Release
date:
|
August 23, 2019
|
Director:
|
Joshiy
|
Cast:
Language: |
Joju George, Nyla
Usha, Chemban Vinod Jose, Rahul Madhav, Vijayaraghavan, Sudhi Koppa, Malavika
Menon
Malayalam
|
Porinju Mariam Jose is based on the folklore
surrounding three reportedly real-life friends – Kaattaalan Porinju, Alappatt
Mariam and Puthanpally Jose – who were plagued by class snobbery and street
violence in 1980s Kerala. Written by Abhilash N. Chandran (who was cleared
earlier this year of plagiarism charges raised in court by another author), the
film has been directed by veteran blockbuster machine Joshiy.
In an era of gang
wars and disco fever, the butcher Porinju (Joju George) is unswervingly loyal
to his elderly patron/friend, the wealthy Iype (Vijayaraghavan). The older man
seems class blind in his affection for the tempestuous yet golden-hearted youngster.
The only relationships rivalling this one in Porinju’s life are his unbreakable
bond with Jose (played by Chemban Vinod Jose) and his long-time romance with
their common friend Mariam (Nyla Usha) who, like Iype, is well above their
socio-economic station. The misbehaviour of a satellite character (Rahul
Madhav) sets off a chain of vendetta that threatens to consume them all.
Porinju, Mariam and
Jose’s basic story is interesting, and there is a lot this film could have
been. Among other things, it could have been an indictment of benevolent
members of dominant social groups who do great harm with their unwillingness to
openly battle injustice, a theme especially relevant in today’s India where
silent liberals are being held to account for their cowardice and/or apathy. Porinju Mariam Jose could have been a
comment on how class often trumps friendship, but also often does not. It could
have been a reminder of how human civilisation would be caught in an endless
cycle of violence if history had not been punctuated by individuals who said “stop”
at crucial moments. In fact, this film is all the above to a limited extent,
but these points are conveyed feebly by a script that fails to explore its
primary players with depth.
We get to know what
the three protagonists do, we barely
get to know them. Every effort is
made to build them up as the stuff of local legend, especially with the
awe-struck tone of their introduction, but at all times it feels like Chandran
does not have ringside access to their innermost thoughts, feelings or
motivations. With such weak writing of its leads, it is unsurprising that Porinju Mariam Jose fails to be an
involved, emotionally engrossing narrative.
Porinju is the
archetypal superhero of conventional commercial Indian cinema, invincible in
physical combat. His prefixed nickname “Kaattaalan” literally means “forest-dweller”
or “hunter” in Malayalam, but here of course is a figurative allusion to his
wild nature. Despite the stereotypical larger-than-life character, the talented
Joju George manages to convey Porinju’s love and longing for Mariam without
coming across as a creepy stalker.
Nyla Usha looks regal
and is convincing as the moneylender Mariam, a fiery woman living largely on
her own terms – and on her own – in a conservative society. Mariam is
different from heroines of most Malayalam action films: she is not a meek
creature waiting to be saved by a man, as we see early on when she startles a
molester with a fierce, instant and public retaliation. Her sense of independence
is at odds, however, with her conservative reason for not marrying her beloved
Porinju. It is also irritating that the writer’s notion of an independent woman
includes these clichés – she smokes and drinks, the only woman in the entire
community who seems to do so.
Chemban Vinod Jose
is on point as the disco-loving Jose whose penchant for violence is such a
contrast – a believable contrast – to his seemingly happy-go-lucky nature.
It must be said
though that he and Nyla fall short in a scene in which we learn the truth about
what is keeping Mariam and Porinju apart. Or perhaps it is not the actors’
fault, since the treatment of that passage – the direction and editing –
exemplifies this film’s lack of tautness: Mariam and Jose are recounting a
tragedy, yet the scene lacks intensity.
Another scene, this
one featuring the three leads, also exemplifies Malayalam cinema’s casualness
towards domestic violence and the manner in which this film industry normalises
a boyfriend/husband raising his hand to hit a woman.
Much of the
violence in the film happens parallel to or during church festivals. Extreme
though the bloodshed is, Ajay David Kachappilly’s camera work is not
exploitative. The juxtaposition of violence and faith brings to mind Lijo Jose
Pellissery’s iconic Angamaly Diaries (2017) in which religious feasts and processions formed an ironic backdrop to
the unrelenting bloodletting on screen. Joshiy’s characters are as trigger-happy
as Pellissery’s gangs, but inhabit a visual setting far less naturalistic and a
narrative far less gripping than Angamaly
Diaries (which, coincidentally, was written by Chemban Vinod Jose).
Porinju
Mariam Jose is replete with cultural
references from the 1980s and thereabouts. The many mentions of the decade’s
popular cinema and songs are fun due to their high recall value, but like much
else in the film, they lack depth: they serve solely as markers of the time but
beyond that tell us little about the characters.
The story at the
heart of Porinju Mariam Jose has
promise. The film itself is not without merit – it is, for instance, unusual for
a Malayalam venture to feature a woman as a title character these days, and not
easy for any film to succeed in giving equal importance to three leads. For the
most part though, Porinju Mariam Jose
is just a could-have-been.
Rating (out
of five stars): *3/4
CBFC Rating (India):
|
UA
|
Running time:
|
150 minutes
|
This review has also been published on Firstpost:
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