Mazhavil Manorama – Movies of the Soul

What is the movie about? :: Aby Mathew (Amith Chakalakkal) is a young lawyer who practices under Advocate Sreekanth Panicker (Indrans) who takes on socially relevant issues, and according to petitions of social interest, trying to win cases in favour of public. Vinu Janardhanan (Nirmal Palazhi) and Paul Varghese (Abhishek Raveendran) also works in the same office, and shares the house rent with Aby. For the last few months, Aby has been a fan of the news reader of a popular channel, Nimisha Madhav (Dayyana Hameed). They end up meeting at a news conclave at which Aby questions the Chief Minister, DK Sreenivasan (Saikumar) about the harthal his party had recently conducted, leading to the loss of crores. Aby and Nimisha meets again after the latter has an accident, and they fall in love. But things get complicated as Aby decides to take the case of a former KSRTC employee who was denied pension for months. After the death of this employee, Aby and his friends decide to take this case very seriously.

So, what happens with the events to follow? :: But the Transport Minister (Jaffer Idukki) has the plans to privatize KSRTC, and Ragesh Joseph (Kalabhavan Shajohn), the local MLA is playing a major role in the same. The court decides that someone has to take charge of KSRTC and prove that it can be a profitable firm, and it advises the government to let the petitioners take charge of the department for six months to make sure that it achieves the target. The government is not really happy about it, but to the suprise of everyone, Chief Minister approves it, being confident that nobody can save KSRTC, and after things worse get under the new people in control, they can easily sell it to the corporates, along with the acres of land which the transport corporation owns all around the state and neighbouring states. Now, it remains to be seen where the fate of state’s road transport corporation and its employees stand. But the path won’t be that easy even with everyone trying their best.

The defence of Yuvam :: Yuvam‘s strength lies in its message which almost everyone who understands the need for reformation of the system can follow. It calls on the young generation to bring that much needed escape from a world caught it political games meant for power and corruption. The two problems that it displays are the common ones, and it successfully makes one feel the need for a change from the usual political parties’ corrupted move forward. The song “Chemmaname” stands out, and when we consider the films so far, it is indeed the song of the year, with nine more months to go for anyone to replace it. Films with social commitment are rare to see even during these days of COVID-19, reminding us that people still haven’t learned their lessons well enough. You can remember the movie Nirnaayakam which dealt with a similar problem, but that one was further implausible. Yuvam, even with making one feel that things went too easily, does make us believe that things are possible.

The claws of flaw :: The whole idea could have been planned much better. There were so many things that could have been included here as far as dealing with the common problems like KSRTC income loss and harthals are concerned. It could have been further emotional and inspirational to create a feeling that would stand much longer. But if you are slave to a political party, and do not understand that the development of the nation and its people matters more than the party itself, there is no point in watching this movie. There is a certain amount of social consciousness in requirement from the audience here, because otherwise the whole idea would be lost. The romantic side is also left behind too early, and the film could have actually been longer in that case. The comic side is also less effective, and even though this also gives the feeling of that everyman’s fight against system, there is the absence of anything special, and predictability is surely there – it should have added some special ingredient instead of moving along the usual lines.

The performers of the soul :: Amith Chakalakkal leads the way here in grand style, just like he did with the earlier movie with him in the lead, Vaarikuzhiyile Kolapaathakam. Just like that one movie which grabbed one’s attention when least expected, this film also does almost the same thing, that too at a relevant time when election is here, and different political parties are throwing trash at each other, leaving the voters to look forward to options like Twenty 20 and other independents. This movie with Amith in the lead would have attracted more audience than that previous one if it was not for the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting fear of people, especially the family audience. He also has fight scene, and it is done in a more realistic way, even though one would still wonder if it was that easy to fight against the corrupted politicians and their goons, because if that was the case, one can be sure that people would have done that a long time ago. But we have no doubt that Amith will have some even greater movies to follow.

Further performers of the soul :: Dayyana Hameed is an actress whom we have seen before, but never as much as we have seen her in Star Magic, the television show in Flowers channel. Dayyana is surely an actress to look out for, and we have seen some of her performances in that particular programme before, and teasers and songs also provided us an idea. Even though we loved to see her on the screen, she doesn’t have that much of time on the screen, especially as the film is too short to show everything it should have shown. Nirmal Palazhi handles the small amount of working comedy in the film. Saikumar as a villainous figure is strong, but there is not that much of a terrifying impact that this character makes like Jagathy Sreekumar did in Passenger a long time ago in a similar social thriller with messages. Kalabhavan Shajohn and Jaffer Idukki also have the menace limited. Abhishek Raveendran provides some good support. Yet, one person who gets a lot of attention is Indrans with yet another impressive serious role, even though it is not for long.

How it finishes :: Yuvam takes the side of the youth as well as the common man with ease. It shows the fight of everyman against a system which has been corrupted by politics. It reminds us more than once about the fight against the usual politics and its corrupted side, and the battles that non-political organizations have put forward – it is something which will only grow stronger if the politicians don’t mend their ways; AAP did it long ago, and Twenty 20 is doing it now. The movie released in the theatres earlier in February, but I haven’t considered visiting the theatres as an option after Forensic became the last one I watched in the theatres before COVID-19 and following lockdown, but thankfully it did have the television premiere today noon on Mazhavil Manorama. When you get to watch a good movie in just more than a month after its release in theatre on television, it is fair deal as you don’t have sit with stranger for two hours or so. Yuvam is a film worth that time, indeed. After all, every movie cannot release on television like Kilometers and Kilometers.

Release date: 12th February 2021
Running time: 113 minutes
Directed by: Pinku Peter
Starring: Amith Chakalakkal, Dayyana Hameed, Nirmal Palazhi, Indrans, Abhishek Raveendran, Kalabhavan Shajohn, Nedumudi Venu, Saikumar, Baiju Ezhupunna, Jaffer Idukki, Chempil Asokan

<— Click here to go to the previous movie review

<— Click here to go to the previous Malayalam movie review

@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.

Vampire Owl: I have heard that two-faced humans are really dangerous.

Vampire Bat: But this movie just has Vikram playing two different characters, and it is about the two faces of the actor as two different people.

Vampire Owl: That wouldn’t justify the title from within the movie.

Vampire Bat: Well, movies have become more about actors these days rather than being about itself.

Vampire Owl: It only gets worse when a movie is so bad and a superstar is acting in it.

Vampire Bat: And in some cases, movies just get the hype and rise above everything else – over-hyped movies are no lesser evil.

Vampire Owl: Yes, I have heard that the fans of such over-hyped movies have been abusing people for not liking the movie, and even for not watching the flick.

Vampire Bat: You see why we can’t take over the human world – they are just too evil; they do this with just some overrated movie. It is so hard to believe as movies are just for entertainment for the viewers and for the makers to make money.

Vampire Owl: According them, one particular flick is the greatest movie of all-time, and there will be another “greatest” later.

Vampire Bat: Yes, and the idiots don’t even know that there is a thing called opinion, and their greatest movie could be just third rate nonsense in someone else’s eyes.

[Gets three cups of cardamom tea with Hide and Seek biscuits].

What is the movie about? :: In a strange turn of events, an unknown old man goes out of control and kills many officers unleashing an attack at the Indian embassy at Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. A criminal scientist codenamed Love is figured out to be behind the attack, and this psychotic lover of science is known to have created a terrible mess before he was declared dead years ago. Now, as the unpredictable science terrorist threatens to unleash himself out of the dead, it is Akhilan Vinod (Vikram), a former RAW agent who was responsible for messing up the terror plans and killing Love who is entrusted with the task to bring the dead man to justice. But he has been living a life outside the grid after his wife, RAW’s senior computer analysist Meera George (Nayantara) was killed by Love at the time of that operation. The RAW chief Malik (Nassar) has a feeling that something bigger is coming up, and they need this expert officer’s service.

So, what happens next in the movie? :: Malik finds Akhilan and by telling him about the return of his old nemesis and convinces him that he has to be of service again. He is to work with a junior RAW agent Aayushi (Nithya Menen), who is in charge of the case, and the two of them leave for Kuala Lumpur to go further with the strange case at the Indian embassy. There they are helped by a Malaysian police inspector of Tamil origin, Muthaiah (Thambi Ramaiah) who remains rather scared of what is to happen next. More of investigations lead them to Peter (Karunakaran), a scientist who is working under the instructions of the evil mastermind, but decides to help the police. He tells them that the man who was thought to be dead is very much alive, and is responsible for the embassy attack, which was only the beginning. They are actually manufacturing a drug, which has the ability to create chaos and destruction by hiding them inside asthma inhalers.

The defence of Iru Mugan :: Iru Mugan can be listed among those movies which have tried to be different, and has tried something which can’t be done with ease – you see everything including the settings, they are all so good. If some other movies which are termed as the greatest could be that, just because they have brought something which hasn’t been seen before, this movie here has done the same too, without that much of ridiculous hype; well, it is the lack of confidence on a movie that brings the need for this extra hype, and if one particular movie was that great, it would have come and fought the battle without boasting and abusing. This is where Iru Mugan becomes everyone’s movie as the silent assassin, being a more righteous choice than those which claim to be among the greatest. There is so much of a stylish making here, and we see a lot of beauty of the place right on the screen. This quality is something which we can cherish for long. It even reminded me of the game Half-life, and its levels visually.

Claws of flaw :: There is the lack of attention right here, in how the movie has gone forward as a science fiction tale, with more seemingly spent on style and action than anything else. There was so much else that this movie could have done within one specific genre. There was a grand award to be taken here, as one of the best scienc fiction movies in Indian cinema, but that is not taken at all. There might be the feeling of knowing similar stories otherwise, but these days people just find a movie to claim that it is the greatest movie in the history of Indian cinema; so Iru Mugan, without such overdose of claims and third rate hype, is certainly there as a fine one. Then there is that “mass” effect, which should have been reduced to minimum, even though there is certain control in this movie. Also the name of the movie does little justice to the main character unlike what was expected, as there are just two characters.

Performers of the soul :: Here is another Vikram movie which depends on him more than anything or anybody else to do what he does the best on the big screen, as he once again comes up with the grand performance, and it is once more in more than one role. We had him in three different looks for one character in I, and here we have him in two different looks for two different characters, and once again, he is at the top of the game, and you remember Anniyan too which had him playing the character with three different personalities. It is his movies that I have always trusted to watched without second thoughts, and so despite missing this at the theatres due to the month of September last year being extremely busy, I managed to watch this on Mazhavil Manorama – that was more like a twist, and it is the one that I am glad about. He is there to bring both roles to the maximum effect. Nayanthara shines in her stylish avatar and Nithya Menen’s shortened stay was okay.

How it finishes :: There are only a few movies which you watch with the whole family, and everyone ends up liking it – Iru Mugan is that kind of a movie that has come up at such a safe position; this also reminds me to watch another missed science fiction thriller the Suriya movie, 24. We have a situation when it is impossible not to cheer for Vikram at each and every moment; and there is not just one, but there is two. There is also the great chemistry that work out between Vikram and Nayanthara, whether it is with the action sequences or with those song scenes. This surely wasn’t a movie with that much critical appreciation or hype as expected though. But with the bigger hyped movies, why would the one who know that the movie is so good keep talking about it all around the social media, mostly with fake profiles and abuse everyone? Thankfully, Iru Murugan never seemed to have such pathetic fans, which is why I decided to go for it despite having other things to do. I agree that we need all kinds of movies; but we need movies which doesn’t boast all the time, and those which don’t have their base and pillars built on hype, abuse and hatred – we need those which support free opinion, and unite us in difference rather than divide us. The fans of a movie are also a reflection of what a movie is, as superstar fans also symbolise their heroes. So, definitely choose to watch Iru Murugan, an amazingly stylish thriller with beautiful songs, even though its science fiction side needed some revival and the “mass” needed to go a bit down.

Release date: 8th September 2016
Running time: 154 minutes
Directed by: Anand Shankar
Starring: Vikram, Nayanthara, Nithya Menen, Nassar, Thambi Ramaiah, Karunakaran, Riythvika, Jasper, Karthik Nagarajan, Balaji Venugopal