REVIEW 748: JACK & DANIEL

Release date:	November 15, 2019
Director:	S.L. Puram Jayasurya
Cast: Language:	Dileep, Arjun Sarja, Anju Kurian, Saiju Kurup, Innocent, Ashokan, Suresh Krishna, Cameo: Peter Hein as himself Malayalam with a spot of Tamil

A CBI officer is sent to Kerala to catch a thief. Daniel Alexander has a reputation for being the bete noir of the Mumbai underworld and since he is played by Tamil cinema’s action star Arjun Sarja, it goes without saying he throws a mean punch. His job is to ensnare Jack (played by Malayalam superstar Dileep), a Robin Hood-like Malayali who steals from the corrupt and wealthy to give to those suffering the consequences of their moral and financial corruption. The challenge for Daniel is that because Jack robs only black money, his victims never report their losses.

Daniel crisscrosses Kerala and Goa in pursuit of his designated prey. This journey takes us through Jack’s personal life, establishes him as a gem of a human being, shows Daniel being gradually drawn to this likeable bad guy on a mission and ultimately hints at the possibility of a sequel. 

Along that route we are given a lecture on how Indians do not treat Army veterans with respect – it is a measure of how ugly and aggressive the nationalism of Malayalam cinema’s northern counterpart Hindi cinema has become in recent years, that after overdosing on the latter’s insidious divisive effects for so long, I found this one-off sermon in a Malayalam film comparatively understated. It would be nice, for a change, to see an Indian film about the systemic mistreatment of Army veterans and their families that has nuance and does not sound like a tear-jerking preacher, but for now there is Jack & Daniel which is at least not crass and intentionally mischievous in this matter.

The title, obviously a play on the global alcohol brand, is an overstatement though. Jack & Daniel is far from intoxicating. A thief as a do-gooder and an affable thief duelling with an incorruptible cop have been done a million times before by cinema across the world, by Indian cinema at large, even specifically by Dileep himself, and this film has little by way of originality to contribute to the genres it occupies. It is neither clever enough nor pacey enough. The first half feels stretched, details of Jack’s schemes are glossed over and what little is revealed shows that his success is entirely reliant on the all-round stupidity of the public and those managing the establishments he targets. 

Apparently, cracking security systems in Kerala and Goa is a cakewalk. Sometimes, disguising yourself as a woman and either weeping or batting your eyelids before a man is all that is needed. 

The only woman with a respectable amount of screen time in Jack & Daniel is Anju Kurian’s Susmitha. At first she comes across as the staple young-woman-falling-for-a-man-played-by-a-much-older-male-actor prototype, later you realise the role has more substance than that, but in a scene of confrontation with Jack she ultimately turns out to be a lightweight whose only purpose in the film is to make the hero look smart. Mission accomplished.

Its man-centricity apart, Jack & Daniel picks up post-interval when the screenplay has the protagonists playing off each other instead of showing them operate in separate spaces as they largely do in the first half. Dileep and Sarja have decent chemistry between them and unlike Susmitha, at least Daniel is not shown to be an ass just to convince viewers that Jack is a genius. Add some above-average action and chases, and in the second half Jack & Daniel becomes tolerable fare.

Like the film itself, the actors are all okay – neither brilliant nor insufferable. With one exception. Saiju Kurup as a senior Kerala cop, DySP Phillipose, displays exceptional comic timing that overrides the silliness of some of the situations his character finds himself in. For the nth time it must be asked: why does the Malayalam film industry not see that this man is hero material? 

It must also be asked: what on earth inspired Jack & Daniel’s tacky Peter Hein cameo with its tributes to Pulimurugan, Madhuraraja and Baahubali? And why on earth did the reputed action director agree to feature in such a superfluous, truly idiotic scene?

In the hands of cinematographer Sivakumar Vijayan, Goa and Kerala look glossy in Jack & Daniel – pretty but lacking any individuality and character. Vijayan chooses to capture both states in extreme long shots, aerial and other frames that somehow paper over their distinctive features. The result: attractive visuals that could have been achieved by travelling to any of a million spots in the world and not particularly here. 

That is more or less the story of this film too: it lacks personality, it is forgettable, but in a year that has subjected us to the excruciating agony of watching Mikhael and Kalki, it at least offers some tolerable  timepass. 

Rating (out of 5 stars): 1.75

CBFC Rating (India):	U
Running time:	155 minutes

This review has also been published on Firstpost:

https://www.firstpost.com/entertainment/jack-daniel-movie-review-dileep-arjun-sarja-team-up-for-some-silly-unoriginal-but-tolerable-timepass-7661041.html

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

REVIEW 667: IRUPATHIYONNAAM NOOTTAANDU

Release date:	January 25, 2018
Director:	Arun Gopy
Cast: Language:	Pranav Mohanlal, Zaya David, Abhirav Janan, Manoj K. Jayan, Siddique, Innocent, Kalabhavan Shajohn, Dharmajan Bolgatty Malayalam

Having spent most of the second half of Irupathiyonnaam Noottaandu (Twenty First Century) warning us of the possibility of violence by Malayali Christians because of an unusual Christian-Hindu romance (I cannot explain why it is unusual without giving spoilers), writer-director Arun Gopy appears to have gotten worried that he might be offending Kerala’s Christians. So, he gives a character a throwaway line about how Hindus too are angry about the relationship for a vague reason. The transparent, half-hearted and awkwardly written effort to compensate for what he fears may be seen as a lack of balance might have been excusable, if it weren’t for a later scene – also designed to pacify the Christian community, I guess – in which a bishop (played by Innocent) is shown admonishing a paedophile rapist Christian fellow with these words: it is after people like you started coming to confession that our priests went astray. Whaaaaaat? That is like blaming prison inmates if the prison superintendent takes to crime.

This aspect of Irupathiyonnaam Noottaandu is only one demonstration of Gopy’s strained writing, poor understanding of the social realities he is trying to cover, the resultant insensitivity and cluelessness of his screenplay. Sadly, the basic concept of the film has potential, but it required greater imagination and talent to expand it into a full-length feature.

Gopy – who earlier made the entertaining but politically questionable Ramaleela starring Dileep – has been credited for the story, screenplay, dialogues and direction, so there is no possibility of apportioning blame to anyone else. The mish-mash in Irupathiyonnaam Noottaandu is entirely his.

The first half of the story is set wholly in Goa, the second half in Kerala. Appu (Pranav Mohanlal) and Zaya (Rachel David a.k.a. Zaya David) meet in Goa, bond and are separated by personal compulsions. Before that happens though, right at the start there is a confrontation between Appu’s father Baba played by Manoj K. Jayan and the gangster Abusikka (Kalabhavan Shajohn), which reveals that Baba was once a dreaded chap of great disrepute who is now a financially constrained, toned-down version of his former self. This opening passage is stretched long enough and later referenced often enough to suggest that it has some relevance to the film’s larger plot, but it does not.

The proceedings then shift to a beach that is Appu’s habitat, where he surfs waves like a champ and is gazed at with admiration by white women. The latter happens more than once, so you know that Gopy belongs to the school of thought that there is no greater compliment to an Indian man than the interest of a white woman.

Cut to the build-up of Zaya as an oddly wild, bubbly creature, the kind of young woman that exists more in the imagination of film writers than in reality. There is little chemistry between Mohanlal Junior and Ms David, but since they have been assigned the posts of hero and heroine here, Appu and Zaya fall in love.

Cut to post-interval, where the action moves to Kerala and the genre shifts completely to action thriller. The switch in tone is so complete, that it feels like a different film.

Somewhere in between, Gokul Suresh turns up to deliver a brief sermon on Communist ideals.

If I haven’t made myself clear, let me state it in black and white: Irupathiyonnaam Noottaandu meanders to such an extent that it feels like a hotch-potch of themes and situations rather than a single, smoothly flowing narrative.

To be fair to Gopy, his film is not bereft of positives. For one, Appu’s best friend Michael Rony (nicknamed Macroni and Maakri, the latter being the Malayalam word for frog) is often funny when he is not being creepy about and towards women. I particularly keeled over with laughter at his wisecrack about bishops who climb convent walls. While he is good, actor Abhirav Janan’s comic timing is commendable.

Dharmajan Bolgatty in a brief appearance is also quite hilarious.

Besides, cinematographer Abinandhan Ramanujam gives us many generous shots of the scenery in Goa and Kerala (though I suspect most of his day-time shots of Goa have been inexorably colour corrected, which is what robs them of their natural feel).

And the twist at the interval has promise. The impact of sexual abuse on the human psyche and the self-harm a person might do as a result of such trauma is certainly worth exploring. It just needs to be explored by a more introspective and socially aware writer. Without that, what you get is a film that is pretending to care but inadvertently reveals its apathy and ignorance intermittently.

Such as with that inexplicable line uttered by the bishop.

Such as when a character towards whom the screenplay is well disposed holds off on helping a woman who is being assaulted and calmly watches as she is slapped, explaining to his friend that “she deserved one slap”. Why? Because on an earlier occasion, in a temper she had told him she can take care of herself.

Such as when Zaya, on being denied a drink by Appu because she is already drunk, says, “Chummathalla feministakal undagunna,” (no wonder people become feminists), thus betraying the writer’s interpretation of feminism – an interpretation widely held by mindless folk and misogynists – as some sort of worldwide movement to give women the right to drink and smoke.

Such as when a major character taunts a rape survivor for what he considers her lack of courage to take a stand and her inability to trust people.

Such as... Well, never mind. You get the picture.

It is no wonder, that apart from Janan and Bolgatty, the rest of the cast delivers uninspired performances. Kalabhavan Shajohn is almost unrecognisable behind those massive sunglasses, and far from being the intimidating, imposing gangsta he is meant to be. Manoj K. Jayan tries but fails to inject energy into the narrative. Innocent is almost amusing as the bishop.

Rachel David is pretty and does a tolerable job of Zaya, but she is also somewhat generic.

Pranav Mohanlal is lucky he made his debut with last year’s Aadhi, which brought out his innate sweetness and gave him a ton of thrilling action scenes in which he shone. In Irupathiyonnaam Noottaandu, he comes across as uncharismatic, which makes the writer’s effort to build him up as a hunk almost ironic. Besides, the fight scenes in the climax are marred by abysmal special effects – the worst I have seen in a Mollywood film in a very long time. 

If he wishes to be known as anything more than the son of megastar Mohanlal, Pranav needs to choose better scripts and to avoid the repeated allusions to his father in them. It was bad enough that the vastly superior Aadhi chose to rub his lineage in our faces, but when it happens again in his second film, a bad film at that, it is decidedly irritating. There is that Ray-Ban sunglasses and mundu scene, in a bow to a style popularly associated with Mohanlal. There is the title, which has absolutely no connection with the storyline and seems to have been picked only for the recall value of Mohanlal’s blockbuster Irupatham Noottandu (Twentieth Century). There is... Uff! Give it a break, please.

Irupathiyonnaam Noottaandu is more dangerous than overtly misogynistic films, because it fakes concern. It is also ordinary, mixed-up and completely lacks spark.

Footnote: Subtitlers of Malayalam films really must stop using the word “hag” as they do. During a highly sexist chat involving Macroni, in which a character refers to an elderly lady as “thalla”, the subtitles translate that to “hag”. This reminded me of a scene in Pretham in which “Ammachi”, when used as a pejorative, was also translated as “hag”. While both “thalla” and “Ammachi” used in this context are intended as sexist-ageist insults, “old woman” would be a more accurate translation than “hag” which is, to my mind, far more demeaning in terms of degree.

Rating (out of five stars): 3/4

CBFC Rating (India):	U
Running time:	163 minutes

This review has also been published on Firstpost:

https://www.firstpost.com/entertainment/irupathiyonnaam-noottaandu-movie-review-pranav-mohanlal-lacks-spark-as-does-this-meandering-insensitive-hotch-potch-5969281.html

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https://www.facebook.com/IrupathiyonnaamNoottaandu/