Veeralipattu Malayalam Movie
Kukku Surendran, who had made his directorial debut with Oraal, now comes up with a very well-crafted film Veeralipattu. There however is the distinct possibility that the film flops at the box office, because our audience is rather averse to the kind of subject that the film deals with.
Veeralipattu tells the story of a young man and his family forced to bear the burden of tradition. Harinarayanan, who works in Chennai, is in love with Pooja, the daughter of rich parents. Many a time Hari is haunted by certain thoughts and visions and thus, in a totally perturbed state, he decides to go to his village, which he had left two years back.
Hari's father is Madhavan Nair, an industrious farmer and a man who loves his family dearly. Ever since Hari was a boy, he had always held in dread his grandfather Narayanan Nair, who was the Velichappaadu (the temple oracle). But on growing up, he had become somewhat closer to his grandfather. Madhavan Nair had promised Hari that he would never become a Velichappaadu as he gave more importance to his family. But after Narayanan Nair's death, Madhavan Nair assumes the mantle of the Velichappaadu, his justification being that he had to uphold age-old traditions. From here things take a new turn.
Prithviraj has done a good job as Harinarayanan, very effectively portraying the dilemma faced by the young man in the climax scenes. Murali as Madhavan Nair has done a splendid job. Jagathy Sreekumar in an altogether different role as the very serious Narayanan Nair too is impressive.
Padmapriya as Pooja, Rekha as Hari's mother Gayathry, Suraaj Venjaramoodu as Hari's friend Pavithran who goes round wearing saffron robes and looking forward to becoming the Velichappaadu himself, Jaffer Idukki as Sundaran who runs a mobile hairdressing saloon, Indrans as Ramu the thief, Anoop Chandran as the auto-rickshaw driver Dasappan, Sreejith Ravi as the hooligan Chandu etc have done full justice to their respective roles.
Another person who deserves special mention is Mohan Sithara, who has added to the tempo of the film with his background score. Cinematographer Manoj Pillai and editor Hariharaputhran have given apt support. And so has art-director Saburam. The songs too are good and have been well placed. From Oraal to Veeralipattu, Kukku Surendran has come a long way and shows considerable mastery over the art and craft of film making.
The scenarists Ashok and Sasi, who are still awaiting the release of their earlier film Two Wheeler (which has reportedly been renamed), have done a good job too. It is to be mentioned however, that the English lines that have been deliberately added at certain places could have been more polished and would have sounded better had they been rendered by artists who could speak English better.
To sum up, Kukku has delivered a good film. Sadly though, it may not be accepted by our audience which is averse to such themes. Whether the film makes it at the box office or not, hats off to Kukku, Ashok-Sasi, Mohan Sithara, Prithviraj, Murali, Jagathy Sreekumar and all the rest of the team for a job well done!
