Thanmathra (Molecule)

Finally a Blessy movie which makes some sense...

After having watched Bhramaran and Calcutta news, I had lost faith in his direction but Thanmathra proves that it’s not a lose cause yet. The movie begins with the life of a simple man Ramesan Nair (Mohanlal). He lives with his wife Lekha (Meera Vaasudevan), son Manu (Arjun Lal) and daughter. He works at the secretariat. His aim is to make sure that his son becomes an IAS officer. He is absolutely involved in bringing up his kids, teaching them and is himself has a very gifted memory and even lectures at his son’s school on memory techniques.

His is a small and perfect family.

The first anomaly we see is when at his hometown he forgets the nickname of a childhood friend. Not much later he forgets the lyrics of one of his favorite songs. This really frustrates him and he rushes out of a bath without drying himself when he remembers the lyrics. Slowly after that his life starts unraveling and he forgets an important file in the freezer. He even goes to the doctor who initially attributes his forgetfulness to the stress caused due to his son being in class XII.

But then he turns up at office one day with vegetables and behaves as if he is at home. Soon the situation gets out of hand and his good friend Joseph takes him to the hospital. His father (Nedumudi Venu) also comes from the village. The doctor informs the family that Ramesh is suffering from Alzheimer’s and the family needs to be prepared for it. Throughout this the son Manu behaves very maturely and handles the entire crisis.

Ramesh’s father decides to move the family back to the ancestral home so that they can take care of Ramesh. Thereon we see slowly the degeneration of Ramesh while his family watches.

The movie is well directed especially because it tackles an issue like Alzheimer’s very sensitively. While watching the movie, initially I felt that the director is rambling aimlessly but after he starts showing the effects of memory loss on Ramesh you realize the importance of the initial background the director gave. In my personal opinion the technique of moving between past and present that Blessy later used in Bhramaran could have made this film a little crisp. Nevertheless he successfully tells the story of Ramesh in a very poignant manner.

What disappointed me in this movie are the performances. The fundamental reason for that could be that the actors and the director might not have done their background research in actually studying a patient of Alzheimer’s. To understand the nuances of their behavior, to see how the disease reduces a person to a vegetable, you actually have to spend some time with a person suffering from it and with the family taking care of the patient. But our Indian actors are above all this. They can just wake up and play any character. As a result Mohanlal’s performance is melodramatic and all Meera Vasudevan does on the screen is cry. Arjun Lal, looks extremely unnatural as the dutiful son.

The film has its moments but falls short of expectations.

(Can Skip)

Calcutta News

Ajith (Dileep) is a news reporter for one of the news channel in Calcutta. He lives with his mother and two sisters. One day the channel gets the news of a dead body found near the river. On seeing the dead man, Ajith realizes that he had seen the same man sometime earlier with a young girl, perhaps his wife, and they are also malayalee. Ajith who had recorded a small video of the couple on his mobile feels personally involved and sets out to search for the girl. They soon learn that a malayalee girl was found locked in a room with some head injuries. Ajith realizes it’s the same girl and meets her. The girl Krishna Priya (Meera Jasmine) finds some solace on seeing Ajith since she only speaks Malayalam.


Ajith takes her to identify her husband’s body where she breaks down and admits that she is an orphan from Kerala and just married Hari a few days earlier and came to Calcutta. Ajith and crew realize from her story that the husband was a crook involved in sex racket and was planning to sell Krishna Priya to a one arm guy who is involved in trafficking.

Initially shattered and suicidal, Krishna Priya gets better when she stays with some colleagues of Ajith. She is a beautiful singer and Ajith tries to get her some opportunities to showcase her talent. Ajith also takes her to a psychiatrist who helps in her treatment. The two eventually fall in love.

Meanwhile the ‘one arm’ villain kidnaps Krishna Priya and Ajith and his colleagues go to the red light district and bring to light the squalor and abject poverty in which the women live. All ends well as CM sends a rescue mission on seeing the story on TV.

The best bit about the movie is undoubtedly Meera Jasmine. She has played the character of innocent, lively Krishna Priya with utmost finesse. Dileep is passable though I found his expressions quite foolish and boring.

The movie starts on a very promising note, with enough mystery to keep you glued. But later he loses his grip and the hitherto realistic story becomes a cheap melodrama. The issue is that (and I saw Blessy doing the same in Bhramaram) when you take a real story, at all points you have to keep it grounded and logical. If you have to make a fantasy then see “Mr. India” and create a villains like “Mogambo”. Don’t mix the two genres. It’s as if somewhere while directing, Blessy realized that his movie was too offbeat and decided to make it more commercial.

Interesting story which goes awry. You can watch it for Meera Jasmine though.

(Can Watch)

Bhramaram

The movie tells the story of a simple jeep driver Sivan Kutty (Mohanlal) who is convicted of killing a classmate in school. After his release 21 years later, he changes name and his family moves to a different village to settle. Rid of the past, he is happily married with a new identity and has a loving wife and daughter. The wife is blissfully unaware of the past. But the past catches up when she learns of the truth accidently. She leaves Sivan Kutty and goes to her parents place with their daughter. Distraught Sivan Kutty goes in search of his classmates who can prove that he is innocent and was falsely accused of a crime he did not commit.

In the city we see Sivan Kutty mysteriously appearing in the lives of Unni (Suresh Menon) and his wife and daughter. He tells his name is Jose and Unni is unable to place him in his class. Later on Unni realizes his true identity and feels threatened. This is actually the part of the film which is decently done where Unni feels terrorized by the presence of Sivan Kutty and tries to get rid of him. However Siva forces Unni to journey with him to tell his wife and daughter that it is not he who had committed the crime but Unni. From this point onwards the movie takes a turn for the worst and is irredeemable. The rest of the movie is Siva’s journey back to his hometown with Unni with a very predictable end.



I felt that the director was completely confused and could not decide what flavor to give to the movie. So while first half seems like an urban drama of a yuppy couple with a past, the second half seems a semi-horror film with a psychotic killer on loose. And if you have a star like Mohanlal in the movie you definitely have to throw in some absolutely uncalled for fighting sequences. The two halves actually seem like two different movies.

Mohanlal for his bit has acted well, but then that is accepted of a star of his caliber and then too this performance is nothing compared to his earlier movies. Rest of the actors are not even average and don’t even deserve a mention.

Overall the movie had a promising script and could have been a movie to be reckoned with but instead suffers with lack of coherence and dismal direction.

(Do Skip)