Finally Onam has come to a close & we had a plethora of movies that hit the screens over the weekend. Almost all of them looked interesting & so I headed to the theatre for the morning show with the intention of checking out N Sreejith's "Oru Thekkan Thallu Case". Surprisingly, I was told that the show might be cancelled as there were no takers for it. So I promptly took the ticket for Screen 2 which had Vinayan's "Pathonpatham Nootandu" whose trailer had really impressed me. In addition, I was really curious to know as to what Vinayan had accomplished especially since his latest venture was financially backed by Gokulam Gopalan, a luxury that he didn't have in the past for various reasons.
The movie is about the social injustices & the atrocious taxes that were imposed on the lower caste people which were prevalent in the 19th century. Even as they suffered the oppressions relentlessly, Arattupuzha Velayudha Chekavar (Siju Wilson), an affluent leader from their midst became their beacon of hope. He was a social reformer & an expert warrior, who constantly locked horns with the corrupt authorities so as to ensure social upliftment of the discriminated caste. His presence gave courage to Nangeli (Kayadu Lohar) who fought against the practice of levying breast tax. All this & more constitutes the storyline of this period drama.
It's been quite a while since we had a movie from Vinayan with his last release being "Aakasha Ganga 2" in 2019. Just like most of his other flicks, he has pretty much taken care of the major responsibilities & that includes penning the script which is a concoction of fact and fiction. He has taken cinematic liberties & that in turn resulted in Kayamkulam Kochunni shown in a manner quite unlike to what we are familiar to. He has tried to touch upon various significant incidents that happened in that period headlined by Velayudhan & Nangeli. But in the process, I kind of felt that the story lacked flow & managed to create an emotional impact only in the Nangeli episode. However, on the technical side; it was really impressive be it Shaji Kumar's cinematography, action choreography, Ajayan's production design & Santhosh Narayanan's BGM (esp the one in the initial segment).
Despite the failings in the screenplay, the performance by Sijo Wilson was excellent as he perfectly fitted the part of the protagonist. He deserves praise for the effort that he has put into his body language & physique. As for the rest of the cast, Kayadu Lohar, Sudev Nair, Anoop Menon, Poonam Bajwa did their parts aptly. However, there were quite a few who came across as caricatures.
Verdict: In terms of the period dramas that has been shot in Malayalam, I would rate it as one of the better ones in terms of its making, performance of the protagonist & other technical aspects. However, the script as such did not quite have the flow, emotional connect for most parts & finesse that was expected. In short, give it a try!!!
Rating: 2.75/5
Regards...Ben
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