Producer : Sreenivasan and Mukesh
Director : Vineeth Sreenivasan
Cast : Nivin Pauly, Isha Talwar, Manoj.K.Jayan, Sreenivasan etc.
Music : Shan Rahman
Cinematography Jomon T. John
Editing by Ranjan Abraham
Review By : Unni R Nair/ Kerala9.com
The trailers, the songs, the fact that Vineeth Sreenivasan had proved with ‘Malarvady Arts Club’ that he has a firm grip on the subject that he directs etc had led me to believe I’d love ‘Thattathin Marayath’, Vineeth’s second film as director. Yesterday, as I was walking in to watch the film, I believed I’d definitely feel elated, enlightened and enriched after seeing it. But then, inside the hall, I couldn’t help letting out a yawn sometime before half-time and even felt like falling asleep. Now, a day after seeing ‘Thattathin Marayath’, it seems I desperately want to love this movie, something that would perhaps never happen.
Yes, ‘Thattathin Marayath’ is a film that I would not rank among films I like or which I’d like to re-visit.
So, what’s the story? Simple… A Hindu boy falls in love with a Muslim girl and the rest is all about how they’re going to fight it out. Well, let me tell you one thing. Since I narrated the story so simply in one sentence, don’t think I believe we need something complex or too sophisticated to make a movie. I never meant that. This is stuff enough for a movie; but then, it’s not what’s told, but how it’s told that matters. That’s where Vineeth has gone wrong with ‘Thattathin Marayath’.
Vinod (Nivin Pauly) sees Aisha (Isha Talwar) at a wedding; we are told it’s love at first sight for him. But as the love evolves and the young chap keeps repeating the same lines as sort of a refrain and as young chaps in the theatre clap their hands, you begin to realize that it’s a rather immature kind of obsession and a rather childish fancy for the face that remains behind the veil and not at all love that’s being depicted. There is a police officer, Circle Inspector Premkumar (Manoj K Jayan), who speaks in the Thiruvananthapuram dialect and who’s made out to be an interesting guy, who sets out to unite the two lovers, at all costs. But this characters seems more like a caricature and some of the things that he does (for example helping Vinod and his friends earn money by selling helmets to people whom he catches riding without helmets) could leave you exasperated.
Well, when you come out of the theatre and try to find out what it was all about, all that you can remember is it’s a love story, there were some excellent frames, there are a handful of good scenes that stand out, there are some ‘youthful’ songs and that’s all. Did the film leave any other and rather indelible impression on your mind? I don’t think so…
Well, you may argue saying that to understand what the film is all about, you need to fall in love at least once in your life. You can say you need to be a youth to feel the youthful fervour of the film. I wouldn’t dare reply to such comments, the simple reason of it being that those who make such comments don’t know who or what the reviewer is or whether he has known love or not. As for rating ‘Thattathin Marayath’, all that I can say is that it’s a film that goes off the track and has good performances by the lead pair and some (just a handful) good scenes.
Performance
Nivin Pauly is good, as Vinod. Isha Talwar looks good as Aisha, but don’t you feel the writer had gone confused as regards characterization when it comes to Aisha. You just don’t understand her or her doings and motives. Manoj K Jayan is not bad, but the character that he plays is not that good and so doesn’t leave any impact on you. The others are OK with their roles; Sreenivasan doesn’t have much to do, performance-wise, but one of the good scenes in the movie has him uttering a dialogue on the role of Purdah in a girl’s life. Aparna Nair is good.
Technical aspects
Jomon T John has delivered some good frames; editor Ranjan Abraham has done a fairly good job and art-director Ajay Mangad lends able support; but the faulty script plays foil.
Music
Shan Rahman has done a good work of the background scores and the songs too are good, trendy in a way.
Script
Vineeth’s script-work was good as regards ‘Malarvady Arts Club’; though the film didn’t say anything new and was sort of predictable, I felt Vineeth did the script in a rather good manner. But with ‘Thattathin Marayath’, he falters. The story that he seeks to narrate and the way he narrates his, plus the characterization aspect – all have gone wrong and the film fails to impress, in total.
Direction
I had commented to a friend before watching ‘Thattathin Marayath’, “Vineeth Sreenivasan had proved, with ‘Malarvady Arts Club’, that he has a good command as a director over the subject at hand and I am sure ‘Thattathin Marayath’ would be much better. But alas; I have been proven wrong; Vineeth scores lower this time. The problem is he doesn’t have anything worth to direct, with ‘Thattathin Marayath’. Better luck next time!
Verdict: Not up to the mark! No story, unimpressive scripting…
Rating: 2/5