Release date:
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June 30, 2017
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Director:
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Dileesh Pothan
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Cast:
Language:
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Fahadh Faasil,
Nimisha Sajayan, Suraj Venjaramoodu, Alencier Ley Lopez
Malayalam
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Extracting the extraordinary
from the ordinary is a unique skill, one that Dileesh Pothan possesses in
bagfuls as we discovered from his debut film last year. While telling us the
stories of Mahesh, Jimsy, Jimson, Soumya and Crispin in 2016’s Maheshinte Prathikaaram, the director heroined
gorgeous Idukki, a “midu midukki” who served as a microcosm of Kerala
society yet bore her own unique characteristics.
Pothan is out with
his second film this week: Thondimuthalum
Driksakshiyum (The Exhibits and the
Eyewitness), in which he teams up once again with his Mahesh – actor Fahadh
Faasil – and music director Bijibal. The film is set in Kasargode, but the
heroine here is not the town as much as the police station in which the action
plays out, mirroring the corruption, pathos, humour and ridiculousness in what
we routinely decry as the ‘system’.
First-timer Nimisha
Sajayan and veteran Suraj Venjaramoodu in Thondimuthalum
play Sreeja and Prasad, a couple who elope and get married because of violent
opposition to their relationship from her parents. They are a simple and loving
lower-middle-class pair. Their lives are disrupted one day by a petty thief
also called Prasad (Fahadh Faasil) when he steals one of their few precious
belongings – or at least they think he does.
This Prasad is
caught and detained at a police station where ASI Chandran (Alencier Ley Lopez)
presides over the case. The goings-on at that station and how it affects the
lives of everyone involved are what Thondimuthalum
Driksakshiyum is about.
If you ask for a
detailed description of the plot, frankly, there is nothing much to tell. This
is the sort of film that might have emerged if you placed hidden cameras around
a cop station and edited the footage down to a manageable, viewable 135
minutes. The conversations between characters seem so believable and the flow
of occurrences so authentic that Thondimuthalum
genuinely feels like a reality show. Sajeev Pazhoor’s screenplay is one of
2017’s best pieces of film writing, which is saying a lot in a year in which
Mollywood has already delivered such jewels as Take Off and Angamaly Diaries.
In the midst of all
the rib-tickling mayhem in Thondimuthalum,
a point is being made. What we may not wish to admit, even as we point fingers
at the ‘system’, is that most of us even among the best of us are participants
in its follies. Playing along is tempting and brings with it quick rewards;
taking a stand, on the other hand, usually attracts quick retribution. To say
the middle class make the easier choice always out of helplessness would have
played to the gallery, but Pothan and his writers say it like it is instead.
The truth is that the path of least resistance is less problematic than
challenging the status quo, and when push comes to shove, most human beings
have flexible morals.
Supplementing the
writers’ commitment to realism is the cache of gems that make up the cast. Sajayan
is a find. Venjaramoodu and Lopez are brilliantly believable. And Faasil, who
seems to get better with each film, is a picture in understated hilarity. The
supporting cast is a perfect match for this lead quartet.
The title track of Maheshinte Prathikaaram has been my
earworm since I first heard it last year. Though Bijibal has not come up with
an equivalent sparkler for Thondimuthalum, this film’s music
too is special. In particular I enjoyed the song Kannile poika with its lyrics by Rafeeq Ahammed and vocals by Ganesh
Sundaram and Sowmya Ramakrishnan.
Since Maheshinte Prathikaaram was so lovely,
comparisons are inevitable. The two films are similar in their tone
and narrative style, but to my mind there is an interesting difference in their cinematography.
Although Maheshinte was an intimate
portrait of Idukki, Shyju Khalid used his camera to give us larger-than-life
images of the region’s delicious greenery while adhering to the film’s
intentionally small scale with his shots of the interiors of Mahesh’s shop, his
home, etc. In contrast to the lavishness of Khalid’s images of the
countryside in Maheshinte, Rajeev Ravi in Thondimuthalum carries forward the
air of intimacy in the police station and Sreeja-Prasad’s home, to the rich scenery
too.
That long-drawn-out
chase scene through woods ending up in a water body must rank as one of the
best pursuits ever captured on screen that would not find a place in a Fast and Furious kind of film.
Ravi’s camerawork and
Kiran Das’ editing of that passage are among my favourite parts of this film,
closely rivalled by the look of mischief Faasil summons up on his face when
Prasad is being interrogated at the police station.
Thondimuthalum Driksakshiyum is as simple or as complex
as you want it to be for yourself. Either way, it is a lot of fun. There are
few things in this world more captivating than reality.
Rating
(out of five stars): ***1/2
CBFC Rating (India):
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U
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Running time:
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135 minutes
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This
review has also been published on Firstpost:
Poster
courtesy: https://www.facebook.com/thondimuthalumdriksaakshiyum/
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