Pathemari……I
sat tongue tied till the end. Relationships are redefined in Pathemari. The cyberyug
generation may not be able to relate to the hero, Narayanan, if you narrate the
story but Salim Ahamed’s script cleverly does that. I saw young red eyes and
noses at the end of the movie. Success is redefined. Also love. Maternal,
filial and a lot more that the nuclear family destroyed or diluted. That it’s a
period film that extends to the present is beside the point.
That is the
single most important contribution of director Salim Ahamed to society, through cinema. And
Salim Ahmed is a guy who writes and rewrites his script till it’s tight. His
direction seems premeditated and mature.
The story: Risking
life, travelling to the new oil rich Gulf in a pathemari, toiling hard to repay
debts and live up to the expectations of a huge extended family is the lot of
the protagonist, Mammooty. Restrained and realistic, Mammooty as Pallikkal Narayanan
will be etched in our hearts for a long long time to come. Dialogue delivery,
gait, mannerisms…. there is no Mammooty at all, only Pallikkal Narayanan. All
the characters in Pathemari have their own space, that is the beauty of the
script. Sreenivasan, Joy Mathew, Siddique, Sunil Sugadha, Jewel Mary, Anju
Aravind, Siddique’s son, Shaheem Siddique, and a host of others.
Highlights?
The parting shot of Narayanan, summing up the story of an entire generation
that brought in hard earned petro dollars to buck up our economy.
A bigger
highlight is Madhu Ambat’s magical cinematography. Every mood is captured with such sensitivity that the story and pictures jell into one whole. The picturisation of the beautiful
song, Pathemari…..sung soulfully by Shahbaz Aman, composed by Bijibal, is a
treat on big screen. Every shot translates the mood. The lighting is poetic. It
sure is heady, the music, photography, lyrics, sound design by Resool Pookkutty. (Yes, one feels the difference and the superior quality)
Eros International which has distributed this
movie came into the Malayalam scene with Life of Josutty. Whaaat a contrast!
Crisp
editing by Vijay Shankar sees to it that there is no lagging, yet no untoward
jumps. The one minus point is that its realism is almost docu like, yet
cinematic license is resorted to in a cloying coincidence at the fag end of the
film.
Salim
Ahmed’s outing with Madhu Ambat started with Adaminte Makan Abu, went on with
Kunjanandante kada and now, this.
When I went
to interview Madhu Ambat about four years ago, some one was with him. I waited
till he left a few minutes later. Towards the end of the interview, he told me
about Salim Ahamed’s project and then said,”Oh..I should have introduced him to
you. He was the one who was here.” That was a close miss for me!
