LEFT RIGHT LEFT - What is Left about this? And what is Right?

[Perumthachan]

The movie starts off with a line of ants which are, as always, moving fast, toiling hard and helping each other thereby contributing to the equality and progress of their species. The movie is a reminder that Communists should be like the ants.

The basic theme of the movie is that a man is part DNA, part unknown and part what he sees and goes through as a child. Kaitheri Sahadevan (Hareesh Peradi), as a child, grew up in the crimson-colored soil of the north which has, throughout the history of post-Independence Kerala, been the seasoned ground for communist ideologies. His experiences as a child convert him into a rigid character yet he is admired and loved by his villagers. Over the years he grows up to be the most prominent figure of the RPI (M) - Revolutionary Party of India (Marxist). Che Guevera Roy (Murali Gopy) grew up learning about communism from his father, who was a martyr of the Emergency. During his college days, he was a fire-brand activist of the YFI who falls prey to the spite of his opponents, resulting in a paralysis of his left side, physically and politically. Now, he spends time in silent social activities. He is supported by his wife, Anita (Lena), who is a guest lecturer. PK Jayan (Indrajith) grew up, unable to bear the loss of his elder sister and with the early realization that, it is easy for a police officer to make money, hook or crook. He grows up to be a rough and hard officer who is trying to woo a nurse, Jennifer (Remya). These are the characters who get embroiled in a series of events that start to rotate following the publication of an article relating to a corrupt deal that Sahadevan has with a foreign company, resulting in him receiving crores of rupees as commission. The funniest part is that the movie starts off with the ‘no resemblance’ disclaimer but the indications are clear, in person and dialogues. This movie has VS Achuthanandhan, Pinarayi Vijayan, SNC Lavelin, TP Chandrasekhar and the burning communist ideologies of today. On a lighter note, it hits out on bourgeoisie newspaper Manorama, Congress leaders and Christian money-minters.

The movie puts forward two relevant themes – One, Communism is needed for the prosperity of humanity but in today’s Kerala, the same ideology is held high by two leaders who are the least capable to carry the red beacon forward. One of them is more concerned about his clean image above everything and for that he might betray those who stand by him. The other leader heavily critical towards his opponents inside the party and the renegades who leave the party for which he runs a Mafia-like organization fueled by ideology-crazed youth who are ready to kill or be killed for him. And frankly, I think the climax is a utopian solution but many more like him will sprout up. The party is in dire need of a self-check. Two, politicians make sure that certain issues are always on the boiling point because their existence depends on it. For certain issues, they might do things least expected by a person upholding certain ideologies.

Indrajith, Murali Gopy, Hareesh Peradi, Sreejith Ravi, Sudheer, Sethulakshmi, Lena, Anusree were really good. Remya, Saiju Kurup, Jagadeesh, Suraj could have been avoided. Baiju bought on his usual comic avatar for such a serious movie. Mamukoya was wasted. Vijayaraghavan just had to tone up his mimicry mode. The technical side is exemplary. The BGM, the shots, the production design, costumes were done with diligence. The editing, done by the director himself, could have been better in keeping to the pace of the movie.

I was disappointed by the way the movie has turned out. I am not going into the political realms. My grouse is completely against the movie. There are lots of unwanted characters and unwanted scenes. The transition of scenes between the characters had no smoothness something which was more evident in the writer’s earlier feature. There are lots of scenes which have no relevance and those, which, if edited off, would not have made a noticeable difference. The story is highly and heavily predictable, especially the flashback scenes towards the climax cementing the character of Roy. The Indran-Ramya-Saiju Kurup-KT Miraash and the Suraj-Devi tracks seemed to be written for some other movie. I was like, WTF what does these have to do with the subject in hand. Or were those desperate attempts by the makers to cater to the crass-humor enjoying audience. Indran’s brutal character, which he performed with conviction, seemed a complete misfit to the movie, unless of course, his role was injected to bring down the curtain at the ultimate scenes. There are scenes used to mold out an emotion but those scenes are rushed and cut off soon which means the film-makers knew they had to maintain the pace required for a thriller but the thrill was exactly what was missing throughout. There are scenes that have been sprinkled though-out for the writer to boast of his intellectual and observant prowess (Will Durant to Osho to G-spot to the shawarma). I am not getting into the script-writer’s political thoughts but there are enough scenes in the movie that have been placed either to state a particular ‘saffron’ point or to take a jibe at the present scenario. The writer made a list of the topics he wanted to hit on and then conjured up a script, the exact opposite of what he should have done. As said by a character in the movie, ‘Life is a marriage of elements and death is the divorce of the same’, the movie is likewise, a marriage of good dialogues to an average script.

Let me flag-off by admitting that I am a leftist who is struggling with my political beliefs. My activities restrict to blindly stamping the star-&-sickle on the ballot paper and occasionally reading of books released by Chintha Publications. I admit that the party is not where it was envisioned in the beginning. The last haul of seats in the Assembly Elections is not because the party has done anything great, it is because people believe in the same ideology that the leaders have lost. മൂര്*ത്തിയെക്കാ വല്യ ശാന്തിയുള്ള കാലമാ. But my distaste of the movie has nothing to do with those. I am not making it seem this is the worst movie ever. I am not stating that this is an avoidable one. Just saying that the theme had relevance, the plot had potential, the characters had depth but in the end, it all ended up short of being something worthy of being remembered.

[Hari Jith]

Thanks Bhai..

[PRINCE]

Thnx Bhaii..

[sha]

thanks machaa...

[MALABARI]

Ammmmmmeeeee

[MeoW]

Sakhavinu ishtapettilla ennathu kondu itrakku katti english il review ittu njangale vishampikaruthairunnu...

[cinemabrantan]

Thanksss perunthachan

[B I L A L]

Sakhavinu ishtapettilla ennathu kondu itrakku katti english il review ittu njangale vishampikaruthairunnu...

athraku katti onnumalla....katti englsih anenu karuthi njan vayikathe irikayirunu.,...pinne chumma onu vayichu nokamenu karuthi...sambavam manasilakum...

btw thanx thachan sir.....

[boban]

Thanks Bhai...

[Jithu]

Thanks Perumthachan..