Pranchiyettan and the Saint Movie Review: Where Art Meets Commerce

That writer/director Ranjith is among the better filmmakers & story tellers in Malayalam Cinema these days is not an unknown fact at all. In fact right from his 2nd film as director – Nandanam, Ranjith has been trying to churn out films which are within the so called ‘commercial’ set up but yet leave some semblance of artistic touch as well. And all his recent projects like Thirakkatha, Kerala Cafe and Paleri Manikyam- Oru Pathira Kolapathakathinte Katha stand testimony to the same. Considering all these things when Ranjith decided to join hands again with Mammootty for his latest movie, the project looked interesting.

What made it even more interesting was the title of the movie itself- “Pranchiyettan and the Saint”, which was not only unconventional, but also did not easily tell you what it was all about. When the first look/trailer was unveiled it partially whetted the appetite of people like me as we could finally realise what the title meant. But believe me even that was just a very small sample indeed of what was going to be in store for the viewers in the form of the movie. Adding to all the excitement was the fact that it was going to be a Eid release along with 2 other prominent movies,M.Padmakumar’s Mohanlal starrer- Shikkar & Lal-Jose’s Elsamma Enna Aankutty.

Have you ever wondered how sometimes the simplest of things can provide joy & happiness that probably even more bigger/complex things cannot provide? Do you still marvel at how for some people it is not materialistic gains alone that provide satisfaction? Do you at times stop to ponder about how in the rat race to excel, you may be missing out on some of the simple joys of life? Well if your answer is a yes to all these questions then Pranchiyettan is indeed the movie for you.

Based in Thrissur in Kerala, Chirammal Enashu Francis a.k.a Pranchiyettan (Mammootty) is a successful businessman. Though he has long diversified from his family’s traditional rice trading into various businesses including jewellery, real estate, financing etc, he is still unhappy for one reason- he feels that he does not have a strong identity and is not a true celebrity yet. Adding to his misery is the fact that a lot of people still call him as Ari (rice) Pranchi , thanks to his family’s traditional rice business. Hence Pranchi is forever trying to do something or the other that will ensure that he earns name & fame and become a true celebrity.

Mammootty and Priya Mani!!!

Right at the start of the film one sees Pranchi visiting the Church late at night and you feel that he’s there for a specific reason. He is there to know if what he wants to do now is indeed the right thing to do at this stage in his life. To his shock & disbelief, his words reach the ears of Saint Francis of Assisi and then Pranchi narrates his story to Saint Francis. He takes St.Francis and the audience through his life’s journey so far and tells us why he has always wanted to make a name for himself and what all he went through in that process.

The movie from thereon is seen through incidents narrated by Pranchi and the movie in itself can be divided into 3 distinct parts. In the 1st part of the movie one sees how Pranchi lost his childhood lady love Omana to his rival, Jose. We are also told that even now he hates to see Omana ( Khushboo ) in the company of Jose ( Siddique ). Both are doctors now & when Pranchi contests for the position of the local club president’s post, he is defeated by none other than Jose. Having decided that come what may he would do anything to get famous, there are more botched attempts at managing the same.

The 2nd part shows the entry of Padmashree (Priya Mani) in the life of Pranchi. Padmashree is an interior designer and is introduced to Pranchi by Omana. As Pranchi and Omana get friendly, Pranchi helps her by saving her ancestral home from being sold off. Pranchi soon develops a liking for Padmashree but doesn’t really manage to convey the same to her. The 3rd part starts with Pranchi visiting Antony Master, the Principal of his old school. It is the last year of service for Antony Master and he’s now worried. He wants to retire with the school delivering a 100 % success rate in the final exams. But he feels that it wouldn’t happen just because of one student- Poly. Intrigued by this, Pranchi decides to take Poly under his fold and ensure that he gets all the support to come out triumphant in the examinations.

One of the best moments in the film!!!

The entire movie comes across to us as vignettes from the life of Pranchi. There is humour in abundance (though not of the slapstick variety) throughout the movie. It’s a treat to watch Mammootty as Pranchi going through hilarious situations in his attempts at becoming popular. He is matched comfortably in the initial segment by Innocent who plays Vasu Menon, a very good friend of Pranchi. Again in the 3rd segment when things get a little too heavy, there are some light moments brought about by another veteran, Jagathy Sreekumar who plays Pandit Deena Dayal. Needless to say both Innocent & Jagathy prove that their experience is worth the weight in gold with their performances.

Kushboo as Omana plays a supporting character very well, while Siddique has nothing much to do. Most of the others who play supporting roles also do justice to their characters. Ranjith himself lends his voice to St.Francis (Jesse Fox Allen) and that makes the conversations between the Saint & Pranchi to be very interesting indeed. Seasoned cinematographer Venu succeeds in capturing the indoor shots very well indeed. Especially commendable are the sequences in the grave yard & the church which convey the needed feeling of intrigue right at the beginning.Ouseppachan’s background score and the song (Kinavile) go in sync with the mood of the film.

Ranjith’s writing & direction is top notch in the film. And the dialogues written by him are extremely effective. If Mammootty comes across wonderfully while speaking the Thrissur slang, part of the credit is indeed due to Ranjith as well. But it is not that the film does not have its share of glitches. Post interval at some points, the film does indeed appear to meander aimlessly. Also some characters do not really add any relevance to the plot per se. But it is to Ranjith’s credit that he manages to overcome all these glitches and still come up triumphant. While the 3rd segment of the film especially starts dragging a bit, Ranjith makes it up for the same with the way he brings the movie to its logical conclusion.

And having spoken so much about the movie it will be a shame not to touch upon Mammootty’s performance in the film. When you watch the film, you seem to suddenly realise that Mammootty & Pranchi are so much interlinked. That’s because Mammootty makes the portrayal of Pranchi in such a natural way that you begin to even forget that this is actually a performance. We all know that some actors are really gifted enough to carry certain characters to great heights. Mammootty is one such actor and it’s remarkable indeed that he does it time & again. Though one keeps seeing memorable characters being portrayed by Mammootty often, Pranchi is a character that will not fade away with time.

As you step out of the theatre you’ll walk away with a smile on your face and you’ll hope to cherish some of the simple pleasures of life and that’s the victory of Ranjith and his tale of Pranchiyettan and the Saint.

First Look/Promo of the film

Originally published in PFC- http://passionforcinema.com/pranchiyettan-and-the-saint-movie-review-where-art-meets-commerce/

Ividam Swargamanu- A Movie for the Festive Season

Traditionally the end of December is festive season in Kerala with Christmas and the New Year celebrations happening with gusto across the state. So this is also considered as a good time to release movies and this time one of the movies that has reached out to the audience is Ividam Swargamanu ( It’s heaven here – IS from hereon ), directed by Rosshan Andrrews and written by James Albert. Mohanlal ends the year 2009 with a fairly engaging film in IS. What is it that first strikes the mind when we think of Kerala? It won’t be wrong to say that for the majority of us the thoughts could be something related to Kerala’s lovely natural beauty, for after all isn’t Kerala referred to as God’s own country? So it’s not surprising that the tourism industry flourishes so well in Kerala.
Speaking about Kerala’s natural beauty and the tourism industry it’s also important to note that the threat of land mafia is looming large in Kerala where people who are forever trying to make a fast buck in the name of tourism are trying to capture land (mainly agricultural) from people by various means. For those who are wondering why I’m mentioning all this, the connect would be very evident soon as I write more in detail about the movie now. IS talks about Mathews (Mohanlal) who is a new age farmer having a large farm and dairy named after his father, Jeremias . It was always the ambition of Mathews to have such a farm and he loves the land as much as his parents ( Thilakan and Kaviyoor Ponnamma). As a new age farmer Mathews adopts organic farming and even uses windmills to generate electricity.
The farm is the cynosure of all eyes and soon invites the attention of a lot of people. Their peaceful existence comes under threat when a real estate developer Aluva Chandy (Lalu Alex) expresses his desire to buy the farm from Mathews. Mathews refuses to part with the farm as that’s their heaven while Aluva Chandy decides to use all the tricks of the trade to fulfill his desire. From then begins an interesting game of wits between Mathews and Aluva Chandy. What is interesting about the movie is the way the story unfolds. Right from the very beginning one can see a lot of realism in the proceedings. Though there are a lot of characters there is no special attention bestowed to character buildup. Rather the characters tend to flow with the narrative.

The leading ladies- Lakshmi Gopalswamy,Priyanka Nair and Lakshmi Rai with Lal ettan
In the beginning the easy going pace of the narrative can even be a bit distracting but this is something to be overlooked. The best part of the movie is the climax which is quite funny without venturing into slapstick territory. Mohanlal is at his restrained best throughout the movie and those who are expecting to see some larger than life stuff from him will end up disappointed. It’s nice to see Thilakan finally acting with Mammootty and Mohanlal once again these days after a gap of a few years. Kaviyoor Ponnamma and Sukumari perform their elderly roles without much fuss. What’s interesting is the line up of other actors in the supporting roles. I would be committing a major sin if I fail to acknowledge Lalu Alex’s contribution to the movie. As Aluva Chandy,Lalu Alex is extremely convincing as the bad guy but with a comic streak. Also seen in a reasonably good role is Shankar the yesteryear star as Sudheer, friend of Mathews. I was reminded of films like Manjil Virinja Pookal, Sukhamo Devi, Poochakkoru Mookuthi and many more where Mohanlal and Shanker acted as a combination.
There are 3 leading ladies here and all of them have reasonable screen time. Lakshmi Gopalswamy plays Maria, a Manager in a Govt.bank, Lakshmi Rai plays Advocate Sunita and Priyanka Nair plays a T.V reporter, Betsy. The pick of the lot is certainly Priyanka Nair who plays adequate foil to Mohanlal whenever they are on screen together. Priyanka who first shot to fame with Vasantha Balan’s acclaimed Tamil film,Veyyil ( paired with Pasupathi ) is fast becoming popular with some unconventional roles in films like Bhoomi Malayalam and Vilapangalkappuram. What’s also commendable is the fact that the movie is devoid of the usual set of comedians (read Suraj Venjaramoodu, Salim Kumar, Harisree Asokan etc) and the comedy element doesn’t appear forced here. Jagathy Sreekumar leaves his mark playing a fairly interesting character called Bhuvanachandran (saying anything about his character will spoil the fun). Manian Pillai Raju in a cameo is very good and will win the heart of the audience in the climax.

Mohanlal- Sreenivasan, the evergreen comboAfter Udhanayanu Tharam Rosshan Andrrews once again brings back the magical combination of Mohanlal and Sreenivan in IS. While this time Sreenivasan has only a cameo, nevertheless as Prabalan he brings in the surprise element in the film wonderfully.There is no scope for any song in the movie and Rosshan Andrrews has not tried any sort of gimmicks over here. Overall this is nowhere close to a path breaking movie but then the movie was never intended to be one. It was targeted as a family entertainer for the festive season and in this respect it certainly works reasonably.

Originally posted in PFC-check it out here- http://tinyurl.com/y4jro5f

‘Passenger’- A tale of trains, scams and the common man

Right from the days when I was a kid, I used to enjoy traveling by train. Whether it were the long distance journeys usually in the summer vacation or the suburban train traveling in a Mumbai or Chennai, I would always look forward to it. Over years I have gone on to notice how Indian Railways seems to have become a home away from home for a lot many people who travel by trains regularly to work. Whether you talk about the electric trains in the metro cities like Western/Central/Harbor lines of Mumbai or the Guindy-Tambaram route in Chennai, or the underground Metro rail in Kolkata and Delhi or even in places like Kerala where people travel from a Palakkad to Coimbatore (T.N) or from far off places like Thrissur and adjoining districts to Cochin/Ernakulam, this phenomena is witnessed on a daily basis. The exceptions must only be in case of Sundays and holidays. Of course in Kerala with strikes and hartals being quite common one must see a lot more exceptions to this aspect.

For all these people traveling to work, the journey by train becomes an extension of their life. They even know the train timings by heart and would have their own acquaintances/friends whom they meet on the train every day. Speaking of this reminds me of Naseeruddin Shah in A Wednesday, mourning the death of a young man, a fellow train traveler who dies in a bomb blast. When you get into a routine of seeing somebody so regularly on the train everyday, you tend to identify him/her as someone familiar to you & look forward to meeting him/her again and again.

Why am I rambling on and on about trains and train travelers? Well basically because this post is my reflections over a recent Malayalam movie that I saw- ‘Passenger’. It’s a movie that’s certainly better than some of the mediocre stuff that we have got used to seeing from Malayalam cinema these days and it makes me in its own ways also relive my days of having traveled by the suburban trains in Chennai and Mumbai. The movie is not just about train journey, it’s also about the common man and the role that he can play in today’s chaotic society. So in a way that reminded me of A Wednesday, but the comparison is slightly superficial because there are a lot of differences between the common man in both these films.

Ranjith Shankar (a former I.T professional) makes a debut as a writer-director with Passenger. The movie is a definitely more than a decent debut for Ranjith as it’s certainly not a run of the mill subject and that needs to be appreciated. When the opening credits start I was astonished to find a big thanks to the ‘fans of Dileep’ and I certainly expected this to be a way of just addressing star tantrums, but thankfully as the movie progressed, I realized the actual reason for the credit and couldn’t but afford to smile when I realized the same. I will come to that later.
Passenger is a movie that basically chronicles the events that take place in the lives of a few individuals whose paths cross due to nothing but quirk of fate. Sathyanathan(Sreenivasan) is the common man of the story and he works for a Pharmaceutical firm in Ernakulam and travels everyday to work (and back) from his house in a village near Chalakudy by train. On the train he usually encounters a constant set of people with whom he spends time by playing cards and chit chatting. This is how life goes on for him on a regular basis. That Sathyanathan has a social activist streak is evident as he is seen running signature campaigns for cleaner toilets on trains, asking for streamlining the halts on train routes etc.

On the other hand you have a young educated couple who are equally social minded. The husband Adv.Nandan Menon ( Dileep ) and his wife TV journalist Anuradha Menon(Mamta Mohan Das ) by way of work have locked horns with the Home Minister(Jagathy Sreekumar ) in connection with a case pertaining to sand mining in a coastal area. One fine day Sathyanathan pesters his boss to grant him leave for the next day as he being the local temple festival’s organizer wants to be there for the same. Reluctantly his boss grants the leave when Sathyanathan volunteers to work overtime for that day.

Having worked overtime Sathyanathan has to skip his regular train and take up another train at a later time. At the same time Nandan Menon is on the same train traveling to Guruvayoor (his wife Anuradha is part of a press team covering the minister’s press meet in Kottayam). A disturbing series of events unfold and the rest of the movie is all about what happens in the course of the next 24 hours or so. The lives of all the main characters in the story get intertwined. As far as the concept goes it’s not earth shaking but certainly better than the run of the mill stuff seen regularly these days.

In terms of casting again I think Ranjith Shankar has got it fairly right. Who better than Sreenivasan to play the common man? And kudos to Dileep for having accepted a role which is more of a second fiddle ( this is why I guess the thanks was mentioned for his fans- maybe for seeking their support ) and for a change it’s good to see Mamta in a non glamorous role. Though it’s become routine to see politicians as villains in Malayalam cinema, but still it’s refreshing to see the extremely talented Jagathy Sreekumar essaying the role over here.

The movie has managed to get a lot of nuances correct as seen in Kerala on a daily basis. For example in spite of attractions like T.V and cinema you still have a lot of people craving for the temple festivals, in most Malayalee homes you would find an elderly person typically watching an ‘Idea Star Singer’ or ‘Devi Mahatmyam’ on Asianet in the primetime slots on T.V leaving the others at home with no choice if you do not have a second T.V at home. The ending of the movie again is something that leaves you with a smile. And at a running time of just less than 2 hours, the length of the movie is just about right surprisingly.

But all said and done the movie still is not a path-breaker and is nowhere close to being called a great movie. There are a lot of loopholes in the script and sometimes you even question the validity of some events in the movie. But all said and done considering that it’s the first effort of Ranjith Shankar as writer-director and for having tried something different, the effort needs to be highlighted. I only hope that Ranjith and the other film makers only look to go beyond Passenger and come up with even better movies rather than stagnating over here. Malayalam cinema needs a revival, a revival that’s long overdue. Till that happens I have to keep re-visiting some of the good films of the 80’s and 90’s or keep hoping with every ‘Passenger’ that things are about to improve.

P.S- Originally published in PFC.Check it out here- http://passionforcinema.com/passenger-a-tale-of-trains-scams-and-the-common-man/

Priyadarshan- The Run Machine of Indian Cinema

So far this year we have seen the frenzy generated by SDM and the success of movies like Dev D and Raaz- the Mystery Continues. And of late we have been hearing a lot about the ongoing strike in Bollywood. But there has been a landmark that was also noticed in the 1st Qr of 2009, something which did not really get so much of attention. This landmark was achieved on 13th February ’09 when Billu got released. No this write-up is not something about either Billu or SRK. For those who are not aware I wish to inform that Billu is the 75th movie directed by Priyadarshan in his career spanning around 25 years in Indian Cinema. This is indeed a commendable achievement because there aren’t too many directors with such a big tally of completed projects and more so when it’s from someone like him who has successfully made a transition from South Indian cinema to Bollywood.

Oh! Yes we all know that a lot of his recent movies have started getting repetitive. There are valid complaints like he’s been using the same locations time & again, he’s been working with a stock set of actors, he continues to remake his own movies or those directed by others (mainly Malayalam) etc. But all said and done we just cannot ignore the fact Priyan has given us countless memorable movies in Malayalam like Chithram, Thalavattom, Kalapani etc and even some of his early Hindi movies have been quite refreshing like Gardish & Virasat. This year also has finally seen the release of his critically acclaimed Tamil movie- Kanchivaram. This year also is seeing him work on serious movies like Bum Bum Bole (with Darsheel Safary and supposedly inspired from Children of Heaven) and an untitled movie on AIDS awareness with Akshay Kumar and Mohanlal.

Hence considering all this I think this is the right time to look back in time and re-visit some of the best works of Priyan. Given below are 5 films that I feel would be top on my list and they are described below in chronological order. Considering his repertoire it has not been easy for me to choose the movies. But nevertheless here I go-

Poochakke Oru Mookuthi- This Malayalam movie released in 1984 was Priyan’s debut movie which he went on to remake later in Hindi as Hungama. The movie was a brilliant comedy of errors and had superlative performances not just from the lead cast of Shankar,Menaka and Mohanlal but also from the supporting cast like Nedumudi Venu,Sukumari, Shankaradi, Jagathy Sreekumar etc. The ‘chaotic’ style of climax which is a Priyan trademark actually originated from this movie. One of the best scenes from this movie is when Shankar an aspiring singer comes to teach music to Sukumari and Nedumudi Venu interferes. The scene does not feature in Hungama. Given below is the video link- have a look & enjoy J



Thalavattom- Released in 1986, this Malayalam movie was unsuccessfully remade by Priyan later in Hindi as Kyunki. With more than subtle shades of One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest, what made the movie special was Mohanal playing the character of Vinod who is mentally ill. Mohanalal’s portrayal was extremely convincing and was ably supported by others like Karthika, Nedumudi Venu, Soman,Jagathy Sreekumar etc. Inspite of the slightly serious subject Priyan retained his comic touch in the movie with some memorable comedy scenes like the one in the link below-



Music by Reghu Kumar also deserves a special mention here.

Chithram- Released in 1988, this Malayalam movie is one of the biggest hits in the history of Malayalam cinema. The movie was so successful that it went on to be remade in a lot of other languages including Tamil and Hindi but none of them were directed by Priyan, The movie was written by the prolific actor-writer Sreenivasan and once again had Mohanlal in the lead. Chithram is the story of Vishnu ( Mohanlal ) a photographer who goes to jail for accidentally killing his wife and then escapes from jail to make money for his child’s surgery. That’s when he comes in contact with Kalyani ( Renjini ) and her uncle ( Nedumudi Venu) who want him to act as Kalyani’s husband to make her father ( Poornam Vishwanathan ) happy as he is ill & on vacation. What ensues is a comic series of adventures with an extremely emotional climax. Music by Kannur Rajn was also one of the main reasons for the movie’s success. Given below is the link to the video of my favorite song from the movie – Doore kizhakkudikkum sung by M.G.Sreekumar and Sujatha.



Kilukkam- This Malayalam movie released in 1991 was also remade by him in Hindi as Muskurahat. It is certainly one of the best comedy films in Malayalam cinema – but definitely not just a routine comedy. While Mohanal as Joji the tourist guide in Ooty and Revathy as the orphan in search of her father were certainly commendable, IMO the actual star of the movie is Jagathy Sreekumar who plays the role of Mohanalal’s friend Nishchal.This movie is one of the best examples to showcase the powerhouse of talent that Jagathy Sreekumar is. Watch the scene in the video below – one of my favorites from the movie. This was one of the earlier works of Sharat Saxena in South Indian cinema.Music by S.P.Venkatesh was also in line with the mood of the film.




Kalapani- Not all movies directed by Priyan were comedies and Kalapani ( Siraichalai-Tamil, Saza-E-Kalapani-Hindi) is a fitting example to underline the statement. The movie told the poignant story of a doctor (Mohanlal) who is wrongly accused of being a naxalite and sent to the Cellular Jail in Port Blair (Andaman & Nicobar Islands). The movie brilliantly described the cruelty that the Indian freedom fighters suffered in the Cellular Jail during the British regime. Performances by the supporting cast of Amrish Puri,Prabhu,Tabu,Annu Kapoor etc were all praiseworthy. Music by Ilayaraja and cinematography by Santosh Sivan further enhanced the appeal of the story.Earlier this year when I finally got to visit the Cellular Jail, I couldn’t but help recollecting a lot of scenes from the movie.

Apart from these 5 movies certain other movies also deserve a special mention like Thenmavin Kombathu (Saat Rang Ke Sapne by Priyan inHindi), Akkare Akkare Akkare
the 3rd part in the classic Dasan-Vijayan police series , Vandanam, Mukundetta Sumithra Vilikunnu. Do let me know what you all feel about these movies and about the other movies made by Priyan. Here’s hoping that Priyan – the run machine of Indian cinema continues to entertain us with his movies and makes even better movies hereafter.

Note- I have not mentioned any Tamil or Hindi movie in my list because all his movies in Hindi and Tamil have been direct remakes of other South Indian movies (mainly Malayalam) directed by Priyan himself or others.

Originally published in PFC- check it out here- http://passionforcinema.com/priyadarshan-the-run-machine-of-indian-cinema/