• “Pranchiyettan and the Saint” is, I believe, director Ranjit giving the finger to those who had labeled him a “Hinduvta” director after a series of movies such as Devasuram, Ravanaprabhu, Nandanam, Prajapathy etc.
• There have been several movies based on the Kottayam Christian milieu; however movies set in Thrissur are rare. Other than Padmarajan’s Thoovanathumbikal, I can remember no other movie that has used the town and its slang as an important facet in the movie.
• It is refreshing that the movie has no “villains”. Siddhique is portrayed as Pranchi’s main rival, but Ranjit has resisted the temptation of having either the hero or villain import a dozen ruffians from several different places, and indulge in an outlandish fight sequence.
• The whole bit about hints around the hypocritical lives lead by Siddhique and Khushboo was uncalled for – a cheap shot, really. Could Pranchi not find his happiness even as his childhood sweetheart and her husband lived happily too?
• The whole speech sequence was awesome. It reminded me a bit of the iconic “balatkaar” sequence from “3 Idiots”; but the one in “Pranchiyettan…” was more about the fear of public speaking.
• The whole concept of “Padmashree-chasing” was a riot. Ranjit clearly has a ball here, with digs at all and sundry.
• Jagathy could have been avoided. He added absolutely nothing to the movie, and did nothing new (other than demonstrate a few Yoga poses) either.
• Finally, what does one say of Mammootty? This amazing performance is most un-Mammootty-like; in fact it is almost Mohanlal-esque, except for the spotless Thrissur slang (which I think Mohanlal could not have quite managed). We all know that Mammootty excels in statuesque roles, but to see him excel as the self-deprecating Pranchi reminds us that the veteran still has unexplored depths. More innovative scripts please!

Renjith is on a roll, and 2009 seems to be good year for Malayalam cinema.  As per the reviews, what makes Palery Manikyam: Oru Pathirakkolapathakathinte Katha a winner is Mammootty, screenplay and direction. Movie got released in just 40 centers, which is half the number of usual super star guerrilla attack releases. We’ll have to wait for some more time to see if good cinema translates to good collections.

Vibe Talkies reviews:

On the whole, Palery Manikyam: Oru Pathirakkolapathakathinte Katha is a very intriguing watch. It might not be liked by the common mass audience. But for people who like watching interesting stories and ideas and good cinema, without the trappings of usual commercial cinema, this film would be very interesting. Ranjith is slowly turning into a new-age Padmarajan of sorts. He is trying bold, mature and interesting themes (Thirakkatha, Kaiyyoppu) and daring experiments (Kerala Cafe) and his storytelling skill is intact in this new movie also. The movie is not suitable for children as it handles an adult theme and has certain scenes which may not be suitable for children to watch, even though they are done very aesthetically and effectively. Mammootty gives some neat performances in his different roles. It is great to have the actor in him back through movies like Loudspeaker, Pazhassiraja and this one now after a series of duds. Ranjith has delivered a fine film with a minor hiccup in the climax (not that it was bad, just that it didnt come up to the standard set by the whole movie). The movie has taken a good opening and it was great to see all kinds of people, including a lot of ladies, watching the movie on second day.  With the help of some good marketing, this movie should end up being a success.

Berlytharangal says:

NowRunning.com reviews:

Palery Manickyam could easily boast of its remarkable cast that has none of the big names in business, barring a few. The film brings to the forefront a bevy of real talented actors from theatre, and resourcefully draws out astonishing performances from all of them. Leading this cast is none other than Mammootty himself who puts in a hypnotic act as Ahmed Haji, yet another pitch perfect feat from the actor this year. Equally proficient is the incomparable Shwetha Menon who is gradually carving a niche for herself with daring performances in markedly different films.

Ranjith’s Manickyam is a rarity of a film that exceeds expectations and offers a psychedelic high for the viewer. There would be no surprise if it ignites some sort of a controversy for the boldness that it displays. For the discerning viewer though, this might perhaps be one of the best films to have come out this year.

I would refuse to attribute the art house flavour to it. Rather, it’s an uncompromising film that grabs you by your throat and simply refuses to let go.

Sify.com comments:

It is with absolute awe that one would come out of the theatres, especially for Ranjith, who has made perhaps one of the finest films in Malayalam history, based on Rajeevan’s brilliant novel. There are flaws and scope for further improvement for sure, but the writer-director’s ability to handle such an intricate tale needs to be appreciated wholeheartedly.

With a spectacular performance that can leave you spellbound, Mammootty underlines why he is easily regarded among the best actors in the country. His charisma, screen presence and style give an altogether different meaning to the characters and his portrayal of Ahmed Haji will remain as one of the best to have happened in Malayalam films, ever.

Rediff.com

Very rarely does a film satisfy our expectations. But director Ranjith’s latest Malayalam film Paleri Manikyam: Oru Pathira Kolapathakathinte Katha does.

The film is near perfect with minor ignorable blemishes. It is based on T P Rajeevan’s novel of the same name. It tells the story of a private detective, who returns to his birthplace to solve a murder mystery that occurred on the same night he was born.

Dectective Haridas (Mammootty) takes up a case just to satisfy his curiosity, not to find or punish the culprit, as all the suspects in the case are dead. His purpose, which seems vague in the beginning, achieves clarity only halfway through the story.

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If you had thought that the ‘poor boy meets rich girl, sparks fly at an odd hour’ kind of stories are a thing of the past, think again. Debutant director Ramakanth Sarju’s Utharaswayamvaram talks about such a tale which obviously looks outdated and perhaps like one of those boring, mushy serials on the small screen! [Utharaswayamvaram]

Now if such a movie flops, the only person who can be blamed is the producer. He took a risk, a stupid one, and made a loss. No amount of laws passed by AMMA and various organizations can make a hit out of this.

Instead of imposing artificial financial restrictions on producers, the “band-aid” folks should have asked Ranjith what should be done to revive Malayalam cinema. He would have said two things: (1) show people something new and (2) switch to literature.

Kerala Cafe, a film by ten film makers, ten camera men, ten music directors, is a step in that direction. There is a novelty to it and there is a curiousness to it. It is the boldest experiment in Malayalam cinema in a long time by a person who was bold enough to think different.

Another movie directed by Ranjith is getting released this week, Paleri Manikyam which is based on TP Rajeevan’s novel, Paleri Manikyam – Oru Pathirakkolapathakathinte Katha. It is “a remarkable Malayalam work of recent times.”

Paleri Manikyam too has its own share of novelties. 40, yes forty, new artists are being introduced in this movie. That because Renjith feels that there is a need for fresh faces in Malayalam cinema. These 40 actors were selected from theater and were benefited from acting workshop held at Kozhikkode, arranged by Renjith before the shooting commenced.  Leading Malayalam actors and directors took classes in the workshop.

With these 2 movies – Kerala Cafe and Paleri Manikyam, Renjith achieves what AMMA, FEPKA and various other alphabet soups can only dream – that is to make a difference.  Something brilliant which is not pretentious, but sufficiently entertaining to attract viewers, imaginative thinking in place of restrictive policies. It is bold experiments like these which will sustain Malayalam film industry, not an artificial limit of 3.5 crore on film making.

Image courtesy: rediff.com

He had partially written a novel, which according to the famous novelist CP (Nedumudi Venu in a cameo), could change the Malayalam literary landscape. On hearing this Shivadasan (Mukesh), a small publisher tags along Balachandran, to convince him to finish the novel. He lives in a lodge, surrounded by his books, in a kind of cocoon.

His interactions with the external world are limited. When asked once why he does not own a cell phone, he retorts, “I have no one to call and no one to call me.” He never talks to others in the lodge, except for the boy-cum-caretaker Babu. He sends money to a Muslim girl about whom he had read in the newspaper. He also has a person who takes care of his land.

This small world changes when he gets a phone call from an  college mate Padma (Khushboo) and  some old memories are triggered. This plus Shivadasan’s prodding results in Balachandran taking up his pen. As the novel progresses, he gets more out of his shell, expresses human emotions explicitly and makes progress on his relationship.

As the movie moves to the climax, with Balachandran selling his land and carrying Rs. 3 lakhs, and going to Calicut with the money and his finished novel, terrorists strike. At this point we were shocked because there was such an impedance mismatch between the story so far and the climax.

This brings up the dilemma. The writer’s block, overcoming the writer’s block, the life of a writer – all those have been done perfectly. Though not novelists, but as people who read a lot and try to write something, these are dilemmas we identify with. So Balachandran’s predicament resonated with us.

The terrorism angle –  we have friends who survived Mumbai blasts and train bombs  – too resonated with us. The problem was with the connection between the two. In fact Ranjith, tries to make the connection – somewhere Shivadasan tells his wife that Balachandran’s novel is a great work of black humor on communalism. But in fact there is nothing in the movie which shows why Balachandran is affected by it – he never mentions any communal incident, he is never seen reading about it or discussing anything communal with anyone. When the policemen make fun of a Balachandran helping a Muslim girl, he seems clueless, unable to understand the situation. When such a person claims to be writing a novel about communal problems, it seems hollow.

Alfonso Cuarón‘s Y tu mamá también , is an example of one movie with multiple layers of narration  - there is a road trip, and there is a commentary on the economic situation in Mexico. To Cuarón‘s credit, he blends them well, right from the beginning. This makes the movie memorable, though some might argue that it is the sex scenes that make the movie memorable. The point we are tying to make is that in such movies you don’t spring up a surprise, like in the climax of a CBI movie. In fact in Kathavaseshan , T K Chandran did a better job in justifying Dileep’s behavior, to the point of making it contrived.

Ratheesh seems to be the only one who has  has seen through this:

Renjith has made the script as a series of patchworks with all good intentions to emphasize his “message” again and again, like some programs in school youth festivals. So, a kind-hearted Hindu helps a poor Muslim, an honest Muslim takes care of the property of a Hindu, and so on. The effort to add a “feel-good” factor related to “Love”, “Bridging between Religions” etc. pops up every now and then in the film. Mammootty tries hard to look truly like a sensitive and introvert writer, and adds a touch of uniqueness in the character, at least externally, by attaching certain mannerisms to Balachandran.

That said, we have to note that Ranjith has not fallen for the 80s standard of art movie making, where if there is a shot of one man walking 1km, the camera is turned on for the entire duration. He has dispensed with that level of pretentiousness and made the movie reasonably well paced.

Still when we see movies like Kaiyoppu, it just fails to connect in a memorable way like the Hindi movie A Wednesday which tackled the issue of terrorism in a brilliant, honest, non-boring way.

(Image via IndiaGlitz)

Very often we have lamented about the sad state of Malayalam Cinema where only superstar movies provide guaranteed return. Why don’t Malayalees encourage youngsters or why don’t we have great scripts like the ones seen two decades back? These are questions we always asked.

Most often we hear the response that the “taste” has changed and film makers are just trying to cater new delicacies that tickle the palette. While that is acceptable, what we would like to see is film makers, who go against the convention. Now if you look for film makers like that there are plenty, but their movies remain in cans and you hear about a few of them when they win awards.

Real success is when you make an off beat film which is accepted by the masses. So it brings great joy to us to see Thirakkatha complete fifty days. The success of this movie is a tribute to Ranjith’s skill as a writer and if he is able produce occasional movies like this in the midst of his Narasimhams it would do good both for the industry and the actors involved.

We know that one swallow does not make a spring, but at least the success of this movie  shows that Malayalees are willing to give good Malayalam movies a chance so long as the movie has something fresh and is well made.

Here’s couple of reviews of this movie:

IndiaGlitz says that the movie is Thirakkatha – refreshingly different

The highlight of the movie is definitely the exquisite script work by the director, telling the plot as monologues of different personalities involved. This juxtaposing of stories between past and present may sound very complex and confusing, but in reality ‘Thirakkatha’ is one of the simplest stories you will ever see. The complexity comes from the depth of the characters, the strength of the script, and the extra investment that every single actor brings to their roles.

The story offers a lot of curiosity about whom on which the movie is based. The makers have placed the late actress Sreevidhya, directors Bharathan and Padmarajan on the posters and presented the movie as a tribute to the late beautiful actress. The movie also shows striking similarity with many actual incidents that happened in the eighties like the film ‘Kazhinja Manjukaalam’ that introduces three stars -of which the villain later turns out to become the superstar. The movie also shows the sets of ‘Rudhiram’ (or is it Roudram?) where the super star even behaves like a police officer even in his own circles, outside the film’s sets.

sify.com says that movie is ‘Quite Good’:

Director Ranjith has gone to tinsel town for his new film Thirakatha. It is about the importance of a script in filmmaking and how it evolves. But what makes this script more interesting is that the main characters are from the show world.

It is his pursuit for a new theme that takes director Akbar Ahmed (Prithviraj) to the tragic affair between Malavika (Priyamani), a yesteryear heroine who has gone into oblivion now, and the evergreen hero Ajayachandran (Anoop Menon).

Nikhil writes

The very first shot itself gives us the mood and treatment of the film. Ranjith has taken good care in selecting the BGM for the shot and the entire film. The film revolves around three main characters, that of Prithviraj, Anoop Menon and Priyamani. The real hero in the film is the story itself. Once more hats off to Ranjith.

NowRunning.com writes

I was totally impressed by the narrative structure of ‘Thirakkatha’; a series of monologues that rampantly fling the viewer back and forth across vigilantly placed flashbacks. In all probability, the obvious unevenness is intentional, inkeeping with the complex emotions that it attempts to depict.

According to IndiaGlitz

The highlight of the movie is definitely the exquisite script work by the director, telling the plot as monologues of different personalities involved. This juxtaposing of stories between past and present may sound very complex and confusing, but in reality ‘Thirakkatha’ is one of the simplest stories you will ever see. The complexity comes from the depth of the characters, the strength of the script, and the extra investment that every single actor brings to their roles.

PS: We are in the process of migrating VC to a new server. Hence the infrequent blogging. As Steve Jobs said recently, The news of our death is greatly exaggerated.