Films have been made in Malayalam of the ocean and people living on the shores. Most of them were outstanding and artistically made and many were hits at box office as well. They touched the chords somewhere deep in our emotions and disturbed our thoughts and feelings. It had been a long time since Sathyan Anthikad made a film with a newcomer, avoiding superstars, and “Puthiya Theerangal’ had come with great hopes.
The film tells the story of a young girl who was stranded on the beach more than twelve years ago and of the many people associated with her. The movie brings back memories long forgotten but fails to take the audience completely with it and in fact hardly tickles the emotions of the viewer. The combination of Benny P Nayarambalam and Sathyan Anthikad had justifiably raised the expectations of the Malayalee film fans because they have both produced so many memorable films previously. Benny had written the story as well as the screenplay for “Chandu Pottu”, a film with sea as the backdrop, and it was received with great enthusiasm by the family audience.
The female lead in “Puthiya Theerangal” was played by Namitha Pramod who has done full justice to the character. However, Nedumudi Venu has failed to reach the heights he himself has set as the benchmark with his earlier performances. Even though the character he portrays plays a vital part in the flow of the story, Venu loses his way probably due to the weakness in the creation of the character. Most of the characters (Chembil Ashokan, Sidharth Siva, Innocent, Vinod Kovoor, Gracy and Mallika) fail to impress in spite of their individuality due to the lack of spontaneity in storytelling and as a consequence, the movie gives a feeling of morbidity at the end to the viewer.
Those who just want to pass their time could very well visit the theater but for those who go to see a Sathyan Anthikad movie, the result will be complete disappointment. Kaithapram’s lyrics are very touching but Ilayaraja’s music is unimaginative and stale and is in no way appropriate to the sea and its ambience. The song sequence shot in Humpy looks concocted and artificial. The saving graces were the cinematography by Venu and art direction by Joseph Nellikkal both of whom have done brilliantly. It must be mentioned that several prominent artists from the stage have made their appearance in the movie including Perunna Madhu who has been on the stage for forty years, Anitha Suresh who is the niece of Thoppil Bhasi and Ammini who impressed in the short film ‘Bridge’ included in “Kerala Café”, and all of them deserve praise for their performance.
Hopefully, we can expect a better film, a film that could be remembered forever, from Benny P Nayarambalam and Sathyan Anthikad next time around.
The film tells the story of a young girl who was stranded on the beach more than twelve years ago and of the many people associated with her. The movie brings back memories long forgotten but fails to take the audience completely with it and in fact hardly tickles the emotions of the viewer. The combination of Benny P Nayarambalam and Sathyan Anthikad had justifiably raised the expectations of the Malayalee film fans because they have both produced so many memorable films previously. Benny had written the story as well as the screenplay for “Chandu Pottu”, a film with sea as the backdrop, and it was received with great enthusiasm by the family audience.
The female lead in “Puthiya Theerangal” was played by Namitha Pramod who has done full justice to the character. However, Nedumudi Venu has failed to reach the heights he himself has set as the benchmark with his earlier performances. Even though the character he portrays plays a vital part in the flow of the story, Venu loses his way probably due to the weakness in the creation of the character. Most of the characters (Chembil Ashokan, Sidharth Siva, Innocent, Vinod Kovoor, Gracy and Mallika) fail to impress in spite of their individuality due to the lack of spontaneity in storytelling and as a consequence, the movie gives a feeling of morbidity at the end to the viewer.
Those who just want to pass their time could very well visit the theater but for those who go to see a Sathyan Anthikad movie, the result will be complete disappointment. Kaithapram’s lyrics are very touching but Ilayaraja’s music is unimaginative and stale and is in no way appropriate to the sea and its ambience. The song sequence shot in Humpy looks concocted and artificial. The saving graces were the cinematography by Venu and art direction by Joseph Nellikkal both of whom have done brilliantly. It must be mentioned that several prominent artists from the stage have made their appearance in the movie including Perunna Madhu who has been on the stage for forty years, Anitha Suresh who is the niece of Thoppil Bhasi and Ammini who impressed in the short film ‘Bridge’ included in “Kerala Café”, and all of them deserve praise for their performance.
Hopefully, we can expect a better film, a film that could be remembered forever, from Benny P Nayarambalam and Sathyan Anthikad next time around.
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