‘Vellaripattanam’ movie review: Manju Warrier, Soubin Shahir in a stale political satire – The Hindu

Early on in Vellaripattanam, Okay.P Suresh (Soubin Shahir), an area politician who’s but to search out any success in his calling, tells his sidekick (Krishna Shankar) concerning the experiences he has gone by means of up to now. “Ought to we go in for a flashback?” the sidekick asks him. “It could be a bit cliched, however we will nonetheless go for it,” replies Suresh. For the subsequent jiffy, we get a fast rewind of his campus politics days and a accident that led to his sister Okay.P Sunanda (Manju Warrier) turning into a profitable politician on the panchayat stage. All this whereas, the sidekick who has been with him since childhood listens intently to your complete story, simply in order that the viewers too will get this info.

This self-awareness of the makers, that they’re dealing in cliches whereas proudly going forward and showering us extra of the identical, is probably the most placing side of Vellaripattanam, Mahesh Vettiyar’s debut directorial. It by no means strays from the template that has been set over time for maybe probably the most over-exploited genres in Malayalam cinema — political satire. Shining by means of your complete film is a surface-level understanding of politics in Kerala, which is then peppered with the sort of political stereotypes that one will get in Whatsapp forwards.

The occasions are taking place within the fictional Chakkarakudam panchayat — which the makers have considered as a stand-in for a typical panchayat in Kerala — with the standard mixture of competing political fronts. Siblings Suresh and Sunanda, a part of rival teams inside the identical political social gathering, share a love-hate relationship. Suresh is annoyed along with his fixed failures to safe a seat within the panchayat elections. He’s additionally envious of his sister’s rise. Sunanda has endeared herself to the individuals by actively engaged on the bottom and together with her personal bag of tips to achieve an higher hand inside the social gathering. Suresh’s intense want to get a seat for himself makes him consider drastic measures, however not too drastic as a result of this isn’t that sort of a movie.

The scriptwriter ensures that the sibling rivalry doesn’t turn into too antagonistic, sneaking in a scene exhibiting how they take care of one another each time issues begin getting powerful between them. But, such care is just not taken in portraying numerous sections, particularly the employment assure scheme staff, who’re proven sleeping on the bottom the place they’re speculated to be working. As for the best way the political events are portrayed, a number of the issues that they’re proven to be indulging in appear too far-fetched even for a political satire. To not overlook, Suresh even will get a love curiosity and a track sequence, just for him to nearly overlook her existence until the climax.

Vellaripattanam is a stale political satire that doesn’t attempt to do something new, ending up as a pale imitation of some previous hits.

Vellaripattanam is presently working in theatres

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