Puthiya Theerangal Movie Review

Director- Satyan Anthikad

Producer- Neeta Anto

Cast- Nivin Pauly, Namitha Pramod, Nedumudi Venu, Innocent, Sidharth Siva, Mallika etc

Music- Ilaiyaraaja

Review By : Unni R Nair/ Kerala9.com

There was a time when Satyan Anthikad films meant a lot, to all of us. But now, though the director’s new films may seem better than many others that we get to see these days, I can’t but help saying that Satyan Anthikad seems to have lost his touch, his magical touch.

I was eager to watch Satyan Anthikad’s latest ‘Puthiya Theerangal’, basically because I felt that the director was just repeating himself in his last few films, all of which he himself was scripting and that this one may be different, as it was being scripted by someone else (by Benny P Nayarambalam). It was therefore with some amount of hope and expectations that I caught the movie at the very first show.

‘Puthiya Theerangal’ began as a feel good film and remained so till half time. But then, when I thought it would be going great, the tempo slackened and it all went the wrong way. When the film ended, to be honest, I came out wondering whether I liked it or not. No, on the whole, though it’s a yes in parts.

‘Puthiya Theerangal’ tells the story of Chenthamara (Namitha Pramod), called by all as Thamara, a fisherman’s daughter. Her father Shankaran (Siddique) had died at sea and she grew up all alone. She now goes to sea fishing and earns fame as the only girl who does that job. She has as her friends Mohanan (Nivin Pauly), Appachan (Sidharth Siva) and Shaarangan (Dharmajan). Mohanan, who wanted to go for the Teachers’ Training Course and become a teacher, couldn’t do so and now goes fishing and at times teaches kids. Appachan acts in stage plays and aspires to be a film star. Shaarangan is happy being a fisherman.

One day, Thamara sees an old guy drowning in the sea and saves him, with help from others. She then takes him to hospital and when he is out of danger, to her house. The old guy (Nedumudi Venu) gives out his name as Kumara Pillai alias KP. Later when Appachan finds him praying in the church, he says that his name is Kurian Poulose alias KP. Thus he continues to be a mystery, but there develops a father-daughter kind of bonding between him and Thamara. Meanwhile he even tries to find her a good groom. It’s then that Mohanan’s love for Thamara comes to the fore…The story thus develops.

All is good, I’d say, except the climax. The way it all ends is rather unimpressive or so unlike Satyan Anthikad. The first half went quite cool; it was so feel-good. But somewhere down the life, post interval, the things went out of sway. You begin to lose interest at some point of time, it seems. But the fact that the film has nothing negative about it, I mean, that the film speaks mostly about things positive and that it’s directed by Satyan Anthikad could bring families to the theatres during weekend. That may work in favour of the film at the box office. Otherwise, I’d tend to say that Satyan Anthikad and others should understand that something needs to be done to retain the Satyan Anthikad touch in films. We want that to stay and not ebb away. He is one of the directors whose films we always love to see.

Performance 

Namitha Pramod, whom we had earlier seen as a child artist in ‘Traffic’, makes a very impressive debut as heroine playing Thamara. She has done it convincingly well while Nivin Pauly does a good job of his role, as Mohanan. Nedumudi Venu, in the first half, is quite impressive but towards the end he seems to be doing what he has been doing in most other films. But he is real convincing and does full justice to his role. The elderly Moly elicits many a laugh with her naïve performance. The others fit into their respective roles.

Technical aspects

It’s Venu’s camerawork that makes it all beautiful. The opening frames, which bring out the beauty and majesty of the sea, and many other well-composed frames are among the highlights of the film. The others among the technical crew render able support.

Music

Ilaiyaraaja delivers songs that are not bad, but we have to agree that there is nothing outstanding about the songs.

Script

Benny P Nayarambalam has done the script in his characteristic way, except for the loud humour that he usually indulges in while writing for directors like Shafi. Maybe he underplayed it because it’s a Satyan Anthikad movie. But the Benny touch, his presence, is felt all along. But he should have done the story in a better way, with the climax portions worked out in a better way.

Direction

I won’t say that Satyan Anthikad is not in control of things. He is very much in control as the captain of the ship. It’s just that the storyline that he has chosen goes wrong somewhere down the line. He should also keep repeating certain things, which have crept into his cinema in recent times, like for instance music being so redundantly similar. Want to see something that reminds us of Satyan Anthikad’s past films. No, we don’t ask you to repeat those memorable movies, but come up with better ones that we’d love to cherish in our minds.

Verdict- Not bad, but not too good either. To an extent a feel-good movie, but Satyan Anthikad magic not entirely at play…

Rating: 2.5/5