That Prithviraj, the most popular Malayalam actor currently in the younger brigade is trying hard to fill the shoes of Mammootty & Mohanlal is very clear from the kind of work he has been doing off late. He has been trying to maintain a delicate balance between the more popular or “mass appeal” movies likeThanthonni, Pokiri Raja or Anwar and the more artistic and serious films likePunyam Aham, Thalappavu, Manjadikuru, Thirakkatha etc. At the same time he has continued to have releases in Tamil cinema with movies like Ninaithale Inikkum and Raavanan of late. He even marked his entry into Telugu Cinema this year with Police Police. With Punyam Aham not really turning out the way it could have been I had almost thought Prithviraj has gone back to focusing more on the popular films & that’s when I got an opportunity to watch his unreleased film ‘Veettilekulla Vazhi’ at this years edition of Mumbai Film Festival ( MAMI 2010 ).
Dr. Biju the director of Veettilekulla Vazhi (The Way Home- VV from hereon) is a homeopath physician turned filmmaker & has made interesting films like Saira and Raman earlier. Considering his earlier works and the kind of actors Dr.Biju had worked with earlier it was quite a surprise to me as to how he managed to draft Prithvi into the film. I did get my answer after watching the film. This film was the opening film in the Indian Frames section at MAMI and thus most of the team members associated with the film turned up for the premiere of the film including Dr. Biju & Prithviraj. As I watched the film a lot of questions popped up in my head about the film, some of which got answered before the film ended and some which still remain unanswered. To start with there is one point I’d like to stress about VV. For those who think this is just another Malayalam film, let me clarify that this is a true Pan Indian film.
VV starts with a doctor (Prithviraj) in Delhi attending to a critically ill patient Rashida ( Lakshmipriya ). Knowing that the doctor is also a malayalee and for some other unexplained reason of comfort, Rashida confides to the doctor that she is a member of a suicide squad of the notorious ‘Indian Jihadi’ group. She also tells him that she has a 5 year old son and wants the doctor to trace her son who is somewhere holed up in Kerala and unite him with his father. The father is revealed to be none other than Abdul Zuban Tariq, the dreaded leader of Indian Jehadi. After making the request to the doctor, Rashida dies and now the doctor faces an emotional turmoil and is not sure what he needs to do. We then find out that the doctor has had a haunting past behind him. He lost his wife and five year old son in a bomb blast in Delhi a few years ago and is yet to come to terms with the loss.
Prithvi and Master Govardhan during the shoot
After some initial hesitation the doctor finally decides to fulfill the last wish of Rashida and thus lands up in Kerala and finds the boy under the care of a teacher (Dhanya Mary Varghese). Then the doctor and the boy begin the long and difficult journey to meet the father of the boy, Abdul Zuban Tariq. From thereon it becomes a road movie as the doctor and the boy traverse across states and across various places like Jodhpur, Pushkar, Ladakh etc. All through this journey there is a silent bond established between the boy & the doctor. They also meet a lot of interesting people during the journey and also have to risk their lives as their lives get entwined with the terrorist network. So the story has a lot of soul-searching, conveys a lot of emotions and all along becomes a journey of all sorts.
In terms of the story telling Dr.Biju does a fair job as you are taken into the journey with the doctor and the boy. Some of the characters are also well depicted in the movie and that’s also something that Dr.Biju can be appreciated for.M.J.Radhakrishnan’s camera work does ample justice to the brilliant locales of Kerala, Rajasthan & Ladakh.Ramesh Narayanan’s use of the BG score is effective as well. Talking about the performances Prithviraj does reasonable justice to the role of the doctor and fairly underplays the character. Master Govardhan as the boy in search of his father is very natural and effective. Indrajith impresses in a small cameo as Razzak the friend and comrade of Abdul Zuban Tariq. Now let me clarify as to why I said VV is a pan-Indian film at the very beginning.
First and foremost the film scores by taking us through various locations in India like Delhi, Kerala, Jaipur, Ladakh etc and staying true to the surroundings. The characters are natural and look and speak the way they ought to do. Unlike a lot of films these days where authenticity goes for a toss VV addresses it fairly well. Also the movie isn’t a full fledged Malayalam movie in terms of the language spoken in the film. Nearly 25-30 % of the dialogues are in Hindi and there is a lot of Tamil as well. Considering all this I’d say that in terms of wanting to show the film as a Pan-Indian film, the team has been reasonably successful. But there are certain situations where you laugh & feel why they were needed. Also considering it’s not an out & out commercial film, Dr.Biju could have done well to avoid the kind of spoon feeding that’s visible in certain sequences (since the movie is yet to release it doesn’t make sense to discuss scenes in detail).
It’s also commendable to see Prithviraj taking on the responsibility of sub-titling of the film as well. That in a way indicates the kind of importance he has assigned to this project. At times you also feel that the movie is trying to shock you just for effect and that’s something I don’t really feel was required. When I look back now & reflect over the film I do realize that there’s some depth that is associated with the journey shown in the film. It’s just that the depth takes its own sweet time to reveal itself to you. Is it great cinema in the end? Definitely not, but is it an attempt to be relished and remembered- yes indeed.
Originally published in PFC- http://passionforcinema.com/veettilekulla-vazhi-the-way-home-movie-review-an-interesting-journey-with-roadblocks/
Trailer
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