Review for Pathinettam Padi:
•Language: Malayalam.
•Genre: Action Thriller Drama.
•Duration: 02 Hours and 40 Minutes.
•Theatre: JB Cinemas Nallila.
•Status: 70%.
•REVIEW BY: ARUNJYOTHI. R. VALIYAVEETIL.
•POSITIVES:
1: Direction
2: Dialogues
3: Cinematography
4: Performance of actors.
5: Background Score.
6: Technical Aspects.
•NEGATIVES:
1: Story.
2: Half Baked Screenplay.
•ONE WORD: An unrealistic rivalry of teenagers.
Pathinettam Padi revolves around the story of two schools in Trivandrum city, one is government school and the other is private school who always involves in a quarrel with many issues and fights. So the story unfolds on various happenings and events between these two schools and its students.
Pathinettam Padi is directed by Shankar Ramakrishnan who is well known for his script works in Urumi and for his supporting roles in many films. So in his debut directional work, he also handles the story, screenplay and dialogues.
As a movie which tells about the life of teenagers, the maker Shankar Ramakrishnan had done a neat job to execute the movie as a convincing film for every type of viewers. The direction held by Shankar Ramakrishnan was purely fine and intense but unfortunately, the story and screenplay were not effectively implemented. Importantly the movie was having a long duration nearly to 160 minutes so the director had worked really hard to avoid laggings and confusion which was good. To be noted the film largely focuses on the life of the central characters so evidently, the director had genuinely portrayed the life of these characters without any kind of troubling elements.
Another important link to be noted in the direction of Shankar Ramakrishnan is that he had brilliantly used the acting talents of many debutant actors authentically as per the story and written works led by him which ultimately give a good start for those newcomers in their acting career. Also, he had made a perfect decision in choosing the actors like Mammootty, Prithviraj and Arya for doing the crucial roles in the film which ended as an attractive rich element. All in all the making lead by the director Shankar Ramakrishnan ranks at high which is one of the highlights Pathinettam Padi.
Coming to the story and screenplay the plot was having every component to engage every type of viewers but a kind of logic was missing. The fights and quarrel between the two school were fine but when thinking deeply the fights between the two institutions had moved really dramatically. Also, the targeted factor of showing the drawbacks in the educational system and also the need for bringing the proper education system in government institutions was not successfully written to show its impact.
The romance shown in the first half was messed and no further updates were shown about it, the hanging out of rich students were shown by an item dance which was unrealistic, the fights between the students of two schools in KSRTC was sadly overdramatic. Also, character development was not up to the mark, a bunch of newcomers was brought but for many actors performing space was less, some characters were felt unwanted.
The story was illogical moving on a thrilling backdrop from the beginning and travels with the narration by Prithviraj Sukumaran which was ok to watch. The screenplay was having the combined factors of deep friendship, love, sentiments, parenthood, teacher-student bond and betrayal but these factors were not perfectly matching and the implementation was not accurate as per the story. The brilliance of Shankar Ramakrishnan was missing in his writing, he could have been focused more on making the story and screenplay soulful to make his writing as perfect.
The dialogues of the movie were sharp filled with powerful words, quotes and philosophies. Most of the dialogues between the characters were vivid and energetic. Some dialogues before and after the fights were thrilling, the inspirational words emerged as stiff and powerful also the sentimental dialogues was touching. Therefore the dialogues were extraordinary which created the soulful momentum.
Looking into the performance of newcomers the entire actors had a done a victorious job in showing the result of true acting. The names of many actors are unknown but huge applause should be given to each and every newcomer who has been a part of this film. Among the newcomer Chandunath who played the character, Joy Sir was wonderful and charming. The qualities of a supportive teacher were significantly seen in his whole performance. Also, Ambi Neenasam had made an impressive performance, his dialogue delivery, actions and his women-oriented characteristic were superior. Akshay Radhakrishnan was terrific from the beginning and shines in action also Ashwin Gopinath as Ashwin Vasudev scores well by his emotional and action performance. Nakul Thampi as the villain was great. Ahaana Krishna as Annie teacher was having less space but she was looking gorgeous and she was good on whatever she had for performing. Saniya Iyappan’s item song was pathetic.
The screen presence of Mammootty, Prithviraj Sukumaran, Arya, Unni Mukudan and Priyamani makes the film rich in appealing to attract and their performance was exceptional which was a treat to watch.
The songs were average but the background score stood up high because of its quality tunes. The background scores at the climax area were fantastic and also the BGM tracks at the emotional scenes and action scenes were masterly matching to set the scenarios. The cinematographer Sudeep Elamon had made a sensational effort on bringing fabulous visuals. The different frames of Mammootty walking on the waterfall place were stylish. The various camera movements captured for the action sequences were also awesome. The Editing lead by Bhuvan Srinivasan was also crisp and clear with the perfect cut which doesn’t give any mismatches.
So overall to conclude Pathinettam Padi is an average movie in all manner which didn’t impress much because of its story and half baked screenplay but still the movie is good for a one time because of the energetic performance lead by the newcomers and also the presence of actor Mammootty and Prithviraj won’t disappoint anyone.
•VERDICT: Average
•RATING: 2.5/5
