Ithu Pathiramanal Malayalam Movie
'Ithu Pathiramanal' is not an iota better than what you expect it to be. Padmakumar's new film is a generic revenge thriller with few unique moments in its faltering script, and gropes around on the very common ground where many such thrillers had formerly ended up dead.
Eldho (Unni Mukundan) has had a troubled childhood, what with being witness to his mother (Shalu Menon) being raped and his dad (Jayasurya) being stabbed by Shouliar (Pradeep Rawat). Years later, Eldho waits for Shouliar to emerge from prison to wreak vengeance on the man who had wrecked his family.
Sarah (Remya Nambeesan), the girl whom Eldho falls in love with, is one of those many characters that have been essayed by Manju Warrier and later Meera Jasmime; the self strong young girl who has fought with destiny all her life, never for a moment bowing down before the odds on her way. The traits of the character are predictably the same, except that Sarah willing surrenders herself before her lover, not waiting for him to tie her the knot.
The excitement that is mandatory in a film as this, is simply not there, and it vehemently tries to stretch the action forward to last a couple of hours. The gloom is successfully maintained throughout, but the characters are etched out so feebly that they collapse, never to rise again.
It's difficult when the story that you intend to tell has already been told a million times, and in a million better ways. It's worse, when you have classics in the genre staring back at you, and when your film looks like a cardboard replica in comparison.
One wonders what it is that makes Padmakumar root for the revenge theme in almost all his films, so much so that they have started resembling paper cups that look all the same. 'Ithu Pathiramanal' is a further extension of his earlier films like 'Shikkar', and carries the revenge drama even further, but exploring no fresh vistas in the process.
'Ithu Pathiramanal' has two inspiring performers in its cast - Pradeep Rawat, who is incredibly impressive in his role as the cop with a perilous libido, and Remya Nambeesan who seems to be getting better with each film. Surprisingly, Unni Mukundan is relegated to a place behind these two, despite playing the role around which the film itself revolves.
Jayasurya in what seems almost like a cameo, has very few dialogues or scenes for that matter. It would be impossible to analyze if it could have made a change to the film, if he was seen in the Eldho's role as well. But my assumption is that no change in the cast could have made any difference, as far as 'Ithu Pathiramanal' goes.
Technically, the film excels, as do most of Padmakumar's films. Manoj Pillai is the man behind the camera, and the film could very well boast of a few mind blowing visuals that have been amazingly well shot. Afzal Yusuf's musical score is certainly not disappointing either.
'Ithu Pathiramanal' isn't a film that is going to add up to Padmakumar's repertoire. At best, it would merely serve as yet another mediocre film from the director, who had made a promising start with 'Vargam' a few years back.
