Saw “Kerala Varma Pazhassi Raja” after a long await in Dubai! What a disgrace! An over done film in all disciplines.
Subtlety is an unheard idea in this film. The much cerebrated Rasool Pookooty has followed the same path of doing things over the top. If he thinks great sound mixing is giving corresponding loud sound to all actions shown in screen, he is certainly wrong. We are forced to think that, he won the Academy award in a fluke, or rephrase it as “won as a part of film which won a lot of awards”.
The stunt choreography is the worst you can expect from a historical film. Copying the stunts from “Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon” and failing is such a disgrace.
The climax shows “Pazhassi” killing one enemy in almost the same way Achilles (Brad Pitt) kills the giant Boagrius in the 2004 Hollywood film “Troy”.
I am sure no one would have complained if the force of gravity was applicable to the characters in “Kerala Varma Pazhassi Raja”!
The only thing which haunts from the film is the power packed and steaming performance by “Edachena Kungan Nair” (Sharath Kumar).
The stubborn nature of Padmapriya would have forced the director to let her give voice for the film which has ended up in a non existent Malayalam accent.
A film which spends millions needs to have descent make-up. The beard of “Thalakkal Chandu” looks like one from a School Drama. The hair extensions given are so amateurish. It should be noted that the Malayalam film “Rajashilpi” (1992) had very high standard hair extensions.
The English men of the East India Trading Co. are shown as Whisky drinking, conspiracy loving stereotypical idiots. Any English men would be disturbed by the silly visualization of the life of English men in later part of 18th Century , just like we Indians feel bad when certain Hollywood flicks shows Indian as snake charmers or people who sits in front of “Taj Mahal” and await the incineration from attacking aliens.
It is also certain that a Character of “Dora” (Linda Arsenio a Hispanic-Yugoslavian who from any angle does not look like an English lady) is fictious a character and it’s a cheap attempt to satisfy the Indian nationalism.
The characters depicted by Jagathi Sreekumar and Jagadish are right out of comic book and could have been made more subtler.
It is a known fact that Pazhassi Raja killed himself by swallowing diamond from his ring when he was surrounded by the East India company soldiers. M.T. Has once again twisted the story (like previous Vadakkan Veera Gatha and Perumthachan) and this time has failed miserably, as the characters in question are historical figures who lived mere 200 years ago.
The music by Ilayaraja is wasted due to obvious reasons; as the songs are only added to increase the selling value of the film.
The role of the director Hariharan in this film is very ambiguous. The film is totally made by the stunt choreographer and Director of Photography.
The controversy behind not including this film in Indian Panorama in Goa film festival is better left without discussion.
The soul of greatest Malayali hero (The word India or Kerala cannot be used as he never knew that a country named “India” would have born in 1947 or state Kerala would be formed in 1956) Kerala Varma Pazhassi Raja will never spare any one behind this disaster film.
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