Release
date:
|
Kerala: October 4, 2019
Delhi: November 8, 2019
|
Director:
|
Kamal
|
Cast:
Language:
|
Vinayakan, Padmavati Rao, Riddhi Kumar, Gabri Jose, Sreedhanya,
Saiju
Kurup, Dileesh Pothan
Malayalam
|
A
poetic title, the reins in the hands of a multiple National Award and
Kerala State Award winning director, Kammatipaadam’s
Vinayakan among the leads and a divine setting... Can this film possibly go
wrong?
Yes,
terribly so, as becomes evident with every unfolding moment of Pranaya Meenukalude
Kadal (A Sea of Romantic Fish).
Kamal directs this tale of a mainlander who comes to Lakshadweep and falls in
love with a pretty local girl, much to the chagrin of her grandmother who is
fiercely protective of the child. Riddhi Kumar plays Jasmine whose mother,
Dr Sulfat Beevi (Sreedhanya), and her mother, Bibi Noorjehan
(Padmavati Rao), belong to the Arakkal family who once held sway over the
entire island. The current Arakkal matriarch has her reasons for keeping
Jasmine away from outsiders.
Among those watching
over the girl is Noorjehan’s loyal and unquestioning lieutenant Hyder,
played by Vinayakan. Ajmal (Gabri Jose), who is smitten from the moment he
sets eyes on her, is undeterred though by the intimidation tactics employed
against him.
It all sounds like a revisitation of a charming, romantic ancient
folktale about the quintessential outsider who wins the heart of an innocent
damsel and wins her hand against all odds. Except that there is nothing
romantic or charming about Ajmal or his courtship of Jasmine. At first it
seems like their love story is going down the clichéd path of boy and girl
meeting, clashing, disliking each other and then falling in love, that has been
recycled a zillion times by Indian cinema across languages. That line is silly,
tired and over-used, but Pranaya Meenukalude
Kadal is much worse.
Firstly, Ajmal is both arrogant and a troublemaker. He is an aspiring
actor and Mohanlal devotee who has been forced by his family to come to
Lakshadweep as part of a crew refurbishing an old boat. The local top cop
Eldho Sebastian is determined to keep his island free of crime, but Ajmal and
his friends seem bent on clashing with the peaceful islanders.
As soon
as Ajmal spots Jasmine, he begins his pursuit of her, despite repeated
rejections. He photographs her without her permission. When she objects
he photographs her some more,
stalks her, and in one of the film’s most disturbing scenes, molests her while
she is out diving in the sea. His behaviour is not what is terrifying though,
what is terrifying is that the screenplay, which Kamal has co-written
with John Paul, does not portray this behaviour as assault at
all. Instead, being forcibly kissed by a man underwater stirs up
emotions in Jasmine, and soon, she is hopelessly in love with Ajmal.
If Pranaya Meenukalude
Kadal’s problematic gender politics
is one nail in its coffin, the other is its stilted storytelling. The first
half has promise when it is unclear which way Jasmine and the story will go.
The second half is made cringe-worthy not only by her decision to
back a sexual predator and the sexist portrayal of her grandmother, but by a
director who seems awkward around the theme of love. This awkwardness is
exemplified by the portrayal of a senior gentleman who has been pining for
the woman he loves and ends up coming across as pathetic. It is epitomised
though by a scene in which the young couple are shown singing on a
boat, a scene that seems to be aiming for cuteness but comes across as
totally silly instead.
It does
not help Kamal’s cause that Gabri Jose has no screen presence and has even less
chemistry with Riddhi Kumar. She, on the other hand, seems like someone who
could be moulded into a worthy actor.
Frankly
Kumar’s potential does not matter in the larger context
though, nor does Padmavati Rao’s arresting personality, Sreedhanya’s
engaging screen presence or Saiju Kurup’s reliability as an actor. It does
not matter that Vinayakan is formidable on screen despite playing an
under-written character, Lakshwadeep is breathtaking, Vishnu Panicker shoots
this pristine location beautifully and that final confrontation in the sea is
chilling.
Pranaya
Meenukalude Kadal’s positives
and even its other negatives fade into insignificance in the face of the
position it takes that the way to a woman’s heart is
to physically attack her and violate her consent. To rub salt into the
wounds already inflicted by this stand, Ajmal dares to equate their
relationship with Karuthamma and Pareekutty in Chemmeen in a scene that is evidently shot as an ode to that great
classic. That hurts.
Kamal’s
last film Aami was bogged down by its
hesitation to go all out in its critique of the sensitive topics it had chosen
to take up, but this one travels in the opposite direction: it is an all-out
insensitive film.
Rating (out
of five stars): 0.75
CBFC Rating (India):
|
U
|
Running time:
|
135 minutes
|
This review has also been published on Firstpost:
Visuals courtesy:
