CAN'T BELITTLE THE PUZHU

It was just yesterday that I praised Malayalam films and today I saw Puzhu, with none else than the handsome Mammooty as its hero. If the movie is about casteism then even that is not depicted well. The hero's sister, the charming Parvathy Thiruvothu marries outside her caste and Appuni Sasi is her life partner. He smiles through all the shots, to probably show that he is the agreeable kind. Direct opposites, even as she is pretty and fair, he is dark and from a lower caste to boot. So this high class family shuns the sister, while her husband holds her hand and his head high while they walk out of her maternal home, when her dying mother is not allowed to speak with her. But all this is shown towards the end of the film.

And by the way, if someone does see the film, do tell me how we are to guess that good friend Mammooty is a retired cop. Considering he does not feed his son because of some mistake of playing cricket without his permission. The service revolver does explain but that is because I watch a lot of crime movies. Incidentally there seems to be a lot of focus on dental health too and the father and the son are constantly brushing their teeth, Mammooty to make them white while the son knows that the ivory colour is the best. 

And if the hero is a retired cop, what the hell is he doing getting scared so often and putting iron rods across the door. And then in immediate contrast he is shown walking across a copse of trees and entering a house and slapping the guy around a bit. Stray shots of the hero using his strength is shown.

Finally it is a revenge film and vaguely you get to put pieces together, provided you have not yawned yourself into sleep. There is drama and literally so. It opens with a play and ends with one and makes you wonder if the director used theatre to bring more drama into the movie.....

I have an opinion on everything and anything and as I told some time back, but I like to give a long rope when it comes to films and would not like to be negative. But when there is title like Puzhu and a hero like Mammooty your expectations are really high and then you get to see this.....

Luckily for me I had a fantastic lunch, but literally after I cried my eyes out. It was Uma Jayakumar's star 60tth birthday and she got a Ganapathi homam done at home. With all the doors and windows open, the fire burned brighter and healthier even as ghee was poured on it. 

I do not believe in rituals at all, but love when the chanting happens. While the smoke makes you tear up a bit, the theatricality of it all is appealing and love the waft which remains behind of wood smoke. Reminds me of early mornings in a village and it must be some kind of memory.

But the food is always a treat and typically Uma being the generous soul that she is, fed many of us and packed some of it for me. All this ceremony and food felt very familial and I came away with a feeling of being part of something. 

I wish she would drink then I could have bought her a bottle of something nice and we could have broken the seal together. But instead I gave her 60 chocolates only to know that she did not like them much. But since I am older than her, I think I will bless her and that will be a nice gift, eh?