Release date:
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July 7, 2016 (Kerala), July 22 (Delhi)
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Director:
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Khalid Rahman
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Cast:
Language:
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Biju Menon, Asif
Ali, Asha Sarath, Rajisha Vijayan, Sreenath Bhasi, Soubin Shahir, Naaji,
Chinnu Nair, Nandhini, Sudheer Karamana, Irshad, Maniyanpilla Raju
Malayalam
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The lure of Anuraga Karikkin Vellam begins with its
poetic name. “Anuraga” means “love” in
Malayalam, “karikka” is the word for
tender coconut and “vellam” is
“water”. String them together and you get “a love that is like tender coconut
water (sweet but immature)”.
The film is about a
father and son, and a point in their journey when their love lives intersect. It
was released in Kerala on Eid and has now travelled to Delhi.
Biju Menon plays Raghu,
a conscientious policeman who sees red when men misbehave with women. He often
gets violent with the culprits in such situations, even inviting disciplinary
action for taking the law into his own hands (one assumes the punishment is because
he does so in public, instead of within the four walls of a police station,
away from cellphone cameras).
His concern is
genuine, but he has not been able to build that up into a meaningful
relationship with his wife Suma (Asha Sarath) who longs for an expression of affection
from him but takes no initiative to romantically express herself. You know they
care for each other, as do many couples in boring middle-class homes across the
country, but there is no spark in their humdrum existence. He dutifully
fulfills all his responsibilities towards the household, does not have a
wandering eye, and is home on most evenings for dinner. She cooks, cleans,
watches over their children and serves him. It is a routine that is mechanical
and dull, until his first girlfriend unexpectedly returns to his world.
Asif Ali plays
their son Abhilash/Abhi, an architect on the threshold of life. He is a bit of
a layabout when we first meet him, choosing to hang out with his friends
swigging alcohol rather than investing time in his profession. He has a
girlfriend called Eli (Rajisha Vijayan) who he finds too clingy. It is hard to
blame him since she seems to have nothing to do other than constantly phone him
to find out what he is up to, where and when. The friction with Eli leads to a
misunderstanding involving his father and the aforesaid ex.
And so it goes…
Will they or won’t
they shake themselves out of their inertia? With Mom and Dad moving like
automatons and Abhi not seeming to move at all, there is much to be yawned over
in their story. Their ordinariness is the film’s driving force, and debutant
director Khalid Rahman manages to extract humour, warmth and social insights
from this unexceptional domestic set-up.
In a deeply
patriarchal national cinematic scenario where barely a whimper is heard about 30-year-old
Radhika Apte being cast as the wife of 65-year-old Rajinikanth’s character in Kabali, where the casting of 28-year-old Anushka Sharma as 50-year-old Salman Khan’s girlfriend in Sultan is deemed routine, it is interesting to see Biju Menon take
on the role of Asif Ali’s father though just 15 years separate them in real life. As
we all know, women routinely prematurely play mommies so it is not unusual at
all though that Sarath is just 12 years older than Ali.
The point is, first,
that Menon looks the part, therefore the casting works within the context of
the film; second and more important, that the mere act of making such a choice
is a statement within the context of the industry and society he operates in,
so hats off to him.
With such an
uncommon starting block, Anuraga Karikkin
Vellam holds out a promise of being uncommon – and it is. It is not
flawless, but it still has plenty of material for a discerning viewer.
The film is filled
with acute observations of Kerala society, conservative middle-class life and
man-woman relations. Such as that scene in which a busy mother tells her kid
daughter to help with the dishes once she finishes eating, without for a moment
considering making a similar request to her son or husband who are also both
present. Or the physical awkwardness between a couple who have procreated
together yet do not openly display fondness for each other. Or the fact that
Eli is a qualified professional but her sole focus seems to be the goal of
loving and being loved by a man. Or Abhi’s reaction to her, and the realisation
that he appears to have lost interest in her for no other reason than that she
became overt in her expressions of interest in him. Or the way he mindlessly
flits from his primary field to a call centre, in a state that boasts of
enviable education levels but little career counselling and a high unemployment
rate, as a result of which professions are chosen too often based on potential
job security or Gulf-worthiness rather than passion. Or the uncontrived Hindu-Muslim-Christian
composition of that group of friends hanging out together, in a state where
both minority communities form a far larger percentage of the overall
population than they do in the country as a whole – the cosmopolitan nature of
the group, quite understandably, does not merit comment and yet differences are
unapologetically acknowledged.
There is no lecture
here, no sermon on secularism, equality or the government, but nor is there a
glorification or trivialisation of social negatives. What happens happens, as
it might in real life.
Director Rahman and
writer Naveen Bhaskar have infused the proceedings with an unaffected air and a
natural flow so captivating that it is tempting to overlook the handful of
disruptions: the chain of circumstances that puts Raghu in touch with the woman
he believes to be his former girlfriend is confusing to say the least, the
actions of Abhi and Eli’s friend in the end are unconvincing, and portions of
the climax are borderline silly, not only because silly characters do silly
things, but because the narrative itself becomes somewhat farcical.
Forgiveness comes
easy though, since the film has so much to offer. Raghu and Suma are incredibly
cute together in those moments when he tries his hand at romance. And the
scenes featuring Abhi with his boy buddies are hilarious. Soubin Shahir’s
Fakru/Fakruddin is an absolute killer – both the actor and the character leave
a mark. It needs to be said though that there was an “inn logon mein aisa hi hota hai (that’s how it is with these
people)” populist feel to that needless aside about his parents having another
child, a happenstance that takes on so much meaning in the present global atmosphere
of prejudice and hate.
While Ali and
Vijayan acquit themselves well enough as the often juvenile young leads Abhi
and Eli, it is Menon and Sarath as parallel leads who make this film what it
is. The senior actors lend dignity and charm to their characters as only they
can. Sarath needs to be especially lauded for this achievement since she is greatly
hampered by the limited character development of Suma.
Therein lies Anuraga Karikkin Vellam’s flaw. It is an
enjoyable, gentle, lyrical film that tells us much about Raghu and Abhi, but not
enough about Suma and Eli. It is no doubt a pleasant experience, but the
superficial treatment of Suma in particular robs it of considerable depth.
Still, the husband-wife
interactions and the evolution of the father-son bond (very different from the standard
Indian film treatment of this relationship) are well worth the trip to the
theatre.
As Raghu and Abhi
ruminate over the women they have loved and lost in one scene, Dad says: “Love
comes and goes, but even when it goes, it leaves something good in its wake.”
Always and forever. Raghu-cheta, you hit the bull’s eye with that one.
Rating
(out of five): **3/4
CBFC Rating (India):
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U
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Running time:
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130 minutes
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This
review has also been published on Firstpost:
I'm glad you've started reviewing Malayalam movies
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