Android Kunjappan Version 5.25

Android Kunjappan Version 5.25 written and directed by Ratheesh Balakrishnan Poduval is a pure joy to watch. The first half of the movie is an out and out laughter riot and the second half deals with the possible practical repercussion of a scenario presented in the movie. It’s a movie that deals with a very preachy topic of taking care of your parents and the best thing about Android Kunjappan Version 5.25 is that it won’t feel like a preachy film at all. With a terrific Suraj Venjaramood delivering an incredible performance on screen, happiness is the guaranteed output of this movie.

Subramanian is a mechanical engineering graduate. His father Bhaskaran wants Subramanian to be with him all the time and thus Subramanian was unable to explore many job opportunities. But when he got a job in Russia in a Japan-based company, he fights with Bhaskaran and goes to Russia. Bhaskaran was never comfortable with the home nurses that came to take care of him. So finally when Subramanian came for a visit, he brought an android robot along with him. The story of Android Kunjappan Version 5.25 is regarding the relationship between this Robot and Bhaskaran Poduval.

When you think about this concept of bringing an android robot to a rural Kerala landscape, it is easy to guess that the treatment will be on the humorous side. But the two really good things about Ratheesh Poduval’s making are that the humor is not at all gimmicky and towards the end he manages to make this a story about deeply personal human emotions. Making a robot an emotionally endearing character is not an easy job and what Ratheesh Poduval has achieved with this movie is precisely that. At the core this movie is based on two thoughts; one is the importance of taking care of your parents and the next one is showing us how dangerous things can go on an emotional level if machines are assigned too many jobs that actually a human should do. Android Kunjappan manages to shed light on these two topics without being overly verbal about them.

Suraj Venjaramood who recently stunned us all with his performance in Vikruthi is back with another amazing performance. The way this man has mastered the Kannur slang and applied it in those extremely emotional sequences is terrific. The way he portrays the body language of the character is outstanding. The performance of Suraj Venjaramood was so fabulous that when the character finally breaks down, the director uses zero background score to amplify the emotion and the full house audience along with whom I watched the movie stayed silent. When compared to what Suraj Venjaramood has done in the movie, the important role of Subramanian played by Soubin Shahir feels more like an extended cameo. And Soubin wasn’t precisely following the slang. Saiju Kurup was hilarious as Prasannan. Kendy Zirdo as Hitomi is lovely. Rajesh Madhavan as the angry son of Kunjappan was really funny, especially in that opening scene. Some of the Thondimuthalum Driksakshiyum fame faces are there in this movie and they were all really memorable. Mala Parvathy was also fine in her character.

After Thanneer Mathan Dinangal, I would say Android Kunjappan Version 5.25 was the movie that made me laugh this hard. Rib tickling humor is coming from mere looks and simplistic dialogues. Even small kids in the audience were laughing out loud. The script by Ratheesh Poduval is not trying to place this movie as a sci-fi film. Ratheesh very smartly makes us disconnect from the concerns of practicality (whether such a robot is available now) of such a robot. The script asks the viewers to look at the emotional politics of the movie. The robot becomes a no filter tool for the director to criticize human hypocrisy. Kunjappan takes only the positive side of the various statements made by its master. In one scene, Kunjappan tells Bhaskaran that he can live in the future from tomorrow onwards if he can stop judging people based on their caste. The fun side of the movie also takes some digs at the way this society functions. The songs by Bijibal are sweet and catchy. The background score is used only when it was needed. Sanu John Varghese has focused more on giving visually striking static frames that somewhere conveys the disconnect between characters, the loneliness of characters, etc.

Android Kunjappan Version 5.25 is funny, clever, engaging and humane. Ratheesh Poduval makes sure that humor is there in abundance to keep the audience engaged and he also adds the emotional aspect at the right point to give us an idea of how the longing for care can change people drastically. On the whole Android Kunjappan has the potential to be that happiness pill.

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