'PRANCHIYETTAN AND THE SAINT' is a masterpiece

For all you people who has been shedding tears about no good movie gets made nowadays, it is time for you to stop worrying, well for the time being at least, because 'Pranchiyettan and the Saint' is a brilliant movie. Rarely will you ever come across movies with such depth. Director Ranjith's latest venture starring Mammootty, is one such movie which offers sheer joy and a captivating cinematic experience to the viewers.

In this movie, Mammootty plays a rice merchant named Chirammal Eaanasu Francis, popularly known by the name ‘Pranchiyettan' or 'AriPraanchi' hailing from Trichur. He is an immensely rich business man who had been traditionally into rice selling. He is a man who is out there with a helping hand to the people around him. Though he had every other fortune, Pranchiyettan feels that he commands no needed respect from the society, as he is uneducated. The movies tracks his hilarious ways into making more respectability and honour for himself. Throughout the film, Ranjith remains undecided between two equally lucrative, and challenging choices. The first, of making his film a satire – a celebration of the flawed corrupted system we live in (Making us realize even the Padmasree is for sale) and the second – of making his film a genuinely profound,intense and extremely witty. Both black humor and emotional quotients are amalgamated in the right proportion. Full credits to Ranjith sir for that as the film offers lots of quality rib-tickling moments throughout. The intermission point offers a small and surprising element that is totally out of the blue and keeps you hooked to the movie. The way Ranjith sir narrated with the story with a tinge of black humour with a rich flavor of Thrissur slang is indeed mention worthy.

Mammootty is an actor who delivers good performance every time and he delivered the mannerisms and the rich thrissur slang with consummate ease. He is supported by a huge cast of actors including Innocent, Siddique, Tini Tom, Jagathy Sreekumar, and Master Ganapathy who was highly impressive. Priyamani and Khushboo did justice to their roles. The technical side of this movie is pretty strong with veteran cinematographer Venu delivering a very good camera work. The only song in the movie is nicely picturised but they seem to lack a real tune. A nice melody wouldn´t have gone amiss. The crew have attempted to make the song and BGM appropriate to the story but the song is not really anything memorable, then what is the point of having it? Ranjith controls the goings-on in the story very well and extracts assured performances from all of his actors.

On the whole, 'Pranchiyettan and the saint' easily ranks amongst Ranjith, Mammootty and Innocent's finest films. One of the finest films to have come out in the last five years. Do yourself and your family a favour: Watch 'Pranchiyettan and the saint'. It's entertaining, it's real and it's captivating and if you are missing it, you are missing it big time!!

My Verdict : 4.5/5

SHIKAAR -- An engrossing thriller !!!!

A very good story, superb performances, well fleshed out characters, play of emotions and technical brilliance. Padmakumar bounces back with flare in his new film ‘Shikaar’ which is indeed a worthy watch for all the lovers of contentful cinema. Although he had been able to create some mentionable and good movies in the past like 'Ammakilikoodu', 'Vargam' and 'Vasthavam'. All these movies were critically acclaimed but sadly ended up as flops at the Box Office. After several unsuccessful attempts to hit the bulls eye, director Padmakumar had to team up with none other than Mohanlal to create a commercial hit and I must say they have succeeded.

The story unfolds in a forest called Chittazha, a place that comes alive only when it is the time for the bamboo to be harvested. During the season, a dozen of shops are set up in the forest to serve the hundreds of workers and drivers who come up to harvest bamboo and transport them into far off places. Mohanlal is Balaraman in the movie, a lorry driver who frequents this place during the season. Although he appears cool in demeanor, certain incidents from his past continue to haunt him. The story carries you along and keeps you hanging on every moment. What starts as a passable entertainer turns into a gripping suspense-thriller during second half. Hats off to entire team as they deserve praises for their earnest efforts and brilliance. Padmakumar has successfully managed to build in the necessary tension and suspense around the lead character, which pushes the movie till the climax.

Mohanlal is used to such a good effect that one can really feel his fear and fire, experiences his struggle. This role was just a cake walk for him but he delivered it with magnificent ease. The director also seems to have decided to keep the central character more manly, without a huge deal of heroic built ups until the last reels. The only hiccups in the entire proceeding seems to be the comedy scenes which featured Suraj Venjaramudu which fails to deliver. Ananya delivered a candid natural performance without pushing for histrionics, and works the understated character perfectly. Samudrakani as Telungana leader Abdulla was nothing but brilliant. Lakshmi Gopalaswamy, Thalaivasal Vijay, Lalu Alex and Kalabhavan Mani also does their roles with elaan.

Surprisingly, the script writer Suresh Babu does a very good job as his script is both engaging and entertaining. A very good round of applause to the director because the movie follows a crystal-clear narration. The other highlights of the movie are the awesome and neatly framed cinematography by Manoj Pillai capturing the greenery and the ethereal beauty of Pooyamkutti forest. Musician Jayachandran has came up with a couple of good tracks including the track, “Enthedi Enthedi” which is also at the top of hit chart.

A little more crispness in script and care in execution could have made it to the list of the bests, seen in recent times in Mollywood. But now with its strong theme, nice premise and good performances from the lead pairs, the movie ends up as a laudable effort and can be definitely prescribed for a complete entertainment. Highly recommended.

My Verdict: 3.8/5