Review for MALAYANKUNJU:
•Language: MALAYALAM.
•Duration: 01 Hours 54 Minutes.
•Genre: Survival Thriller.
•REVIEW BY ARUNJYOTHI.R
• POSITIVES:
1: DIRECTION
2: STORY AND SCREENPLAY
3: PERFORMANCE OF ACTORS
4: MUSIC AND BACKGROUND SCORE
5: CINEMATOGRAPHY
6: EDITING
7: PRODUCTION DESIGN
• NEGATIVES:
1: SMALL LAG IN BETWEEN
2: PREDICTABILITY
•ONE WORD: A brilliantly executed survival thriller with many emotions.
•STORY IDEA:
Malayankunju tells the story of Anil Kumar also known as Anikuttan. He is a good electronic mechanic but he always shows anger and frustration and he is not happy with the world around him. He lives with his mother and he is always ready to have a heated argument with anyone. He focuses on his electronic work deeply but the crying sound of a newborn baby in his neighbourhood will make him more frustrated. So some of his actions will lead to conflict with his neighbours. Soon a landslide will happen where he lives, and he will be trapped under and the only thing which he can hear under will be the sound of the baby.
What will happen next, will he survive and what will happen to the baby is the rest of the story unfolding.
•ANALYSIS OF THE DIRECTION, STORY, SCREENPLAY AND DIALOGUES:
The film ‘Malayankunju’ is directed by the debutant Sajimon Prabhakar and written by Mahesh Narayanan. The film is produced by Fazil and the production is held by Fahadh Faasil & Friends. Along with the script writing, Mahesh Narayanan handles the cinematography and the legendary musician A.R. Rahman composes the music. The film is distributed by Century Release and with a running time of one hour and fifty-four minutes, the film is currently running in theatres.
Survival thriller movies are less in Malayalam languages and this genre only used to come often so the film ‘Malayankunju’ which comes under this genre had offered a unique cinematic experience. I enjoyed the film, the movie was engaging and at the same time the survival scenes in the film were thrilling. A kind of excitement and curiosity was filled all over the film. Also, the character played by Fahadh was having many interesting emotional sides and his behaviour and the incidents that happened in his had created enough curiosity to keep on watching. The haunting memories that the central character goes through were having a strong connection to establish the upcoming events. So the script gives more importance to the life of the protagonist, and the screenplay has largely focused on his personal life. Therefore the movie follows a style of drama and later the movie is tracked into the atmosphere of a survival thriller.
The survival thriller areas in the film were brilliantly executed by the director, the efforts and the passionate way of filmmaking can be seen through the second half. The first half of the film followed the drama style, the film was taking enough time to get into the life of the central character. So the first part of the film will give a clear indication about the central character like his behaviour, his job, his interest, his mindset, his family and his neighbours. The family tragedy that happened in the life of the central character is also unfolded in the first part so the premise of the central character was established strongly by the writer and director. The first half ends with a solid interval block and it was promising for something big. The second half was haunting and the struggles led by the central character in a landslide situation were portrayed effectively and it will surely blow our minds. The making style of Sajimon was purely realistic and he was also successful in using the acting talents of Fahadh Faasil. The acting of Fahadh and the authentic making of Sajimon was having great chemistry to lead the film, and the storyline and the well-written screenplay also helped the film to reach a safer level.
The storyline was simple, but the kind of way the screenplay was written makes the simple storyline an engaging screenplay. The climax is easily predictable but the emotions surrounding it will melt our hearts. The ultimate ending was emotionally made and the affectionate bond between the character of Fahadh and a baby was momentous. The crying sound of the baby was the thing which he hated the most but when he was trapped under the soil the crying of the newborn baby was the first thing which helped him to make some efforts to survive. So how this connection was made will fascinate everyone, also the changing behaviour of the central character and the survival steps to save himself and the baby is a treat to watch.
•PERFORMANCE OF ACTORS:
The film has the casting of Fahadh Faasil, Jaffer Idukki, Indians, Rajisha Vijayan, Deepak Parambol, Johny Antony and many more. Fahadh Faasil as Anil Kumar had done a marvelous performance, he delivered another natural performance. I was stunned by seeing his acting, the entire performance was crammed with the realistic way of acting. How he exhibits the emotions in the character was shocking, the use of eyes and the different kinds of facial expressions looked pure and authentic. For a survival thriller, an actor always needs to inherit the situation, how can he survive and what all can he do and how can he be safe were easily acted by Fahadh Faasil. The trauma and the mental stress of that situation are beyond imagination and to give that pain and suffering Fahadh had throughout maintained his natural acting skills. While watching we will be able to feel the difficulties of that situation and to pass that depth the acting held by Fahadh stood higher. In the survival scenes, the way he told the dialogue was amazing. His acting was denoting his extraordinary skills because the various emotions like fear, the mindset to survive, the desperateness, the struggles and the hope to overcome were beautifully undertaken by him. Also during the survival scenes, the dialogues were told powerfully by Fahadh, his timing was precise. No doubt I can strongly say it’s one of his best performances of recent times and no new actors can replace him when it comes to natural acting.
The cameo appearance of Jaffer Idukki, Rajisha Vijayan and Arjun Ashokan was good.
•MUSIC AND BACKGROUND SCORE:
The musical work for the film is composed by A.R. Rahman which includes the background score. The film consisted of three songs and both songs were really good. The song “Mannum Niranje” sung by Swetha Mohan. The song was lifting the vibe of and the song really suited the situation. The sounds of instruments used in the song had a nice feel and the lyrics of Vinayak Sasikumar had a touch with good Malayalam traditional and cultural words. The second song “Cholappenne” passed a good mood and the voice of Vijay Yesudas was making the song more beautiful. The sound of the flute in the song was pleasing and the meaningful lyrics of Vinayak Sasikumar made it traditional. The background score was terrifically tuned by A.R. RAHMAN, it’s one of the major plus factors of this film. The atmosphere of the film is intense and to make the visuals more glorifying the background score had helped to lift the mood. The creation of tension and the thrilling mood was easily given by the background score. Each scene was perfectly synced with the background score and all the scenes of survival were crammed with matching background scores. So the BGM was having the power to make us more exciting and engaging. The background score will keep us hooked and the feeling that it gives through is remarkable. What will happen next or whether he will survive or what are the next occurrences etc kept on making me think so here to build that excitement the background score stood higher. So I can strongly say that it’s a great comeback of A.R to the Malayalam film industry, the two songs were melodious and the background score was highly successful to raise the mood of the film.
•TECHNICAL DIVISION:
This movie has incredible teamwork of brilliant technicality, the cinematography, editing, production design, graphics, sound design, colour grading and artwork was top-notch. The making video the makers before two days of release had shown their effort and dedication. The artwork was amazing, it was hard to believe that all the crucial scenes were made in a studio. The materials they used and created were looking real and the made-up surroundings also felt natural. The cinematography was extraordinary, Mahesh Narayanan had done a spectacular job. The wonderful camera movements, the placement of the camera, the frames and the sudden camera shit were flawlessly executed. The cinematography is also one of the major plus factors of this film, the visuals were having the prominent power to attract us. Mahesh Narayanan was having an unmistakable idea of how to capture the visuals and shots, depending on the situation he deals with the camera and gives the right type of appropriate shots. All the survival scenes in the film were magically captured, also those breathtaking visuals will thrill and amuse us. The lighting techniques used in the film were superb, the indoor scenes and the survival scenes were apprehended with an accurate way of lighting and the scenes looked pure realistic. The editing of Arju Benn was faultless, the transition of scenes from one to another was perfect. The cuts didn’t give any kind of mismatches and the colour grading had given an extra appeal to the eyes. Jyotish Shankar had cleverly made a good product design for the film, the set, plans and design on how to conduct the film and the coordination and his research on the natural calamity had lustrously worked out without any errors. The sound design in the film was also favourable and the natural sound happening during a natural disaster and the sounds of rain and thunder was mixed properly and the Dolby Atmos effect was a delight.
•CONCLUSION:
So overall to conclude I enjoyed watching Malayankunju and will recommend this movie to everyone who loves to watch a survival thriller. The movie has many good moments of emotional angle and the performance of Fahadh Faasil will make our money and time worth. The technical side of the film made this movie look wonderful and the music and background score composed by A.R Rahman had given me an extra impact. The movie won’t disappoint anyone, and for getting a unique cinematic experience try to watch the film in a theatre surrounded by 4k and Dolby Atmos.
•VERDICT: BRILLIANT
•RATING: 3.5/5
