Munnariyippu Review: A question of answers

[Dylan]

TVM Kairali, 11.30 am, Thursday
Status: 50 per cent +

It’s rare to have a film that prods you with uncomfortable questions and doesn’t take the compromise route by providing ready-to-use answers. Munnariyippu is one such film – it discusses heavy-duty material without drifting into preachiness and yet, leaves the debate open to interpretation.

For me, Venu’s second feature is a fascinatingly dark tale of a double-homicide convict who fiercely values, and defends his personal freedom. His space to be. He may be a misfit in a world that celebrates fitting in; a world of deadlines and rules. But is he ready to change? Is the acceptance worth the change? Writer Unni R builds this film as an engrossing drama that moves at a pace it so rightly deserves. And he leaves enough for us to mull on, much after C K Raghavan’s final act of defiance.

I love Mammootty when he plays it down without, even for a moment, losing a shred of intensity (Balachandran from Kaiyoppu was his last such outing). Here, he’s a joy to watch – there are shifty eyes, a slouchy walk and there’s the steely detachment with which he takes on the pushy journalist (an impressive Aparna Gopinath) who is flinging at him more rules (“Close the door, eat, sit down, write!”). Here’s the actor on full throttle but without a sign of hurry. Class Act.

When someday, someone sits down to make a list of greatest Mammootty performances of all time, C K Raghavan is unlikely to make the cut. For me, however, this is the kind of performance that defines Mammootty as an actor. More importantly, it takes a Mammootty to accept a film like this. An annoyingly clichéd journalist gang (with a mandatory name-dropping former Delhi scribe) and acting by some of the English-speaking stiff-suits are minor blemishes in this cracker of a film. It’s still, a bloody cracker of a film. 4/5

[moovybuf]

Thanks....aa cliches ozhivaakaamaayirunnu.... esp joy's character...

[Jishnu Anand]

aadyam thanks.......ini vayikkam....

[maryland]

thanks...

[Jishnu Anand]

thanks again @Dylan..superb writing as always.....

[Manoj]

Thanks bhai...

[cinemabrantan]

Thanks Dylan

[MHP369]

Thanks Dylan

[mukkuvan]

Thanks Dylan....

[jackramsey]

I'm looking for more of your reviews Dylan. Its totally different from others in this forum