REVIEW 765: SHYLOCK

Release date: Kerala: January 23, 2020 Kerala: January 24, 2020 Director: Ajai Vasudev Cast: Language: Mammootty, Siddique, Kalabhavan Shajohn, Rajkiran, Meena, Baiju Santhosh, Hareesh Kanaran, Hareesh Peradi, Bibin George, Arthana, John Kaippallil Malayalam with Tamil

He is known simply as Boss or Shylock to the film industry. He has held producers in a vice-like grip since 2016. This nameless moneylender (hence the nickname, in a mindless nod to Shakespeare) is played by Mammootty, whose sole goal through the insufferable Shylock seems to be to emphasise his conviction that his stature remains intact and that he is a pan-generational star.

No really, I am not talking about subliminal messaging – he literally says so here.

Actually, scratch out that paragraph. Because “subliminal” is a word that should not even be whispered in the vicinity of this film directed by Ajai Vasudev who earlier made the Mammootty-starrers Rajadhiraja and Masterpiece. Every point here is stressed ad nauseam, the background score is loud enough to make a hole in the ozone layer and Mammootty’s character actually says in the closing minutes, “This is a game that will be a massive hit of the year,” in response to Villain No. 1 telling him that his game is up. This exchange is followed by the same bad guy (the Ernakulam Police Commissioner Felix John, played by Siddique) telling Shylock that the era of heroes like him is over, we have entered the age of villains and so he needs to look for secondary roles. To this, Shylock – who does not pretend to be anything but Mammukka’s alter ego – replies after bashing up a bunch of men: across generations, Boss is still the hero.

Okay okaaaay okaaaayyyy, got it: Mammootty rules.

This conversation in the middle of the bloody climactic fight follows about two hours of a singer screeching out a signature refrain for Mammootty every time he, in his avatar as Shylock, wallops a villain or spouts a grandiloquent line.

The music of Shylock is so painful and the narrative so clichéd, that if this were an Easter week release, Jesus might have raced back into his tomb begging never to be resurrected. And don’t get my imagination started on paavam William Shakespeare’s reaction to the appropriation of one of his most famous characters for this story’s protagonist.

About that ‘story’... So Shylock is a guy with a swagger, fancy-schmancy sunglasses, shoes that the camera loves, expensive cars and a misplaced sense of humour that he employs to lighten the mood in the bloodiest of scenes. The only few seconds of fun in Shylock come in its opening minutes, but are soon lost to repetitiveness. The first half of the film sets up a clash between the hero, along with his non-descript sidekicks played by Baiju Santhosh and Hareesh Kanaran, and the slimy film producer Prathapa Varma (Kalabhavan Shajohn) whose partner in crime is Felix John.

When one of Shylock’s flunkeys questions him about his uncharacteristic brutality towards Team Varma, our man launches into a loooong generic flashback brimming with generic sunshine and song, generic flowers, generic family, generic friendship, two generic pretty women and generic romance that all add up to two generic enmities, generic tears and ultimately, a generic quest for vendetta. Tamil actor Rajkiran plays Ayyanar, the generic motivation for Shylock seeking generic revenge against Varma, John and their generic murderous gang. In this portion, Shylock has little curls and is known as Vaal (meaning: tail), a nickname explained by some pseudo-philosophising about a serpent. Never mind what.

Ho hum.

To compensate perhaps for the absolute lack of novelty in the script, camerawork and all else here, multiple references are made to other films and their Tamil superstars, human beings are killed by the dozen and we are treated to numerous close-ups of various types of knives slashing various parts of various bodies. Since a certain kind of formulaic Malayalam film can only be explained by comparison, here are a whole bunch to help you fully understand this one: Shylock is as boring as the Mohanlal starrer Big Brother released last week, the violence in this blood-spattered film is of a lesser degree than Kalki, women are microscopic sidelights in the plot but it is not misogynistic in the manner of Kasaba and Ittymaani: Made In China, and though Mammootty struts about here too, his preening is not offensive as it was in The Great Father.

Here is the saddest comparison of all though: Shylock is a reminder that Mammootty’s soul-searching performances in brilliant films like Peranbu and Unda are an exception to his current norm that is exemplified by Shylock.

Rating (out of 5 stars): 0.25

CBFC Rating (India):	UA
Running time:	131 minutes

This review has also been published on Firstpost:

https://www.firstpost.com/entertainment/shylock-movie-review-mammootty-uses-this-insufferable-film-to-announce-that-hes-still-the-boss-7952101.html

Posters courtesy: https://www.facebook.com/Mammootty/                 

REVIEW 624: ORU PAZHAYA BOMB KADHA

Release date:	Kerala: July 20. Delhi: August 3, 2018.
Director:	Shafi
Cast: Language:	Bibin George, Hareesh Perumanna, Kalabhavan Shajon, Prayaga Martin, Vijayaraghavan, Indrans, Vishnu Unnikrishnan, Sunil Sukhada  Malayalam

In most ways, Oru Pazhaya Bomb Kadha (An Old Bomb Story) works off a musty template. Two young men who are lifelong friends – check. A pretty heroine whose sole role in the plot is to exist so that the hero can fall in love with her – check. A villain with no redeeming qualities – check. Also in the mix are an unwell father whose treatment the hero must pay for, and regular comedic interludes with zero relevance to the story that are placed there for what formulaic filmmakers consider compulsory comical relief.

But then director Shafi threw the entire darned template out of the window and under the stomping feet of a herd of rampaging elephants when he cast Bibin George as the leading man of his film. George is a successful TV comedy writer and artiste in Kerala, and co-writer of the big-screen sleeper hit from 2016, Kattappanayile Rithwik Roshan. What makes him an unconventional choice for a hero is the fact that he was afflicted by polio at the age of one and makes no effort to mask his very visible physical challenge. In that sense, his presence in the film is uplifting and a landmark moment in Indian cinema.

To assess Oru Pazhaya Bomb Kadha from this angle alone would be condescending though. The actor himself is unlikely to consider it a favour, going by a recent interview in which he said: “I loved the process of writing… because when I write, people will only judge me for what I have written, not my physical abilities. I felt that I should bring smiles on their faces than that sympathetic look.” (sic)

Oru Pazhaya Bomb Kadha is the tale of best buds Sreekuttan (Bibin George) and Bhavyan (Hareesh Perumanna). The two have been crudely nicknamed “one-and-a-half and one-and-a-half” by locals, Sree because he has only one healthy leg, and Bhavyan due to his daily minimum alcohol consumption.

Sree has always been keen that his disability should not define him. He has been encouraged in this by his father Mohanan (Indrans). He financially supports his family – consisting of Dad and a sister – by working at an auto mechanic’s shop.

Misfortune strikes when Sree and Bhavyan have a run-in with a senior policeman (Kalabhavan Shajon). Floating around in the background is Shruthi (Prayaga Martin), a mysterious visitor to their town who attracts Sreekuttan’s attention from the moment he sets eyes on her. The bomb in the title enters the fray late in the day.

Bibin George brings a sincerity of purpose, even if not acting brilliance, to the film. And occasionally, Perumanna’s comic timing is well utilised in scenes of unapologetically silly humour. Most important is the fact that Shafi does not use George merely as a source of jokes on the sidelines of the narrative, as filmmakers in the past have done with actors who have disabilities. Sreekuttan is placed firmly at the front and centre of the storyline, and does everything a conventional commercial Indian film hero does – sing, dance, fall in love, fight – which is a good thing at one level, but also what makes Oru Pazhaya Bomb Kadha an assembly-line product that belongs to an era long gone.

The title is unwittingly apt. Exemplifying the pazhaya execution of a pazhaya text is the way two recurring motifs are used only to elicit laughs, their contribution to the plot being zilch. First are phone calls from Bhavyan’s grouchy brother-in-law, second is his screechy mother’s constant quarrels with their gangster neighbour. The latter is particularly painfully grating. Both are summoned up every few minutes, apparently in an effort to lighten the mood, though the banshee and the don have the opposite effect.

There is no logic to so many of the proceedings, but they are thrown in anyway because they have been a fixture in zillions of films before this one. For instance, Shruthi is kind and looks mortified when her friend makes cruel comments about Sreekuttan one day. Yet, she is later shown apologising to Sree for mean remarks she says she passed. But… but… but she did not... Well, never mind. Because a heroine who emotionally traumatises the hero until she finally acknowledges her love for him is mandatory in formula films, I guess the writers felt driven to weave this senseless scene into the screenplay.

That Shafi is a Bollywood fan is evident – boringly so – from the clichéd and repeated references to Hindi films in Oru Pazhaya Bomb Kadha, starting with DDLJ’s Tujhe dekha toh yeh jaana sanam in the background when Sree and Shruthi first meet. Yawn. In the midst of this all-round lack of originality, Vinod Illampally’s quality camerawork and the beautiful singing of Moovandan manchottil kandappa thotte, changil kudungiya pennaana – by Vineeth Sreenivasan for Sree – stand out.

The overall standard of cinematography in Mollywood is high, and Illampally is a master craftsperson. He outdoes himself though in this otherwise drab film with a long shot of a solitary Sree brooding on a bridge surrounded by natural splendour and an innovative use of an aerial shot in which Sree and Bhavyan are seen seated on a vast expanse of rock.

Illampally’s frames, the milestone that has been crossed with George’s casting as a protagonist and the actor’s conviction alone may have held up the film if it were not for the niggling concern I cannot set aside, that the scenes of violence involving Sreekuttan are somewhat exploitative. Then of course there is the flimsy parallel track about Maoists from Uttarakhand, and the film’s inexorable length. Considering that the plotline does not contain a single molecule of novelty, I cannot think of any reason why Oru Pazhaya Bomb Kadha was stretched to nearly two-and-a-half hours. Yawn.

Rating (out of five stars): *

CBFC Rating (India):	U
Running time:	2 hours 27 minutes

This review has also been published on Firstpost:

https://www.firstpost.com/entertainment/oru-pazhaya-bomb-kadha-movie-review-the-casting-of-bibin-george-is-a-milestone-for-indian-cinema-but-oh-what-a-stale-film-4910331.html

Visuals courtesy: https://www.facebook.com/OruPazhayaBombKadha/