Thondimuthalum Driksaakshiyum

I was rather confused with what to expect from this movie after reading a few reviews in Facebook. I haven't seen people this divided since the US Presidential Elections. There were reviews which made it sound like Dileesh Pothan is a visionary who is going to bring the next neo-realism in Kerala. There were other reviews which completely panned this movie and accused it of an assortment of faults from caste insensitivity to nudity. I felt both the camps were entirely off the mark with their analysis. Allow me to retort.

To the Cheerleaders:

I do not quite agree with filling a movie with seemingly unscripted dialogues and unremarkable events and calling it a realistic masterpiece. People are somehow convinced that if a movie has an overall brownish tint, the movie must be good and realistic, no matter what is shown in the movie. The movie is plain and superficial and somehow manages to hold the attention of the audience while not attempting anything deep. I did not see anything so incredible that warrants the rave reviews - be it the plot or the cinematography. There are a few moments when the story is really sentimental and gripping, but it loses its luster for the sake of being 'realistic'. Being realistic doesn't mean underplaying the humane moments and disregarding the very real emotions that a movie generates in the audience. This is just a regular movie.

To the Haters:

Movies are always subjected to criticism based on its political/moral correctness. Thondimuthalum is no different, but for the wrong reasons. I read a review written by Anu David. The author accuses this movie of being insensitive to women, having gratuitous nudity, characters who misuse authority, racial insensitivity etc. Here is why I think she is wrong:

1. The main female character is actually quite assertive and often takes the upper hand in the relationship. The story portrays the husband and wife as equal partners in their predicament. I did not feel the movie is gender biased.

2. There is no nudity whatsoever in this movie. Also, mature content is not a parameter to judge the quality of a movie. If the mature content is supposed to titillate the audience and the movie is honest about it, I do not see the problem. Camouflaging gratuitous adult content as 'art' is the real issue.

3. According to the author, having characters who are portrayed as misusing authority is wrong. Since when was negative characters not allowed in a story? I can understand this argument if the film is trying to glorify or be juvenile with a negative character. But neither is happening here. Again, the same applies to racial insensitivity. You can have characters who do it, but when it comes to glorifying it, then you have a problem.

I was left with a single question after reading that review: ഈ ചൂടുവെള്ളത്തിൽ കുളിച്ചതുകൊണ്ടു വല്ല കുഴപ്പവുമുണ്ടോ?

Things I liked in this movie:

Suraj Venjaramood does a really good job as the helpless husband trying to make ends meet. It was refreshing to see him doing something other than his usual played out comedy roles. Suraj is a very talented actor. My only concern is his moving from one typecast role to another.For a newcomer, Nimisha Sajayan is not bad at all, although she misses out on a few opportunities to make her mark in this movie. I wouldn't be surprised to learn that she has some theater experience.Dileesh Pothan seems to have learned to cut the fat from his movies. While Maheshinte Prathikaaram had a 30-minute story with the rest of it being just gas, the flashback in this movie somewhat serves the purpose of defining the characters and giving them some depth.

The other side of the coin:

1. Other than what I've written earlier, it looks like Dileesh Pothan is making movies with a common purpose: pandering to the urban audience. I feel that his movies show the details of life in rural towns a bit too vividly, to a point of being unnecessary. I cannot think of any other purpose other than amusing the urban crowd with his style of capturing details. Look at it from the perspective of a person from Thekkady or Kattappana watching Maheshinte Prathikaaram. He/She would find the movie more boring and would wonder what is the big deal about it. It is too soon to confirm this theory. We need to wait for more of his movies.

2. People were celebrating the fact that Dileesh Pothan used real policemen to be cast as the characters in the police station. A director's success is in hiring good actors and getting his expected results out of them. His skill is in bringing out the characters from within the actors, not hiring actual characters to play the same characters. If I were the director I would not even let people know that I hired policemen to play policemen.

In the end, Thondimuthalum Driksaakshiyum is just an average watchable movie. Dileesh Pothan is neither Vittorio De Sica, nor Santhosh Pandit.

Rating: That plain dosa you had from Arya Bhavan last week.