Pakalum Pathiravum movie review: Whatcha doing in this whaddyacallit, dear Kunchacko Boban and Rajisha Vijayan?

Cast: Rajisha Vijayan, Kunchacko Boban, Seetha P.S., Manoj K.U., Guru Somasundaram

Director: Ajai Vasudev

Language: Malayalam

While watching the inexplicable Pakalum Pathiravum (Day and Midnight), I could imagine a vapour of an idea floating around in a writer’s mind about how poverty, humiliation and desperation may reduce human beings to sub-human levels of beastliness. The original concept probably had potential, which might explain why Rajisha Vijayan and Kunchacko Boban both signed up for it. To execute such a concept without doing an injustice to the poor and the oppressed, however, would require intelligence and empathy, both of which are missing in this bizarre film directed by Ajai Vasudev with a story by Dayal Padmanabhan, screenplay and dialogues by Nishad Koya.

Rajisha (June, Keedam) certainly has what it takes to shoulder a larger-than-life story while playing a larger-than-life character of the sort that is usually granted to male stars. Not without a semblance of a script to support her though. Here she gets to do what can perhaps be described as the female version of a clichéd men-centric masala Malayalam screamfest with a little less blood and noise than most, and with Kunchacko hovering in the background. Turning well-established cinematic conventions on their head, even the worst of them, requires thought and finesse, but Pakalum Pathiravum is thoughtless, vague, hollow and unpolished.

The film begins with a focus on three characters, which suggests that all three will be of equal importance in the narrative and that the crux of the plot will lie in the intersection of their paths. As it turns out, it does not.

Guru Somasundaram plays Janaki Raman, a corrupt policeman. Janaki is predatory and exploitative towards the inhabitants of this thickly forested region who are anyway under constant threat from elephant attacks, wild boar and criminals. He leers at the women, openly seeks sexual favours from them, and threatens to slap the label of ‘Maoist’ on any man who crosses swords with him. Among his targets are Mercy (Rajisha) and her mother (Seetha P.S.) who in any case have their cup of woe overflowing with the antagonism of locals to whom Mercy’s drunken father (Manoj K.U.) owes money and the well-meaning but intrusive condescension of whoever is left. We are also briefly introduced to an enigmatic stranger played by Kunchacko who is heading out on his motorcycle  wearing a stylish jacket. I specify the jacket because the script takes time out of the proceedings to feature a character who discusses the smartness of his attire with him. That exchange, like an earlier pointed reference to the challenge of masking made by Mercy, is among many pointless comments and conversations dotting Pakalum Pathiravum.

When Mercy meets Kunchacko’s character, a wildlife photographer named Michael), she is first suspicious of him and then tempted, because his apparent wealth offers a possibility of escape from her no-good father and terrible financial circumstances. It appears for a moment as if Pakalum Pathiravum will go somewhere, but instead it all unravels. Never mind the nitty-gritty but this is where everything gets weird in an apparent attempt to be deep. What follows are violence, gore, loud music, slow motion shots, menacing looks and overt attempts at being clever that completely fall flat.

The only consistently positive element throughout this film is cinematographer Faiz Siddik’s masterful work on the mountains and jungles in which the story plays out, although these frames are overshadowed in time by the trite shooting of the primary characters. The only positive element I can think of in the latter half of the script is the change in plans made by Kunchacko’s character when he realises the unintended effect he had on Mercy. It’s a fleeting instance of sensitivity that hints at what Pakalum Pathiravum could have been if the premise had been expanded into a screenplay by a better writer.

Ajai Vasudev is known so far for directing Mammootty starrers. Shylock (2020) was painfully Mammukka obsessed and Masterpiece (2017) was obnoxious towards women. If Pakalum Pathiravum is his way of doing reparation by creating a strong female lead then it’s a misfire. For the record, the director’s Mammootty fixation is in evidence in this film too.

Kunchacko has almost nothing to do here except look mysterious, which is particularly disappointing since this film comes right after his world-class performances in Nna, Thaan Case Kodu and Ariyippu. Manoj K.U. who was so memorable in Thinkalazhcha Nishchayam operates in a haze in Pakalum Pathiravum when he is not yelling. Guru Somasundaram, whose talent was so beautifully tapped in Minnal Murali, overacts here. So does Seetha P.S. The only member of the cast who is able to give us a glimpse of what she is capable of is Rajisha whose barely discernible transition from frustrated daughter to seductress is interesting before she descends into conventional villain mode.

At one point a Christian priest assures Mercy and her hapless mother that God will never abandon them and that an angel will one day arrive to lift the young woman out of this morass. As he says these words, the camera shifts to a painting of Jesus on the wall and in the empty space beside him appears a visual of Michael/Kunchacko on his mobike. Juxtaposing a shot of a male star against the figure of Christ the Saviour is obviously meant to be profound, but is really about as literal as the use of religious imagery can get in a film that, in its entirety, is so lacking in substance. It is also a pointless gigantification of the character played by the said star, considering that Michael ends up adding up to not much.

The single good after-effect of Pakalum Pathiravum is that I am now anxious to see Rajisha in an out and out action thriller. One with substance. Unlike this film.

Rating: 0.5 (out of 5 stars) 

Pakalum Pathiravum is in theatres

Anna M.M. Vetticad is an award-winning journalist and author of The Adventures of an Intrepid Film Critic. She specialises in the intersection of cinema with feminist and other socio-political concerns. Twitter: @annavetticad, Instagram: @annammvetticad, Facebook: AnnaMMVetticadOfficial

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