Spirited Away

[Perumthachan]

Saw ‘Spirit’ on second day at Ashirwad Cineplex, Haripad.

This must be the most un-heroic intro that Ranjith must have written for Lalettan. Film mags had given brief descriptions of Raghunandan’s history of having worked in a new-age bank in the Middle East/UK or something like that but the movie does not mention anything about it except that he is fluent with a couple of foreign languages. He has some idiosyncrasies like a fear of cooking gas but is gadget-savvy, has a lack of cleanliness which is highly in contrast to an appealing wardrobe, complete freedom for hosting a talk show in lieu of non-payment of fees, unpredictable behavior and an innate urge to have the last word in any conversation. The character is unapologetic about his lack of commitment. All of these traits were portrayed brilliantly by Lalettan. The character was safe in his hands. Neelakantan, Jaganaathan, Induchoodan, Karthikeyan and Chandramouli walked a certain path and then had to take a deviation…so does Raghunandan. The impending loss of a fatherly figure for his son and the death of a talented youngster in his hands, which were heavy cliches brings about the deviational path. From there, the movie loses its steam. The drunkard-and-wife hassle coupled with the sting operation seemed to rush the story and that too childishly. Ranjith had the same problem in 'Pranchi' and 'Indian Rupee' where he rushes up the events leading to the climax and then gets off with an ending that leaves a lot to be desired. It seemed Ranjith wrote till the interval, got the dates, arranged the requirements, scouted the locations and ended up screwing up the script post-interval in a rush to meet the shooting date. Unlike his earlier movies (barring 'Rock N Roll), there are less number of events in this plot. Ranjith is capable of building up the plot but if it does not require the protagonist to physically manhandle or cripple the antagonist, then he is at a loss on how to get to the end of the movie.

Thilakan was wasted or was it the scissors on the editing table? Was the character of Captain Kartha (Madhu) really required other than to remind that ‘protection’ is required in extra-marital games? Kaniha seemed pale with nothing much to do other than harboring a resent to her ex-husband. Shankar Ramakrishnan seemed fine with a controlled amount of emotions. Nandu scorched in the scene where he pounds up Kalpana. There was nothing great about Siddharth’s act. Lena seemed loud but then it was better than Vani vishwanath/Nagma/Nathiya Moidu takes on female cops. Ganesh, Suraj, Govindankutty decorated the movie. As for Lalettan, the role was tailor-suited for him. Only he could do it so much panache.

The use of the f-word frequently seemed as a desperate attempt by Ranjith to shout out that he too is capable of GeNext movies. The sarcasm evident in Pranchi was missing here. There was some hits and misses at the society in between but most of them missed the mark. It felt like Ranjith has himself taken the mantle of 'malayalam cinema's forerunner of the day' which added to the national recognition for 'Indian Rupee' placed him in a podium where he thinks highly of his thoughts and his craft. The movie solely rests on the acting prowess of Lalettan. I am still of the opinion that Ranjith is over-rated and over-hyped. A hold over the film viewers solely based on his pre-90's scripts into which is added his penchant to try out 'something new' is praised for reasons more than necessary. Either he has the ability to create meaningful ventures but compromises taking the demands of the producers into consideration or he is living in an utopia of his own where he feels whatever he feeds will be lapped up by the audience. A mookilaarajyathu syndrome. 'Spirit' had a relevant theme but was baked into something that seemed ravishing behind the counter but tasted cliché and had unwanted crumbs towards the core. A first half which used up hilarious scenes to explore into Raghunandan but then a below average second half. In short, the movie seemed like a hurried up script ending up to be an average movie.

[maryland]

thanks perumthachan...
passed away ennu parayunnathu pole spirited away...

[Santi]

kollam..english il aayirunnel ente review ekadesham ingane irunnene spelling mistake gramor mistake oke kazinchal...

[Gafoorkadosth]

Thanks perumthacha...

[ClubAns]

Thanks Perumthachan..........

[Kochikaran]

thanks macha

[daredevil]

thanks macha

[veecee]

thanks thachan, ningade script enthayi?

[kiran]

thanks perumthachan

[babichan]

ningade BP review kandapole thonni spirit review inganeyakumennu