Ivide

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ividee (1)

What is it about? :: Varun Blake (Prithviraj Sukumaran) is a police officer in the Atlanta Police Department, with the Indian origins as he was adopted by an American couple from a church-run orphanage at Kottayam. Roshni Mathew (Bhavana) is his ex-wife who had decided to separate from him due to his violent behaviour and never-ending insecurities. Krish Hebbar (Nivin Pauly) is her new boss at the new job, and he is someone who used to be her classmate. He is also her newly found love interest at the time of crisis. At the same time, there are murders happening in the city, and the murdered people are all immigrants of Indian origin. As Varun goes after the case and discovers a link, but he might be presented with a choice in the end, which will define his quality as a person and a police officer.

What is it really about? :: We are introduced into the story and are provided with narration when needed in the voice of Prithvraj who himself talks in Malayalam, a language his character is not able to speak. It makes things clear, that it is his subconscious speaking in the only language which he knew during his childhood, and the movie is all about how he finally manages to let go and becomes a better person. He is a man of bad temper and insecurities, but as the movie reaches the end, he becomes a changed man, and all the other characters and incidents are just reasons to bring him to that end. Yes, it is all about Varun Blake, the Indian child adopted into an American family, as he moves towards that change which is rather too radical for him – everything else including the murders are reasons.

The defence of Ivide :: Ivide has the touch of the highly skilled director, Shyamaprasad who refuses to let this go as an investigative thriller, and rather takes it into the minds of the characters who are just simple human beings caught in the web of life. There are reasons for each and every action which defines the lives of the main characters and everyone around, as things come together and there is one touch of integrity, vanity or brutal ambition which creates that butterfly effect exhibiting a ferocious core. Ivide is not really that thriller that you were looking for, but powerful drama of the modern world which makes one question the past, the present and the future. This is set in a beautiful world which has been well transformed on to the screen by the camera – love those skyline shots and the natural beauty on screen; the songs are pretty good too.

The claws of flaw :: The movie is slow; surely a lot faster than movies like Annayum Rasoolum which asks you to go and have Chicken Biriyani and come back only to know that nothing has happened and then you need to go for tea and see if anything good occurs on the screen. In contrast to that, Ivide‘s lack of pace is beautiful, and it adds to the mood of the movie, but still it is drag for the common man. The thriller element is completely lost while the movie deviates to other territories, and thus it does give the fans of the genre certain disappointment if they were just looking for that, and nothing else. Ivide also has other minor struggles here and there with its progress, but if you can get into the rhythm, you might be able to forgive most of them. Even with mixing of genres, the focus on murders is rather lazy. The entertainment factor rather misses out for the regular audience too.

Performers of the soul :: This had to be Prithviraj Sukumaran’s movie, and it surely is. It is all about his character as he moves through that life in which there was always the need to let go, but it is only realized much later. The identity crisis and the confusion about love and care are portrayed very nicely with all the complexities as Prithviraj becomes the true show stealer. He also gets the most memorable lines, and once again establishes himself as the right one to play the cop. Nivin Pauly’s character becomes a major reason for all these to happen, but he is left with less to do, and in a not so challenging role, he does fine. Bhavana is also nice, but once again she and Nivin just do the support in the game lead by Prithviraj. Prakash Bare makes a good appearance too. The foreign actors and actresses also create the needed impact.

Soul exploration :: The movie takes a ride through roots and the absence of knowledge about it, love and the search for it, hope and the desire to believe in it, and love and the search for it in a modernized world in which we can’t go through by looking though just one perspective. There are many things which are dealt with in this movie, and it starts with the racial alienation, and it goes on to explore the insecurities felt by different people because of a wide variety of reasons. There is inability to belong somewhere or with someone, and there is consistent feeling of not being what someone is. There is the corporate evil also in display. Well, even in the end, the fact remains that there is absolutely no reconciliation with his girlfriend and adoptive mother for the main character, and it is a let down for the movie which explores themes like these.

How it finishes :: If you are looking for an investigative thriller in the model of Memories or Mumbai Police, you might need to look for another options, as this is not that kind of Prithviraj movie meant to keep you guessing about the murderer. It is not intense by that order, but surely is intense by the feelings, if and only if you can relate to the character Varun Blake played by Prithviraj. You need to get that emotional connection here, and unless you try early enough and realize the need, you might not get there, and might miss out experiencing the hidden beauty of this movie. It might make you believe that a thriller is in store in the beginning, but do not fall into that trap, and instead fall for the emotions and begin having that emotional connection with the characters right from the start, and then the ride will take that twist of fate and go the right way. Be warned though, about so much of English in this one – still, there are enough subtitles in Malayalam.

Release date: 29th May 2015
Running time: 159 minutes
Directed by: Shyamaprasad
Starring: Nivin Pauly, Prithviraj Sukumaran, Bhavana, Alexandra Bartee, Prakash Bare, Jia Patel, Dhanish Karthik, Deepti Nair, Sathi Premji, Haridev, Sunil Veettil, Shaun Xavier, Tim Naddy, Juan Alexander, Kirstein Gilbert, Robin Cole

ivide

@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.

35 thoughts on “Ivide”

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  9. I Have huge respect for shyama prasad and his movies.. but this was a dampner.
    Some choices made by the characters were morally questionable such as:
    Bhavana talking about integrity to Nivin Pauly and Eventually tying the knot with her in the end. Why did she do that coz she clearly would have had a conversation with that American girl who Nivin pauly used as bait to trap the head of the company.. Agreed that bhavana has every right not to believe what the American girl told her but the photos she saw in nivin paulys phone proved the fact that he used her…… But still bhavana and pauly married at the end. It could have been good had pauly married the american girl or atleast apologizing to her at the end……

    WILL write some other flaws when time permits… but i must say that this is a benign review

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    • It depends on what the girl told her. We can’t be sure about that. Even if the whole truth was known, she wanted to marry him and was desperate for support. She was just doing that speech for the sake of it like we see so often in the real world. So, it was going to happen anyway; that is more realistic. People these days marry for advantage and not for anything else. There was never going to be true love in this flick.

      It lets us accept the absence of true love in the modern world 🙂

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      • Sorry for the late late reply.
        They surely had that conversation on the lift. It comes across between Bhavanas and Nivin Pauly’s conversation later…. I can remember that part clearly…
        Your take that Bhavana was desperate for support doesnt hold water.
        Because I think that very thought emerges from the notion that women are vulnerable and need support… And Bhavana has come that far: divorced, alone and bringing up a kid n all n I think she wasnt desperate for support at all….. She believes in dignified treatment it is said in the movie but finally she marries nivin pauly..puzzling that characters change their stand more often….

        The another great character flaw was prithviraj:
        Recall Bhavanas conversation with nivin pauly that one day prithviraj held a gun to her head and that prompted her to divorce him..
        Prithviraj here has a great internal contradiction or what is called as cognitive dissonance in philosophy. He raises gun at the slightest provocation with his wife and negotiates with a criminal holding a hostage and jeopardising the life of his fellow officer going for a futile bargain……

        He kills his friend by doing so….. He negotiates with a stranger holding a gun saying “okay…. we can all go home safe n drop your weapon and stuff” but points it at his wife with ease!!! WTF is going on here…..

        N not even in the weirdest of my dreams will I give an average american cop an option of negotiating with criminals. they are trigger happy to the core….Before and after the release of the movie Impromptu shootings by cops were doing the rounds and USA was burning… I think that was a serious lapse on the part of director to do the homework…..

        Just the looks of the cop character by Prithviraj was okay. Nothing beyond that. And the cop friend he kills was included so that Prithvi could stylishly smell a cigar and lay some flowers besides his friends tombstone….
        And the acting by the Foreign artists in the climax was amateurish to say the least. Despite that fact that recession will throw you out of your job and derail your life, its not compelling enough to commit a string of crimes motivated by Outsourcing of jobs….

        Didnt find time at all to write anything.. Sorry for the late reply…

        Liked by 1 person

      • Well, she could have said only part of it. They never show it, do they?
        I don’t know why it has to come down to the idea that women are vulnerable – everyone becomes vulnerable to different situations according to their mental state; if Nivin Pauly’s character was in such a situation, the same could have happened to him depending on circumstances. People usually want someone to support them. I don’t see why you would come upon such a conclusion because many men and women when facing such a situation will choose to go for support. I understand that you are very strong and won’t be worried about such a situation, but if you ask me, I will be a worried man when facing life alone during recession and racial attacks in a big city with less contacts and having a little kid with me. And forgiveness is a virtue; I don’t see anything wrong in it. Well, people change every day, I know that. So, I am not wondering about why she married him. I am surprised that you are surprised about that.
        And I am sorry, I don’t think that every cop is the same. I believe in individual choices.
        I remember very less from the movie as of now – but didn’t he get worse after that shooting incident? Well, in any case, I believe that it is very easy for humans to change their colours, and I am a believer in Lord of the Flies – we had a discussion about it during my literature PG. My stance then and now is that humans are capable of doing terrible things, and are more inclined to evil than good.
        Thanks for the reply. But I personally don’t see any problem with the movie related to any of these points which you said. I have actually found realistic and flawed people here who are created by circumstances and not by the idea of “perfection” which the movies usually come up with. I would prefer that.

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      • I do realize that what I have written has rather too much of a negative viewpoint of life, but it is what I believe in, and it is derived from my experiences; therefore I would like to stick to that.

        Like

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