Just as its promotional materials hinted, the idea behind the latest Malayalam movie Athiradi is to create a festive vibe through a college story. And the central theme of this movie itself is a college fest. Arun Anirudhan, who previously co-wrote Basil Joseph’s Minnal Murali, is succeeding in creating these theatrical moments through humor and elevation to a good extent. While the over-the-top elements work in favor of the film, the script is a bit wobbly when it comes to depicting the emotional layer that navigates these characters. With the unevenness in the buildup getting salvaged in the final act of the movie, along with some interesting payoffs, Athiradi is a non-boring entertainer with a fair share of fun moments.
Sam Kutty, our hero, has joined this engineering college where his brother also studied. He was a show-off kind of personality, and he was always trying to create an impression in front of others. At one point, he gets to know that everyone in the college was frustrated about the fact that there was no college fest, and the recurring fest Arohan was stopped due to some mishaps that happened a few years ago. What we see here are the efforts of Sam Kutty to revive this college fest before he leaves that college.
The conflict in this story has to do with ego, and there is a certain level of scale attached to depicting that conflict. That scale and the vibrant nature of presenting it definitely make this movie an engaging watch. If you look at a movie like RDX, even though it was marketed as an action movie, the reason why it connected with a larger segment of the audience was one emotional hook, where the little child gets injured. When you look at Athiradi, there is a reason why Sam Kutty is obsessed with the idea of reviving the festival. Even though, through multiple sentimental scenes, they are showing us the “why” part of it, in the overall abundance of the events, that reason isn’t really getting the attention, and hence, when certain closures happen towards the end, it is not really moving us.
The writers of the movie, Arun Anirudhan and Paulson Skaria, are applying this method of bombarding the script with numerous setups and payoffs. Be it dialogues, character quirks, or a certain element associated with a character, none of it is placed just like that. Everything has a purpose that will be revealed in the final act. Some of them are easily guessable the moment they are introduced, and we won’t even be surprised when the payoff happens. However, there are certain payoffs that they have managed to hide successfully, and when it lands neatly, that creates a moment of high inside the theater.
In an interview, Basil and Tovino had said that the co-producer of this movie, Mr. Sameer Thahir, was their cringe meter. Either Sameer Thahir or the sensibility of Arun Anirudhan, or both of them, have helped the movie greatly in getting the presentation of scenes perfectly. The usage of comedy and sentiments has a neat balance. In the initial parts, there is a sequence where Sam Kutty explains his reason to take Civil Engineering, and it is an excellent blend of the writer’s observation, the sound designer’s sense of humor, and the actor’s conviction. Similarly, there is a scene where Sam Kutty talks to his love interest, Swathy, about his family. Arun uses humor effectively there to reduce the melodrama in that sentimental exchange.
The music of the movie is done by Vishnu Vijay, and it is mostly in that Premalu kind of zone. My favorite track was the one close to the character played by Tovino Thomas and sung by Vineeth Sreenivasan. Samuel Henry’s visuals are trying to create that festive vibe. The staging of some of the sequences with evident visual metaphors of two different kinds of people clashing was fun to watch. The fight sequences have come out really well. Like I already said, the climax has a certain level of scale attached to it, and it was pulled off very effectively.
There was something that Tovino Thomas said about Basil Joseph’s past. Basil’s lack of inhibition in going to his workplace (Infosys) wearing a turban has made him very thick-skinned. That is something essential for an actor, and Athiradi actually uses that side of Basil extensively to create humor. Even though the predominant pitch of the performance is in that loud comedy space, the way he shifts to a sentimental zone looked very organic. For me, the better performer was Tovino Thomas this time. There is a little bit of comical restraint to his character, Sreekuttan Vellayani, and coupled with that Trivandrum accent, it felt like a different Tovino Thomas altogether. The sequence featuring him, Vineeth Sreenivasan, and Shaan Rahman inside Sreekuttan’s house was hilarious. Vineeth Sreenivasan and Shaan Rahman were playing these angry versions of their real characters, and the meta humor works really well. Riya Shibu is paired opposite Basil as Swathy, and the performance was fine.
Content creator Shelvin James was really good in his character as Sam Kuttty’s go-to guy. Jeo Baby as the SI was fun. Vishnu Agasthya, as Sam Kutty’s brother, gets a tricky role, and it was a hit-and-miss performance, with some scenes connecting while others felt a bit too dramatic. Veteran cinematographer P Sukumar has played the part of Sam Kutty’s father. Special shout-out to Zarin Shihab for cracking the Trivandrum accent. They have cast a bunch of people from the Trivandrum space, including Falimy fame Meenaraj Palluruthy, Kannan Nair, Santhivila Dinesh, Nithin Parameshwar of Pan Indian Branch, etc., to maintain that regional authenticity.
In terms of depicting fun colorfully with banter-comedy and dialogue references, Athiradi is clearly offering an engaging experience. However, the crowdedness of the events is somehow reducing the prominence of the emotional layer in the story. With the drama’s graph managing to peak towards the end of the movie, Athiradi is not necessarily glorious, but definitely lively.
