Vadakkumnathan Rocks, Mohanlal's Back!!!

The second-last day in tvm turned out to be a really memorable one finally. For lunch went out for something which simultaneous to this one is taking shape as a parallel post. In the afternoon I finally kept an old promise to my dear friends from college Shan, Anoop and their partner Jenu to take a class on DotNet programming for their employees to get them started on a new technology. After almost 4 1/2 years after my seminar in the final semester of college I took a sort of lecture and it was an immensely enjoyable exercise, though the only jarring problem was my memories of the language have turned rusty and have begun to fade. I sincerely hope I dont have to program another line of code in life again. It was funny...Shan, peaking into the conference room every half an hour with a muffled grin on his face and Anoop sitting thru the lecture asking questions like an obedient student which he never was in college and me, one of the Savages who made life hell for many a teacher at college, breathing a sigh of relief that the guys and gals seated in front of me were attentive and very disciplined kids unlike me and my friends in college.

I had resolved to see the movie, Vadakkumnathan for the last few days since it released but everyone discouraged me saying it was impossible to get a ticket for a mohanlal movie so early unless i heckled in the crowd. Tonight I decided to take my chance, and just as I was about to leave, the heaviest downpour since I landed, began. Already a bit despondent that I failed to gather any of my friends for company, I decided not to let it dampen my spirits and decided to take off. It was a big risk...watching a malayalam movie these days is a big gamble, i can name just 4-5 movies in as many years that I have loved but today I got the chance to add another one to the list. I came out gushing that the 80's style of filmmaking is not dead and people still appreciate it...a simple yet impressive story and script from first-timer Girish Puthencherry and wonderful direction from the until now considered "unlucky" Shajoon Karyal and brilliant camerawork by veteran S.Kumar and to cap it all, the most profound music recently coming out from our films by the late Ravindran Master with a Mohanlal who looked younger, fresh and with the kind of acting that made him our hearthrob coming in as a triple topping on a pizza/icing on a cake...whatever you wanna call it...I just loved every minute of this movie.

"Pandathe Kaamukanaayi Lalettan Veendum"...was a comment I heard from somebody coming out of the theater and it brought a smile to my face. I just cant believe Mohanlal didnt have faith in this movie and delayed its release by more than a year...but give him a strong script and a difficult character...the acting skills which we think have deserted him just flow back and keep us spellbound on the screen. Apart from all the people I mentioned above who made this film so special, Jesudas and his "Gange" song echoes your mind long after you come out of the movie...its so sad that people have to get old, its such a pity that suddenly you are seen as having a voice that isnt divine anymore and then out of the blue he has shamed all those people who predicted his end. I wonder if I've gone overboard in praising this film...but I really loved it and I believe so will you all...keep your expectations low, expect a movie which has malayalitham written all over it, a very subdued and life-like performance from lalettan where you get to see that same vulnerability in his expressions we missed lately in all his super-human performances and just go to the cinema hall and sit back and let it grip you.