Joji - Its all good until you read the comments

Now that all the furore about Joji has gone down, I think its a good idea to take a step back and think about the film.

Before I saw the film, I hadn't seen a single trailer. Nor had I gone through any of the online comments. I just knew there is a movie called Joji, directed by Dileesh Pothan and Fahad Faasil is in it. And without any preconceived notion about the film, I sat down to watch it.

My first impression of the film was that its a cute quirky little film with interesting situations and characters that just begins to get you invested in the plot. Nothing bad can be said about the performance of any of the actors. The experience was as palatable as a digestive biscuit. I chalked it down to the horde of watch/forget/next movies that we seem to be churning out these days. The very next day, some one asked me, "how much of it is remaining in your mind - emotionally or plot-wise?" Frankly, not much. The music was a refreshing change. It reminded me of the track "Go Tomorrow" from Haunting of Hill House. I'm listening to it as I'm typing this out. Overall it was a pleasant experience.

And that's when I read some of the social media comments.

I've said this before and I'll say it again - there is a special place in hell for people who say "pothettan's brilliance". Even if you dismiss a good chunk of comments made by the zealots and acolytes, both paid and unpaid, I find it fascinating that there are still a lot of people who firmly believe Dileesh Pothan is a world class director.

Dileesh Pothan is usually credited for following basic cinema rules like maintaining continuity, and using played-out cinematic tricks like easter-eggs. That just makes his movies a baseline from which a good commercial movie should start. I suppose it comes from our basic need to magnify our life experiences with what little is available. It must be the same need that drives people to post pictures of "home-made cabbage thoran" as a deep and profound life experience, the same need that makes us connoisseurs of ironic dishes like "pazhampori and beef".

And what's all that jazz about Macbeth?? I paused the movie in the middle and wondered if they meant King Lear or Macbeth. Did the screen writer just mean to take out the character of Macbeth alone and use it as an inspiration for the madness of Joji? What is the point of using Macbeth without the wonderful Lady Macbeth trying to wash off the blood from her hands. The character Bincy is an excuse of a stand-in for Lady Macbeth. Talk about missed opportunities. Maybe Syam Pushkaran has some higher thought that I'm clearly missing. Or it could be the usual case of surface level understanding where people equate Tarantino movies to gratuitous violence, which led to the thought: Macbeth = scene contra!

Whatever it is I just dont see it. I'm probably a part of the minority who are horribly wrong. People who are planning to watch it, should definitely do so and avoid reading the online comments. I felt Joji was better than the two previous Dileesh Pothan movies.

Rating:

Branded table salt which says on the packaging that Iodine makes you a genius and gives you x-ray vision.