In the early seventies and eighties, Malayalam cinema turned into the desi literature to convert inspiring pieces of literature into movies. And that resulted in the creation of some landmark movies in the history of Malayalam cinema. But for quite some time, Mollywood seems to forget that Malayalam literature is such a huge evergreen source where they could search for any kind of movies in any genre. Anyhow Director Ranjith had made such an attempt on his new movie "Palery Manikyam-Oru Pathira kolapathakathinte Katha".
This movie is based on a novel written by T.P Rajeevan. The film is about the investigation into the death of 'Manikyam', who was murdered mysteriously 11 days after her marriage in 50's. The protagonist of the movie is Haridas(mammooty)a private detective who is back from Delhi to investigate the murder mystery of a lady called 'Manikyam', which affected his life one way or the other.The whole incident happened fifty years ago.The Investigation into the murder was suspended at the time, due to unconvincing evidences and due to interferences from influential persons in power. so the case was closed as the police could not nail the culprits. Fifty two years later the case is reopened and that forms the rest of the story.This novel was earlier serialized in a malayalam weekly which is based on a true incident that happened shortly before the first ministry of kerala was sworn in. An interesting aspect of the movie is that Mammootty is doing three roles as that of a detective Haridas who comes to re-investigate the case in 2009, a feudal muslim landlord who lived in the 50's and is linked to the crime, and the third role is a mystery which will unfold while you travel through the course of the story. It is through the eyes of Haridas that the truth behind the incidents that led to the shocking murder of Manikyam unfolds at a brisk pace. The movie is trying to use a particular slang which was common in Malabar five decades ago. In order to achieve perfection, Professional stage artists from Malabar were given roles in the film. The movie is trying to establish a part of life style of early 1950's and Ranjith sir did it exceptionally well.
Mammootty is an actor who gives good performances in author backed roles and his portrayal of Ahamed Haji was nothing but spectacular. This was the best out of the three characters played by Mammootty in the movie. The film had a bunch of fresh faces, selected carefully from theatre field . These artists were given a two week conditioning camp before they were assigned the characters to be played before camera. Debutant Mythili plays the title role and she did justice to her job. Also in the cast are Sreenivasan, Siddique, and Swetha Menon who delivered good performances. Gowri Mumjal did the role of a crime analysist and she disappointed me with her poor acting skills. The technical team did a good job. Manoj Pillai did an awesome camera work. The title song of the movie was awesome but the background score was just a mediocre effort.
Ranjith deserves good appreciation taking such a good movie. This film is an exceptionally well portrayed slice of Malabar life in the early 50's. The details of each characters relationships to one another unfold slowly and are revealed in meaningful glances. I can safely recommend this movie to anyone who can savor and that bittersweet joy that can be had by watching a good movie.
My Verdict : 8/10
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