The Rainmaker

Movie : Thalappavu
Language : Malayalam
Date : 28th Sep, 2008.

Review
Many Movies are always comparable to others for some reasons. 'Thalappavu' and 'Thirakadha' are movies like that. Not because I saw them back to back but I think even if these 2 movies were released years apart, I guess they would have been compared. I will tell you why. The most obvious reason can be that both movies have Prithviraj but my strong case are other reasons.
1. Both follow a narrative pattern which keeps shifting between different periods in time.
2. Both movies are towards serious in nature.
3. When we begin watching Thirakadha, we feel that its Prithvi's story and by the end of it we know that Malavika stole the show and she keeps haunting you days after the movie. In the very same way, from the start, Thalappavu looks like Lal's story but Prthivi is the guy who comes back to your memories when you first think about Thalappavu, days after you have watched it.

Now to the movie.
Thalappavu is a good work of cinema and it stays just as that. It is 1 hour and 45 minutes in length and the first half is just 45 minutes. The story and the ambience is nice. Photography is good. Direction is good as well considering that Madhupal is a first timer.
As usual, no discussions about story in the review

I have a few things that I have noted about this movie. I think as a viewer, the movie is a bit too serious, almost to the brink of being branded as a so called 'art movie'. In direct contrast, Thirakadha was also serious but it was a more interesting watch even at 2.5 hrs length.
I think the Script could have been better. The reason is that few minutes in to the movie, the whole sequence of events can be guessed and after that there are no surprises except for some power packed scenes by Prithvi and Lal.

But I am not taking anything away from Thalappavu. Its a good movie experience for serious movie lovers. Lal's performance is good and as expected. I expected the same kind of performance from him and thats what I got. The girl who acts as Lal's childhood love is surprisingly good and her transition from teenage to adulthood is nicely potrayed by her.Rohini was loud in some scenes.

The scene stealer for me is Prthivi. He has fire in his eyes and potrays his character well. There are some scenes or shots of Prithvi shown as Memory shots about prithvi which Lal thinks. All those scenes come in detail in the second half. All of the are brillant especially the one in which he extends a hand to Lal to get him up from where he has fallen in a stream. His face shines with light in that scene.Also his smile and attitude are that of a revolutionary who knows what he is doing is right. But his hair do and the wig used needs some bettering.

The references to Jesus Christ are poignantly done. I really liked that. The first scene when the part from bible is being read where Judas betrayes Christ and the person who betrays Prthivi walks out. And Prithvi looking at Jesus's sketch in the market. All those are scenes of substance and director needs applaud. I think he wanted to potray the naxalite as a noble man by showing references like these.Violence part is a totally different issue.

Music is OK for the movie. There is only 1 song but background music is competant.
I think Thalappavu deserves credit but it could have been much better. May be some people would like it this way.But for me, I felt that it could have been more entertaining (not the comedy, song ,dance kind but Thirakada kind of serious entertainment). There is nothing much of a suspense or some events that surprise you as the movie progresses. The appearance of Prthivi as spirit with scar on his face does scare you a bit. That too only for the first time but the moment he (in his spirit avatar) starts making long dialogues on the corruption in today's system, I think even that surprise element is lost.

But I am not going to take anything away from it. Its a good movie and much better than so called masala movies off late in Malayalam.
RATING : I am going with 3/5 and a tag - "STRONGLY RECOMMENDED FOR SERIOUS CINEMA LOVERS" for Madhupal's Thalappavu.

This Onam is truly is the brightest that 'Malaylam cinema' has shone for years !!!