Kutty Srank, a boat man in the erstwhile Kochi-Thiruvathankoor area. Srank is a blue eyed(literally) orphan with a way with women. Right from the beginning of the movie, he is shown having his own ways of right and wrong. He says that he is a man who is after love, because he has not got it throughout his life from his parent. “A woman can take a man anywhere, home, renunciation, life or death”. This line sets the tone for the whole movie. 

Kamalini Mukherjee - as her name says..

Padmapriya who plays the role of daughter of a moopen in malabar area, is good. The second lady is played by Kamalini Mukherjee who loves Srank more than anything and is ready to leave even her chastity for him. The third woman is dumb vishahaari woman, an outcast played by Meena Kumari. 

Beautiful or perfect?

All the ladies in the movie are decked in absolute beauty of womanhood. All the characters complete their lifecycle in the movie itself. It is wonderful to note the lines which says about women and man - “The greatest search in the life is a man searching for his right woman and she for her man.” The people shown are very raw. They fear God and has all sorts of superstitions. Even Fr. Yonas played by Siddique is only acting out of love as prescribed by his culture at that point of time, as he is his sabha's spiritual father. Saikumar in his role has lots of similarities to the great actor Kottarakara. He delivers his role as a man consumed with poison very respectably.

The nature has a very great role to play in this movie, whether it is to show love, or to show lust or to show anger or to show fear, all emotions are played out by the third character – nature. The flute which plays along with the string instruments make it feel as if it is a part of nature. You are hearing, the leaves rustling, and the birds chirping, but there is also a wail of violin. Is this sound not from nature too, you wonder. Another is the use of vernacular to the best. The slang of Kochi area people is used liberally. There is also south Kannada and Malabari Malayalam slang used at appropriate places. There are also visual motifs like the death boat which Srank sees whenever there is any accidents, also the lightnings and the sky. The most striking aspect is the way Srank's nose bleeds whenever there is anything which he feels is not right, and still is forced to do, or when someone is going to get hurt because of him.

I will rate this movie the best movie from Kerala in the decade 2000-2010, and it will surely last another lifetime. The movie is an ultimate showcase of visual and aesthetic brilliance.