Sakhavu - Hipster revolution.

Sakhavu has all the hallmarks of a typical propaganda movie. The main objective of a propaganda movie is to sell you an idea rather than be a work of art. It often lacks an alternate point of view, has charismatic characters as symbols of the idea they are selling, and fills the audience with a sense of euphoria, no matter what their ideological alignment is. I was concerned whether my own political views would affect the fairness of what I'm writing, but the Facebook comments of two friends who are ardent followers of communism assured me that my analysis is not completely off the mark (yes, i'm looking at you, Deepu and Hari).

The movie is about comrade Krishnakumar, a young, corrupt and self centered communist party member who undergoes an ideological change after listening to the heroic deeds of an old party member, comrade Krishnan. Krishnakumar spends a whole day in a hospital, reluctantly waiting to donate blood for comrade Krishnan whose surgery is scheduled at night. There he learns about the heroic life led by comrade Krishnan and the sacrifices that he made for the party, from various friends and family members of Krishnan. This triggers the moral side of Krishnakumar and makes him rethink his life's decisions. He calls off the ambush he had planned earlier for a party comrade who was a contender to his party ambitions.

Here is why I feel Sakhavu is a mediocre propaganda movie:

1. The flashback story used here is very generic. It does very little to stir the passion of the audience. The story talks about comrade Krishnan forming the tea estate workers' union, which the previous party committee failed to do. The story never dwells on the depths of the character Krishnan.  The character is plain vanilla. He does what any other hero does. Its disappointing that the film maker failed to come up with anything inspirational, in spite of the rich history the party has in Kerala.

2. Nivin Pauly's lukewarm performance as a firebrand communist leader mainly consists of him trying hard to remember the lines and to look tough. Every time he yelled "Inquilab Zindabad" I was thinking "aww... that's cute". He drones on and on to whoever listens about how awesome communists are. Nivin Pauly is a big casting mistake for this role. The role of Krishnakumar is pretty much the same goofy next-door person Nivin Pauly has been playing in his previous movies. The only thing that changes is the name. His limited range is becoming more obvious with each film. Imagine the character of Krishnan being played by Indrajith.

3. Sakhavu is a movie laden with stereotypes. There is nothing new about the scrawny-sidekick-comic relief, the short haired girl with glasses from JNU, and the upper caste feudal villain. The partially paralyzed, seventy year old hero fighting off four or five thugs was the height of pandering.

All this makes me wonder how serious the film maker was about this movie? Casting Nivin pauly as a communist in a story aligned to the popular political narrative is not enough to make a good movie. This is a movie pre-digested for the hipster millennial comrade.

Rating: That long corporate training video which failed to make you believe in the organization's "core values".