Nanpakal Nerathu Mayakkam review: A must-watch for those who would like to see a new Pellissery
A person wakes up from a lazy nap after lunch and forgets what he was, the place he was, and to which place he was headed to. He begins to dwell a brand new life; begins to talk in another person tongue; even his reminiscences and music change into that of the opposite individual. Ace Malayalam director Lijo Jose Pellissery’s newest, ‘Nanpakal Nerathu Mayakkam’, is an exploration of his trance state.
NNM is a welcome break from Pellissery’s personal mould. The so-called ‘grasp of chaos’, crafted NNM as a movie that’s calm and composed in its manner. The movie opens with a bunch of Malayali Christian pilgrims returning to Kerala by bus after a go to to the well-known pilgrimage centre Velankanni in Tamil Nadu. James (Mammootty), who’s travelling alongside together with his spouse and son, is introduced as a typical imply Malayali chauvinistic male. His aversion and disgust for the agricultural Tamil tradition are established clearly within the first a part of the movie. However as soon as waking up from a nap on the bus, James would go away the bus, goes to a close-by village and begin behaving like a person of that Tamil locality.
With the intention to deliver James again, all the pilgrimage occasion would then be pushed to a state of affairs the place they needed to dwell in that village.
The movie is arguably essentially the most poetic work from Pellissery in his profession. He retains the thoughts of the viewers floating in that rural Tamil village; he additionally asks the Malayali society to self-reflect on the form of chauvinism it reveals.
Mammootty elevates the roles of James (and his Tamil alter ego, Sundaram). The strategy actor exemplifies what he’s able to doing when he will get a fantastic script that gives for efficiency.
S. Hareesh’s screenplay and dialogues, and the visible language wherein Pellissery interprets them, are really world-class. That is Pellissery’s third movie with Hareesh. And, NNM doesn’t comply with any templates of the opposite two movies, Churuli or Jallikkatt. The dialogues have been all sharp, and it rightly wraps beneath the politics NNM desires to talk.
There’s a extremely efficient use of previous Tamil songs on this movie within the sound design half. The movie’s costume design additionally deserves big applause. The cinematography of NNM is once more an enormous shift from what is about as a traditional fashion for Pellissery. The movie’s story calls for a therapy the place extra laid-back static photographs are required, and Pellissery offers precisely such a therapy whereas portraying James’ delusionary journey.
Looks as if NNM is a private movie additionally for Pellisserry. The pilgrimage group is proven to journey in a van of a drama troupe, Sarathi theatres, within the movie. The filmmaker’s father, Jose Pellissery, belonged to a drama troupe of the identical title in the true life, and the filmmaker has reminiscences of him travelling alongside together with his father to Velankanni on the troupe’s automobile.
NNM felt like a plain, easy movie on the primary watch. Nevertheless it does have some thrilling layers. In repeat watches, these layers additionally would additionally come to the fore and shock the viewers. It’s a must-watch for all those that wish to see a brand new form of Pellissery.
Score: 4/5
