Release
date:
|
Kerala: July 26, 2019
Delhi: August 9,
2019
|
Director:
|
Girish A.D.
|
Cast:
Language:
|
Mathew Thomas,
Anaswara Rajan, Vineeth Sreenivasan, Irshad
Malayalam
|
Just months back we
first encountered him playing the most level-headed, only non-belligerent
sibling in a fractured family. If the role of Franky from the iconic Kumbalangi Nights gave actor Mathew Thomas a dream debut, Thanneermathan
Dinangal’s Jaison is a fantasy follow-up. There he was a crucial part of a
fabulous ensemble, here he gets to be a solo hero in a perfectly written part.
Jaison is a muddled
adolescent stumbling through life but showing unexpected maturity when we least
expect it. Unlike most teen films, this one is not steeped in adult stereotypes
of teenagers, it feels as if the story, situations and dialogues were drawn out
of the skulls of real youngsters. The result of this understanding and complete
lack of condescension is a highly credible, hugely funny film, another glowing
addition to the great year that 2019 is proving to be for Mollywood.
The pimply
post-pubescent Jaison is dealing with twin problems when we meet him at the
start of Thanneermathan Dinangal:
one, his affable classmate Keerthy (played by Udaharanam Sujatha’s Anaswara
Rajan) does not reciprocate his love for her, and two, he desperately wants to
crack his studies but struggles with exams. Enter: Problem 3 in the person of
the new teacher Ravi Padmanabhan (Vineeth Sreenivasan) who gains instant
popularity among the students and staff but picks on Jaison without reason at
every available opportunity. Sweet relief from stress comes for the boy at the
food shop next to the school where he routinely gathers with his close buddies
for snacks (“puffs”, to be exact), watermelon juice, gossip and heart-to-heart
conversations.
Thanneermathan Dinangal literally means
Watermelon Days, an ode to their favourite drink. The film is as light as the
fruit, but do not for a moment underestimate its nutritious value. Writer-director
Girish A.D. and his co-writer Dinoy Paulose are bang-on with their depiction of
the closing chapters of Jaison’s school years, that phase of pre-adulthood
which in retrospect usually seems oh so carefree although in the here and now
every problem feels like a matter of life and death, or as Jaison puts it
melodramatically at one point, a “jeevitha
prashnam”.
The earnestness and
possible hyperbole of a youthful imagination are best represented by the
characterisation of the loud, somewhat kookie Ravi Padmanabhan who everyone but
Jaison considers fantastic. It is never clear whether the older man’s
eccentricities and cruelty are real or a figment of Jaison’s nightmares.
Similar is the effect of the chase scene close to the end.
The rest of the
film, the classroom scenarios at St Sebastian’s Higher Secondary School, the
banter between Jaison and his closest boy friends, his troubled equation with
the school bully and his blossoming relationship with the remarkably
sensible Keerthy are portrayed with absolute realism and biting humour in
equal measure.
Like most Malayalam
films of the pathbreaking New Wave, Thanneermathan
Dinangal too tells a male-centric story through a male gaze (c’mon
Mollywood, fix this lacuna fast) but the women are not lightweights. In fact,
the sensitivity in the writing of the central young couple is what truly makes
this particular film stand out.
Mainstream
Malayalam cinema set among school and college goers tends to sexualise girls of
all ages, normalise stalking as a form of courtship and dismiss women as
haughty traitors as soon as they reject romantic overtures from a significant
male character. If they are not mothers, sisters or irrelevant wives, the women of such films are treated as
exotica, a distant other or juicy flesh that men salivate over. These are not
merely accurate portrayals of gender segregation. From their antagonistic
and/or lascivious tone towards women it is evident that they are products of
minds that have not risen above the extreme gender segregation in Malayali
society, minds that therefore can never see a woman as a regular person just
like a man. Thanneermathan Dinangal
is a lesson in how you can portray a problematic reality with humour yet
without glorifying or humourising the worst of it.
Yes, Jaison and his
gang are girl obsessed, but that is not a crime. Yes, at one point one of them
does speak of how a friend has been “sniffing after” a particular girl, but for
the most part their language is not crude. Most important, the film itself
never degrades the women or behave as if they are showpieces. In fact, in
Jaison’s defence of Keerthy
and refusal to badmouth her beyond a Lakshman
Rekha, in his non-threatening, non-obnoxious, childish pursuit of another
schoolmate and in Keerthy’s open appreciation
of his non-pesky behaviour towards her, we get a reminder that liberal
minds emerge from even the most conservative social settings. Listen up, makers
of awful films like Chunkzz and
even critically acclaimed, troubling ventures such as Annayum Rasoolum and Premam.
Listen up, ‘cos THIS is how it’s done.
The messaging is so
unobtrusive that Thanneermathan
Dinangal is likely to be widely viewed as a non-serious entertainer. That
would be a mistake because Girish A.D.’s film is stomach-achingly comical but
also serious as hell.
None of this would
been possible without the casting director’s brilliant choices, incredibly
solid performances by Mathew Thomas and Anaswara Rajan, and the impeccable
supporting actors – including the established artistes
among them – who appear to have walked right out of a real school and on to the
sets of Thanneermathan Dinangal.
Vineeth Sreenivasan, for his part, is clearly having a lark playing the film’s
most enigmatic, only OTT character.
Messrs Girish and
Paulose’s sharp writing meets Shameer Muhammed’s concise editing and the
naturalistic cinematography by Jomon T. John and Vinod Illampally to create a
film in which every second, every word spoken, every shot is precious.
As unassuming as
the storytelling is the soundtrack – Girish knows precisely when to ask music
director Justin Varghese to step in and when to get him to stay low key. The
end result of their collaboration and the darling leads’ chemistry is that jaathikkathottam (nutmeg groves) will
forever now be an aching symbol of romance and teenaged innocence.
Thanneermathan Dinangal is one of the best
teen sagas to emerge from Indian cinema across languages in recent times.
What an adorable, huggable film this is.
Rating (out
of five stars): ***1/2
CBFC Rating (India):
|
U
|
Running time:
|
137 minutes
|
This review has also been published on Firstpost:
https://www.firstpost.com/entertainment/thanneermathan-dinangal-movie-review-franky-from-kumbalangi-gets-an-omana-padam-all-his-own-7144191.html
Link to Anna M.M. Vetticad’s
review of Thanneermathan Dinangal aired
on Rajya Sabha TV on September 1, 2019:
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