Satires as a genre is a tight rope that needs to be handled with the utmost care coz if it falters it can be quite cringy. This week saw the release of two such satirical movies & both gave quite diverse viewing experiences. These included Krishand's "Purusha Pretham" which in essence is a procedural drama but which has sub-plots that touches upon a host of other social issues. The other was Mahesh Vettiyar's political satire "Vellaripattanam" which is pretty much the usual run of the mill on the political climate that prevails in the state. Anyway it would be interesting to see how the public would warm up to both of them.
Purusha Pretham: "Wry sense of humour & wacky treatment makes it interesting!!!"
Krishand is a person who needs no introduction after all he has made a name for himself in his short directorial career. This is his third venture at the helm after the much appreciated "Aavasavyuham" & "Vrithakrithiyulla Chathuram". The protagonist of his story that is penned by Manoj Thodupuzha with the screenplay by Ajith Haridas, is SI Sebastian / 'Super' Sebastian (Alexander Prasanth) who is known in the police circles for his daredevilry through the stories narrated by his colleague & constable, Dileep (Jagadish). As part of their job, they end up handling numerous unidentified bodies & the associated formalities. One such unidentified body recovered from a lake take centre stage when they decide to have it buried three days later due to lack of space in the mortuary. It was at this juncture that Susan (Darshana Rajendran) turns up at the police station with the claim that she believes that it was her husband, Bobby. How Sebastian & Dileep handle this situation forms the basis of the story.
Even as this procedural drama unfolds, there is an undeniable thread of wry humour that runs along with it. There are numerous instances where we end up laughing for the hilarious screenplay as it dabbles genres packaged as a neo-noir satire. It does take a bit of time to get into its elements but once it does, then it runs along with it until the end culminating in a docu-fiction pattern with real life individuals talking about such unidentified bodies. This movie is as much about the visual language as it is about the script & Krishand has handled it expertly with the colour tone & rather queer sense of artist placement to the edge of the screen. Another round of applause that is well deserved is Ajmal Hasbulla which was unique and impressive, since it surprisingly blended so perfectly. Suhail Backer also deserves praise for his editing skills.
Alexander has been in the industry for a couple of decades now & it is heartening to see him reap the benefits of his hard work. Over the last couple of years, he has been able to pull off some memorable performances in "Action Hero Biju", "Operation Java" etc. As Sebastian, he was fantastic as he knew the right balance between the various shades of the character. The ever dependable Jagadish rocked while Darshana Rajendran did her part aptly. The rest of the cast have also done justice to their roles.
Verdict: It is a type of movie that might generate mixed reactions as some might not quite warm up to the rather unusual wacky treatment. However, if you do; then you are likely to have a jolly good viewing experience. In short, check it out!!!
Rating: 3.25/5
Vellaripattanam: "Offers hardly anything worthwhile!!!"
A couple of days back, I happened to watch on YouTube the promotional press event that the Vellaripattanam team had organized. One of the question that arose as part of that was the impact of cult classics like "Sandesham" & even recent recent flicks like "Vellimoonga" had on the genre of political satire. Well it will be fair to say that Mahesh Vettiyar's directorial debut venture doesn't even qualify to light a candle alongside it.
In the company of Sarath Krishna, Mahesh has penned the script which speaks about the political climate that was prevalent in the Chakkarakudam panchayat. K.P Sunanda (Manju Warrier) was a ward member & her brother, K.P Suresh (Soubin Shahir) are members of UDP; with the latter not quite having as much political foothold as his sister. How both of these gear themselves up for the next elections & the impact it has on their relationship is what is focused here.
The biggest drawback in the story is that it doesn't offer anything that is neither unique nor fresh in treatment. The usual gimmicks include the standard jokes that we know about each of the prominent parties in our state & the strategies that they employ to defect members from the opposing camp. In between, Mahesh tries to throw in the family drama but nothing quite manages to engage the audience. It didnt quite test my patience yet at the same time, it failed to evoke any kind of reactions that we usually associate with hilarious satires. None of the technical aspects are worth mentioning as it was average at best.
After the "Jack N' Jill" debacle, questions were raised as to whether Manju & Soubin would be able to make amends for it through this flick. On the performance front, Manju has done reasonably well while Soubin was average to mediocre at times. As for the rest of the cast, Veena Nair, Shabareesh Varma, Krishna Shankar etc have done their parts aptly while it is high time that Remya Suresh choose different type of roles.
Verdict: With not much of a competition, maybe it might be able to survive at the box office for a week if lucky after all it fails to offer anything worthwhile!!!
Rating: 1.5/5
Regards...Ben
Very informative, thanks for posting such informative content. Expecting more from you.
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