The DVD version of this new age malayalam movie was released last month, and torrent sites all over have picked it up. I finally got to enjoy perhaps the other best movie of this year Diamond Necklace being the first). And my verdict : It’s a keeper. The plot of the movie is fully on Wikipedia. And there are a lot of themes and ideas in the movie which have been borrowed/inspired from others though.
The move is centered around good food, and good times, and feel good music. There are mouth watering shots of signature malabar cuisine, lazy strolls by the beach, and different genres of music in songs and in the background. But at its core, it is a story of relationships. A gentle mixture of the old and new, and about change.
Three different generations of a family are present in this movie, and the rift between them is presented without the usual melodrama you see in normal tear jerker movies. There is the beautiful story of how five children grew up without a mother, the elder sisters bringing up their youngest brother. There is the rebellious daughter of an orthodox muslim family, who first rejects the boy, and then realizes her mistake late, but not too late. And then there is Karim’s philosophy that inorder for something to be special , you simply have to believe it is special. A nice borrow from the Kung Fu panda. 
The visuals are awesome ! I have been living in the malabar area of Kerala for the four years while I was in college, and I was amazed at how artistically the familiar sights and sounds of the area has been captured on film. The background music beautifully accompanies the visuals without over powering it. The strings beats and vocals in the BGM are a fresh relief from the usual cacophony one finds there.
A lot of colorful characters further enrich the movie. There are some characters here who do not have single dialogue, but still show us why they are important in their roles. The character of Narayan who is a tamil social worker is a gentle nod in the direction of selfless service of humanity.
But the highlight of the movie is the brilliant acting of Thilakan. Nobody else (barring Nedumudi Venu perhaps ?) could have played that character. The moments between Karim and his grandson discussing various ideas of luck, fate and success, sipping sulaimani tea by the beach side really stand out. He speaks the idea that “anyone can fill a stomach, but a truly gifted person can fill the soul” twice in the movie. The first time, it is not meant to register, the second time, you come to really appreciate it.
What stood out:
- At the airport, a character mentions that Faizi has a good Mammootty look (19:14). It is actually Mammotty’s son who is playing the character.
- Shahaana praises Faizi’s superb dialogue delivery (1:20:58). Good for his second movie.
- Most of the female characters in the movie are muslims, and they are fully veiled when they step out of their houses. In the wedding photo of Faizi’s parents, the bride is completely veiled, only her eyes are visible.
- The boys start their days playing football on the beach. Football is a fever across Kerala, something different in this cricket crazy nation.
- The scene where Faizi brings a live chicken to the GM’s table (1:52:00) is from the climatic scene in Hollywood movie ‘No Reservations’, where Catherine Zeta-Jones drops a raw steak at the table of an annoying customer. The next scene where the live rooster pecks on the pieces of cooked chicken gave me jitters, you could say it is forced cannibalism there.
- Towards the end of the movie (2:17:54), in the scene where Faizi prepares the biriyani, there is a beautiful piano piece which is a straight lift of Nemo’s theme, from the movie Finding Nemo. The OST of that movie had got composer Randy Newman and Oscar nomination. The songs in the movie really make you sit up and listen, it’s a rarely found fusion of Arabic and new age rock sounds.
Well now this mouth watering review has certainly made me hungry again, so Im gonna munch on my Diwali sweets.
Happy Diwali everyone !!
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