Pathemari

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!

Asianet's Mammootty the Best Actor 2011

This was published in The Hindu Metroplus dated February 24

Come Sunday next and a new reality show begins on Asianet. Actually, not new, but the second edition of a show. (Yawn?) But ‘Mammootty the Best Actor 2011' is nothing like the first one, says M. R. Rajan, Asst Vice President, Asianet. “It's a totally new type of show, lasting for just 13 episodes,” he promises. That's cause for relief, no doubt.

It's a hunt for good actors from Kerala, for Mollywood, as ‘there is a deficiency in that department, in the industry,' as cinematographer Venu, one of the three on the jury, puts it. The other two are actor-director Revathy and director Ranjit.

Of the 3,000 plus applicants, all between 10-30 years, 1,000 took the screen test and the number whittled down to 50. The in-house team did this job at centres in Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi and Dubai.

New generation directors

At the next stage, 10 new generation directors (many of whom have one or two films to their credit), like Mohan Raghavan who made the absorbing ‘T.D.Dasan Std IV B', Shaiju Anthikkad, Deepu Karun, Radhakrishnan Mangalath and others took over and 10 of the lucky and talented contestants were chosen from among them. Now, these ten directors are moulding them in the several departments of acting like dialogue delivery (maybe dubbing is discouraged, which is a good sign). Well, each director works on one contestant and finally on April 1, in Dubai, the top three contestants will be selected by the super threesome jury.

For Venu, this is his maiden TV show. Why now? “I like asking questions”, he answers. The judgement will not be based on appearance or glamour, but sheer talent, he says. The rounds include those that bring acting potential to the fore.

The ten directors are making ten short segments of films with the contestants, bringing out these qualities in each for the winners to be picked. The quality of moulding and innate talent will go a long way to creating the best actor. Kids from age 12 compete with adults in their late twenties. The 13 episodes will feature these ten contestants going through the grind with the jury.

Mammootty's role

Which brings us to the question: why it's called ‘Mammootty the Best Actor 2011'. Mammooty's role in the show is giving acting tips to contestants, interaction with the ten finalists and the topper will be given a role in a movie made by his production house, Playhouse, according to Rajan.

Yet another question why ‘Mammootty the Best Actor 2011' is telecast by Asianet channel when he is the chairman of Malayalam Communications Limited, which operates the channels under the Kairali TV, is a loaded one for which answers are yet to come.

Anyway, your afternoon nap after a full lunch on Sunday for the next few weeks will be affected. The show is from 2-3 p.m