ULTIMA THULE - A POEM

My mind wanders far and high
To the setting sun’s last sigh

Everything has come full circle
Yet hope remains for another miracle

I have seen men crumble and falter
When the reaper comes to close the barter

Why fear death? It’s but a dark veil
It opens to reveal another tale

Everything we see is just an illusion
The interludes of fate adding to the confusion

Focus on your goal and not be a fool
Do not rest till you reach your ultima thule...

ARTHAM 1989 MOVIE REVIEW

ARTHAM 

During the 80s and 90s famed filmmaker Sathyan Anthikkad would some times deviate from his usual subject of family melodrama and try a different genre.

His standard audience could not accept such departures resulting in the movie failing to impress at the box office.This happened in the case of good movies like sandesham - a political satire, pattanapravesham- comedy slapstick, pingami- an investigative thriller etc.. All these movies were really good ones but failed to impress the audience of that era.. Not surprisingly, they all have developed a cult following later on..

Artham is one such departure.However this was a success at the box office . This was also one of those movies of megastar Mammootty where he played the loner character unlike his early 80s films where he always played a family man(remember "mammootty, kutty, petti" films) . Another film in the same vein i can think of is Kalikkalam which was also directed by Sathyan Anthikkad .

Artham (1989) starts with a loner named Ben Narendran (Mammootty) writing a suicide note. He says that he is committing suicide as hefinds no purpose for his continued existence. He chooses to jump in front of a train . However fate intervenes when he ends up saving another young man named Janardanan (Jayaram) who has the same intention. Janardanan has committed a murder out of desperation and is scared of revenge. Narendran consoles him and offers to take the blame of the murder so that Janardanan can live freely.

Narendran gets sentenced to lifetime imprisonment. While in jail, he writes a book under the pen name "Ben" which becomes immensely popular and recieves the Academy award for that year. Journalist Manasa (Saranya) discovers that the author is behind bars and sees a story in him for her paper. Through Adv. P. S. Nenmara (sreenivasan) she gets him out on 28 days parole.

Narendran gets word that Janardanan has died mysteriously. He sets out on a mission to find the culprits with the help of Nenmara and Manasa.

The movie though dealing a serious subject has its lighter moments provided by Nenmara's infatuation with Manasa , Nenmara's servant Kunjikkanan (Mammukoyaa ) and the landlady played by Philomena..

It has a beautiful song Shyamambaram (written by Kaithapram and Music by Johnson) which is one of my favourites.

One curious thing i noted that when Ben talks about his past life, it sounds way similar to the backstory of another famous film hero Jagannathan(aaram thampuran) which came out much later in 1997 ! maybe Renjith got inspired from artham , may be not .Also the plot element of the curious journalist who gets out the prisoner who is an author on parole is similar to munnariyippu(2014). coincidences happen , don't they?

Artham is good movie to watch on a lazy afternoon.. One of mammoottys good movies.

MUKHACHITHRAM 1992 MOVIE REVIEW

MUKHACHITHRAM 1992

I saw this movie when it released in theatres.I was in school then.it was a good entertaining movie.it had all the elements to capture the attention of audience till the end.the chemistry of the lead actors was really good. Jayaram siddique jagadeesh and and especially urvashi excelled.supporting actors like kpac lalitha and jagathi were great with the understated acting. The dialogue "echoose me(excuse me)" became a comedic phenomenon and defined the type of roles that jagadeesh got for later movies.

The plot: siddique an this love interest sunitha works as teachers in the school run by kpac lalitha who herself is the headmistress or the school.jagathy plays her do no good husband who is also employed in terms school. Jagadeesh is the 'stylish' peon who tries to impress the ladies with his broken and pathetic English .he also has the hots for sunitha and tries to impress her with his love letters.

Now the school wants a new band master. The one brought by jagathy and jagdeesh to impress lalitha creates such a ruckus that lalitha entrusts siddique with the role. He tries hard but fails.but while in town he sees jayaram who plays his musical instrument- a saxophone- for a living.he is an orphan. Siddique woos him with promise of a steady job and brings him dressed up in band master clothes and convinces everyone except jagathy and jagdeesh who are not impressed.

Jayaram quickly gains the respect of everyone especially lalitha who gives him a house to live in.being childless she consider him like a son.but jagadeesh puts oil in fire by convincing jagathy that lalitha is in love with jayaram! These leads to so e hilarious sequences..then enter urvashi one stormy night into jayaram house. She has a dark past. Siddique tells everyone that urvashi is jayaram' s wife.he even makes a wedding photo to erase any doubt. Then someone tells jayaram that the girl in the photo had died recently in a train suicide. So is urvashi a ghost? Or does she have a twin? Someone is trying to kill her..who Re they.? The story moves is into a crime thriller mod Erin the second half.how jayaram manages to outwit the criminals and save urvashi forms the rest of the story....

KALIKKALAM 1990 MOVIE REVIEW

 

KALIKKALAM(1990) REVIEW 

Sathyan Anthikkad usually known for his family oriented movies takes a departure to film a thriller. As its a sathyan movies everything is shown in a lighter vein and the action never gets too dark or violent ala a Joshy film.

Mammootty plays a nameless thief. No backstory is given for his becoming one . This itself was unique storytelling. usually heros have names and ample justification is always given for why he chose the wrong path. This doesnt happen here. We gradually gets to know that the hero is an orphan, who chose this profession on his own. Maybe it was because he is so good at it .But to give him brownie points , the hero is a minor robin hood who helps the needy using the money he steals from fat cats and also funds a church run orphanage.

Enters CI Shekhar who is an upright police officer who quickly begins to roundup all goondas and thieves in the city . He tries to bring our hero to the book but he proves too smart him for him. There are some hilarious scenes which shows the cat and mouse chase . The pressure from his superiors and politicians slowly begins to wear out Shekhar and he gets suspended. To top it all he also becomes the prime accused in a murder and gets arrested.

luckily Our hero is a witness to this murder and knows the real culprit. Although he could remain silent and save his skin his conscience does not allow an honest police officer to become a victim.

The climax scenes where he appears at he court as a witness and reveals the true identity to the visible discomfort of the assembled police officers is hilarious .

The romantic angle is played by Shobhana, who plays the daughter of a senior police officer. It inevitably ends in heartbreak. But the hero consoles her that it was never meant to be .

The upright police officer shekhar learns the lesson that honesty and kindness can be found in the most unlikely people.

The movie was a big success at the time of its release. mammootty played a sort of anti hero which was a huge departure from his 'rama' like roles of the time. he played the role of the thief superbly. The variety of disguises and mannerisms he adopts for each of his heists were also good..

The movie had only one song, a beautiful one- Akashagopuram (sung by G venugopal) which had some funny scenes where mammootty escaping from the police by the skin of his teeth..

Overall a really watchable movie .