Papanasam

Remakes being as good as the original itself is a great achievement these days and the latest Drishyam remake Papanasam directed by Jeethu Joseph has kept the quality of its original. With a sensible replantation of the theme to the backdrop of a middle class Tamil Hindu family, this one has an extra edge of performance in some areas.

Well the plot is quiet famous and there is no much change in the way things have been presented. Suyambu Lingam is the central protagonist here. He owns a local cable TV franchise and has a wife and two kids. An unexpected incident related to his elder daughter puts this family in a spot of big trouble. Papanasam shows us how the intelligent Suyambu Lingam executes a master plan to save his world, the family.

As I said, Jeethu succeeds in resetting the whole game in the backdrop of Tamil Nadu. With the help of performances and dialogues the movie has a bit more light hearted realistic feel than the original. What I pointed out as an itchy part in the screenplay of Drishyam was the comments of the witnesses were none of them felt something fishy about the extra emphasis given to the date. That unconvincing portion is still there in the screenplay and Jeethu hasn’t tried much to make it a bit more genuine. Except for that the movie has every bit of intensity that Drishyam created and a main reason for that is the support it got from both technical and performing sides.

What everyone will be looking forward to know is the comparison between Kamal Haasan and Mohanlal. The diplomatic truth is that they both have used unique styles to perform the characters. While Mohanlal opted the minimal way, Kamal chose the more emotional way. Except for one scene, I felt that both actors were equally good. The one scene that differentiated the performances was the post climax confession of Suyambu Lingam where he tells the parents what happened to their son. The way Kamal performed it makes the reason for his acts more emotional and genuine. Gauthami was good in her wife avatar. Niveda Thomas was a better choice than Ansiba. Esther Anil was nice in her character. Compared to Shajon, Kalabhavan Mani could have portrayed the role with a bit more aggression; it doesn’t mean he performed badly.  Asha Sharath should have worked on her Tamil diction. Some of the words were pronounced similar to how she would pronounce them in Malayalam. On a comparison level Siddique was better than Anant Mahadevan. Poor Roshan Basheer once again rests in peace. The other actors in the supporting cast was also good.

Jeethu Joseph hasn’t made any great twist in the pattern. Drishyam was so gripping that you won’t want to take a risk in that successful formula. With more lifelike dialogues from Jeyamohan, Jeethu gets a more realistic performance from the cast, especially Kamal Haasan. Sujith Vasudev’s cinematography has definitely helped the movie in being intriguing. BGMs and music from Ghibran also sounded fresh. Edits were crisp and the art direction was also fab.

Papanasam is a well-made remake that succeeds in keeping its audience interested even after being a remake. The terrific performance of Ulaganayakan gets the support from Jeethu Joseph and crew. The rating for Papanasam is 3.5/5 and thumbs up to Kamal Haasan.