Ithu Pathiramanal Movie Review

Producer– Hasseb Haneef

Director- M Padmakumar

Cast– Unni Mukundan, Remya Nambeeshan, Pradeep Rawat, Jayasurya, Kunjan etc.

Music– Afzal Yusuf

Background score– Ouseppachan

Cinematography– Manoj Pillai

Review By : Unni R Nair (Kerala9.com )

From the team that crafted a film like ‘Vasthavam’, ‘Ithu Pathiramanal’ is a let-down. Director Padmakumar and writer Babu Janardhanan had together delivered ‘Vasthavam’, a real good film, but this time their coming together seems to turn rather ineffectual.

‘Ithu Pathiramanal’ is a tale of revenge. I would just give you a brief on what it’s all about and you can guess the rest of it…

Young Eldho had been witness to his mother getting molested by a cop and his father being killed by the very same guy. After some time, his mother, who had gone insane for a few months after the incident, gives birth to a baby. She attempts suicide with the baby when she realizes it’s the cop’s child, but is saved by people. Eldho grows up and reaches Kuttanad and stays at the Pathiramanal Island, amidst the backwaters. The grown up Eldho (Unni Mukundan) now has only one aim- to avenge his father’s death and the injustice done to his mother. He can’t love or hate his half-sister, but never does her any harm. In the meantime, he falls in love with Sara (Remya Nambeeshan), but there seems to be something amiss in that love too… Eldho keeps waiting for his adversary to arrive. One fine day the ex-cop (Pradeep Rawat) arrives and from there the plot develops.

Well, revenge story is fine; but it’s the execution part that matters the most. We have had better revenge stories on screen. The one that I remember the most is ‘Thazhvaram’, directed by Bharathan and with Mohanlal in the lead. I still like seeing the film, one among my all time favourites. I can say with surety that ‘Ithu Pathiramanal’ won’t ever find place in my list of favourites. The film lacks things that are vital for an on-screen revenge story. It lacks depth, the performances are shallow and there is nothing much that holds our interest. I would say it should have been crafted differently. As of now, it’s a let-down, in all ways, except perhaps for the cinematography and the Kuttanad backdrop…

Performance 

Unni Mukundan is OK as an actor, but the character seems a bit too heavy for him. He doesn’t make the indelible kind of impression that a seasoned actor would make playing such a role. Eldho, the character that he plays, doesn’t at any stage seem to have the fire of revenge in his eyes or heart. (There is no point remembering Mohanlal’s performance in ‘Thazhvaram’ in this context! The two films and the two performances are poles apart!). Remya Nambeeshan is just good and so is Pradeep Rawat. But once again we are reminded of Salim Ghouse in ‘Thazhvaram’ and we understand that Pradeep Rawat’s performance misses the mark.  Jayasurya has nothing much to do and is OK with his role. Bhagath Manuel is the usual sidekick kind of character. In fact there is nothing much to say about the performance aspect in the film.

Technical aspects

Manoj Pillai has done a good work of the cinematography. But that doesn’t save the film.

Music

The background score is OK, but the songs don’t work out.

Script

Script is not too bad. But it seems to lack some vital elements things that have resulted in the film lacking the pace of a revenge saga. Characterization too doesn’t work well…

Direction

Padmakumar is a good director; he has proved it and hence had caused some amount of expectation for ‘Ithu Pathiramanal’. But he fails to bestow on the subject the kind of depth and intensity that was needed and hence fails to a great extent. Better luck next time…

Verdict– Revenge story that lacks depth, intensity…Unimpressive!!

Rating: 1.5/5