Release
date:
|
Kerala: August 9, 2019
Delhi: August 16,
2019
|
|
Director:
|
Johnpaul George
|
|
Cast:
Language:
|
Soubin Shahir,
Thanvi Ram, Naveen Nazim, Vettukili Prakash, Neena Kurup, Sreelatha, Jaffer
Idukki
Malayalam
|
When they were
children, Teena could not tell that there was a difference between her and her
friend Ambili. Now that they are adults, she knows. He is a guileless soul, a
child stuck in a man’s body, a man-child whose innocence almost everyone
exploits.
Soubin Shahir,
fresh from his stupendous performance in Kumbalangi Nights, plays the titular Ambili who wants nothing but to be loved. Teena
is his rock, but her brother Bobbykuttan – current national cycling champion
and Ambili’s best buddy from his childhood – is less reliable. This new film by
writer-director Johnpaul George (of Guppy
fame) is pivoted around a felicitation ceremony being planned for
Bobby’s glorious return to his rural home in Kerala and an excursion he plans
to take.
Up until Bobby’s
arrival, the film seems firmly headed somewhere. Ambili is a darling, his
conversations and his writings are hilarious, the manner in which locals take
advantage of him is heartbreaking and Shahir is brilliant. When Bobby comes on
the scene though, the narrative takes off on a trip that the screenplay does
not have the muscle to sustain.
This part of the
film actually involves a physical journey. It is an emotional and figurative
ride too, and I totally get what George is aiming at. Sometimes, watching human
beings at peace with rather than in conflict with nature can be deeply moving.
Venu’s Carbon and Jayaraj’s Ottaal from recent years deployed genius
cinematography at divine locations within a minimal script to portray our
species in communion with our Earth, and both were near-spiritual cinematic experiences. Sadly, once Bobby’s expedition begins, Ambili mistakes lack of substance for
minimalism.
Through the second
half, even Shahir’s performance delivers diminishing returns, with the film
occasionally taking a somewhat patronising tone towards his character. Ambili
is a sweet man with a clean heart, there was no need to cutesify him in his
interactions with random members of the public. An extended shot towards the
end when he is seated alone and the camera dwells on him, his crumbling face
and his physical tics is transparent in its effort to emotionally
manipulate the audience.
The dialogues too
go downhill in the second half, whether it is the tacky lines given to an old
lady in Goa or a maudlin voiceover from a doctor in Maharashtra (no fault of
the charismatic actor in that part).
Ambili’s obsessive
stalking of Bobby might have borne fruit if the actor playing the friend had
the chops to match up to Shahir. Debutant Naveen Nazim – brother of the
sprightly Nazriya Nazim – does not. He is bland and his Bobby is, consequently,
an unattractive character.
Thanvi Ram playing
Teena is far more competent. However, Ambili
is superficial in its writing of her bond with the protagonist. (Some people might consider the rest of
this paragraph a spoiler) That Teena is a loyal friend is clear. But is she
genuinely attracted to Ambili? Or is she submitting to his attraction out of a sense of duty and compassion? (Spoiler alert ends)
The appeal of the
pre-interval portion of Ambili is its
light touch – complemented by Vishnu Vijay’s lively music – in spite of the
leading man’s grave circumstances. Post-interval the film becomes ponderous and
stretched. Sharan Velayudhan’s lush camerawork within Kerala becomes less
striking despite the vast potential of the varying landscapes traversed in the
second half. He does manage to serve up some good-looking frames here, but they
are not half as stunning or as all-pervasive as his work in Ambili’s home
state. It almost feels like the film had a lower budget for cinematography
outside Kerala. This lacuna robs Ambili of
much of the magic it could have had during these passages, the weak writing,
direction and a few poorly chosen bit part players take care of the rest.
Apart from its
vacuous meandering nature, this part of Ambili
is also riddled with flaws and loopholes. Through its post-interval
travels, the film fails to acknowledge India’s great diversity. This is
particularly evident in its odd assumption that Hindi is the language of every
non-Malayali Indian, the amateurishness of some of the Hindi lines and the
absence of multiple tongues in the soundscape as state borders are crossed.
Besides, too many
questions are left unanswered. (Spoiler
alert: please read this paragraph after you watch the film) Why doesn’t
Bobby tell everyone that Ambili followed him? A character tells Bobby that
the social media is abuzz with discussions about his road trip, but there
is no evidence to suggest that he has done anything to generate such chatter –
no photographs taken, no posts posted, no relevant activity at all on his part.
And who was the woman other than Teena on the phone with
Bobby? The voice sounds the same but her disdain for Ambili suggests that she
is someone else. Who? (Spoiler alert
ends)
The relationship
that truly underscores this film’s potential is the one between Ambili and
Vettukili Prakash’s character, which delivers the complexity sorely missing in
the writing of the Teena-Ambili equation. Despite the briefness of his role,
Prakash walks away with the film in a beautifully enacted and perfectly
directed conversation. That scene, along with Shahir’s moving performance in
the first half, are the selling points of Johnpaul George’s earnest but
faltering Ambili.
Rating (out
of five stars): **
|
CBFC Rating (India):
|
U
|
|
Running time:
|
140 minutes
|
This review has also been published on Firstpost:
No comments:
Post a Comment