The Rainmaker

Movie: Pazhassi Raja
Language: Malayalam
Date: Oct 20, 2009

Review
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At the end of a film, when the lights come on and the curtains fall, what ultimately matters is how much the movie has affected you at heart. Especially, if the movie is a piece of history, then the characters live in your memories decades later (The same director's OVVG is a perfect example), if the movie manages to pull your heart strings. Hariharan's latest epic 'Pazhassiraja' is grand piece of history, but how much the movie manages to affect you at heart is the most vital question, as the end credits roll. The Grandeur, effort and the intention is unquestionably there but what is questionable is the soul.

Grand Piece of History
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The movie is a depiction of history in the era of 1790s and undoubtedly the portrayal is grand and on a massive scale. Hundreds of cast in the battle scenes, pieces of tribal villages’ recreated, full strength English Army, guerilla kind of warfare in the forest, 'Pazhassiraja' leaves no stone unturned in setting the backdrop for the epic piece to unfurl. Though the publicized budget seems completely imaginary, still this would go down as one of the costliest productions ever made in this Industry.

Technical Wizardry
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‘Pazhassiraja’ is also a landmark in terms of the techniques used in Malayalam films. The cinematography enhances many a scenes. The radiant forests when Kerala Varma's stallion takes a dip in the stream, looks a beautiful shot. Battle scenes, fort sequences all have been shot well. Another huge positive is the color tone chosen. It becomes every evident in the outdoor scene. The Color tone gives the historic feel to the movie.

The lighting is perfect in many scenes especially one of the starting scenes when English Army invades Kerala Varma's palace. ‘Pazhassiraja’ is also enhanced with use of sound. Academy award Winner Resul Pookkotty shows how sound effects can raise a movie to a better level. Such use of sound in Malayalam is a unique first.

Hariharan as a director gets many things right but that’s about just it. Even though the movie is 3 hours and 20 minutes, it never gets hopelessly boring which should definitely be given as a credit to the director. His vision is strong and the execution succeeds to a point, in terms of scale. Where Hariharan falters is to build characters and to put heart and soul in to them. Script by the legendary MT Vasudevan Nair holds on, but not anywhere close to his previous master pieces.

Ensemble Cast
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‘PazhassiRaja’ has a competent performance by an ensemble cast. Sarath Kumar impresses most just because his is the only character which has been developed with proper character traits. A loyal friend, a faithful lieutenant, a fearsome fighter, a noble heart, ‘Edachena Kunkan’ is a treat to watch on screen. When he bravely ends his life rather than being hanged, your heart goes out to his loyalty.
Padmapriya as ‘Neeli’ is somewhat equally impressive as the ferocious fighter tribal lady. She is completely upright and lives the part to good extent. Manoj K jayan as the ‘Thalakkal Chandu’ acts out one of the most moving scenes in the movie when he is hanged to death.
Mammotty as ‘Keralavarma Pazhassi’ is a walk in the park of the legendary actor. He seems completely laid back and taking it easy until the last one hour. He comes in to his own in the climax. In the last one hour he raises his performance a few notches to add fire to the character. If ‘Pazassiraja’ as a character will be remembered a few years down the line, it would only be because this legendary actor.

Negatives
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Firstly, the movie and its characters do not pull at your heart strings, for most part of it. The moment which the movie really touches you for the first time, arrives well over 2 hours in to the movie when ‘Thalakkal Chandu’ is publicly hanged in the rain. From there on the movie takes a different graph, emotionally speaking. Till then it’s all business as usual. Characters are never built properly. The only ones that touch you somewhat are ‘Edachena Kunkan’ and ‘Kerala Varma’. Character traits are never exposed or it seems no one has time for it though that excuse seems lame as the movie is 3 hrs 20 mins long. OVVG had 3 beautifully developed characters in Chandu, Archa and Aromal.

Secondly, lots of things seems forced upon during the movie. The treaty is signed and then broken without properly establishing events which led to the same. Kanika is shown undergoing a traumatic tragedy and minutes later she is all happy and in romantic scenes with the hero. 'KeralaVarma' abruptly decides that its been long since he has had a duel and does a casual duel with 'Edachena Kunkan'. Plastic. The English lady, ‘Dora’ meets ‘Keralavarma’ in the forest and she is so impressed (aka Lagaan) that she keeps fighting for him with her husband. It’s so plastic and unreal. A hanging scene is created for her to enter in a Pallakku wail and then leave. And when she leaves to England the last word she screams out is to give regards to the King. Completely forced upon and unreal. Even the length of 3 hours and 20 minutes seems forced upon. The interval sequence arrives out of no where.

Thirdly, important characters just disappear. Thilakan who is shown fighting with ‘Keralavarma’ for the throne, is presented as a major challenger to him. But after 2 scenes, he just completely disappears from the picture. Neeli who is the single most impressive female character in the whole movie, is shown putting up a brave fight against the English Army as the King escapes. After that what happens to her is never shown. Probably it needs to be assumed that she went down fighting with the army.

Fourthly, there is some terrible English cast chosen in the movie. Most of them act terribly or over act. The character ‘Dora’ and her husband (who plays the collector) are ultimate symbols of the casting goof ups done in terms of the English actors. They never much evoke any hatred. All they evoke is sympathy for poor acting.

Music is nothing impressive. Kanika is completely wasted in a souless role. The wired jump sequences look unreal and tacky which is a downer.

In conclusion, 'Pazhassiraja' is a piece of history presented on a grand scale and just that. The characters never become heart warming because they are left under developed. What is shown is their bravery and virility only. In terms of being heartless the movie has a striking resemblance to Aamir Khan's 'Mangal Pandey' but is definitely notches above that.
It’s a sure one time watch for the scale, grandeur, sound and techniques used in presenting it.

Verdict - 3.25/ 5 as a Rating.
'Fine One Time Watch' as an opinion.

‘Pazhassi Raja’ - Its Grand but how we wish it had more heart and soul in it.