Apart from "Enthada Saji", the other major theatrical releases for this Easter were Ganesh Raj's "Pookkaalam" & Shruthi Sharanyam's "B32 Muthal 44 Vare". Both of them belongs to different genres but in most probability should click with most of the audience as they had credible content. This was Ganesh Raj's second directorial venture after "Aanandam" while Shruti's debut venture was one among the two projects that are funded annually by KSFDC. Well both the movies had some impressive performances which made it quite engaging.
Pookkaalam
If his debut venture was about college romance & the bond between friends, over here he tries to explore the other end of the age spectrum. The protagonists in his script includes Ittoop (Vijayaraghavan) & his wife, Kochuthresia (K.P.A.C Leela) who have been together for almost close to eight decades. The movie unfolds with the engagement of their grand daughter, Elsy (Annu Antony) & that's when Ittoop stumbles upon a letter addressed to his wife that was written half a century back. What was that letter about & the impact that it has on the family is what is explored over the course of 2 h.
There was a time when our movies was about extended families & the fun that happens in such situations. But as the times changed (to keep in sync with reality), such flicks has been far & few, but whenever such movies have released there were always demand for them; if executed reasonably well. It would be fair to admit that Ganesh has managed to achieve that, as he explores a relatively unchartered theme about the crisis that threatens to shred their marital relation that stood strong for decades. At the same time, efforts are made to make sure that it doesn't get too melodramatic with a liberal sprinkling of light hearted humour (which works in most instances). Kudos to Sachin Warrier for the BGM which was in sync with the mood, the make up team who worked on Ittoop's look & Anend Chandran for the visuals.
The USP of the movie is undoubtedly the performance of the protagonists & even some of the supporting cast. Vijayaraghavan was brilliant in every way possible be it his expressions, body language (such as his gait, tremors etc) & voice modulation. This is his best performance to date & it will be surprising if his name doesn't feature when the award season sets in. KPAC Leela was also impressive especially in the emotional sequences towards the climax. Almost all of the resr, have done their parts aptly with Annu Antony & Ganga Meera (as her mom) deserving special mention. Vineeth, Basil & Johny Antony provides the laughs with their eccentricities which mostly works (though at times, it was over the top).
Verdict: It should in all likelihood bring in the family audience & bring smiles to the makers. In short, do watch it!!!
Rating: 3.5/5
B32 Muthal 44 Vare
As some of you might have guessed or doubted, the title is indeed about the bust size of various women & the impact that it has on their physiological and psychological state due to societal pressure. Shruti narrates the story by taking us through the lives of six women from different walks of life.
Malini (Remya Nambeesan) was a professional who was undergoing chemotherapy sessions apart from mastectomy & apparently, it took a toll on the relationship with her husband, Vivek (Harish Uthaman). Her maid, Jaya (Aswathy B) was struggling to make ends meet as her husband was recovering from an accident. Ziya (Anarkali Marikar) was a fashion photographer & having am identity crisis while her room-mate, Iman (Zarin Shihab) was denied promotion as she lacked the physical features for it. The last two females were Rachel (Krisha Kurup), an aspiring actress & Nidhi (Raina Radhakrishnan), a teenage mother.
It is a kind of movie that usually adopts a preachy mode or gets made into a docu-fiction. However, Shruti steers clears of that & narrates the story as organically as possible by focusing on what these women were going through presently in their lives without feeling the need to tell the back story as in Nidhi's case. Though she starts off as separate chapters initially, once the characters are established the stories of these women gets interlinked. Another aspect that really stood out was the attention she had given to the male characters by giving them shades to their character rather than merely being black or white. Even as the protagonists deal with their crisis by the climax the way Shruti has concluded the movie was impressive emphasizing the end to educate children about gender politics rather than just biologically.
Each & every artist have done justice to their roles, so it would be hard to rank them on the basis of their performance. However, Zarin Shihab deserves a special mention as she portrayed the variations in her character convincingly as it required her to be insecure yet bold. The technical aspects were also handled well.
Verdict: It certainly talks about relevant issues that the women faces but it is not the type of movie that will have much takers in the theatre. At the same time, it is a movie that deserves to be watched!!!
Rating: 3/5
Regards...Ben
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