Ayaal Sassi

Ayaal Sassi is Sajin Baabu’s second film after his offbeat debut movie Asthamayam Vare. The trailer gave us a clear indication that the nature of the movie would be satiric and Ayaal Sassi is indeed an engaging satire that mocks the lifestyle of the modern day world which  is obsessed with everything that is quiet materialistic. With a realistic making and less pseudo intellect in scenes, Ayaal Sassi is a convincing cinema.

Sasi Namboothiri is this painting artist who earns a living by selling “his” paintings. He has this obsession for social attention and he always does things that attract attention of the public. At one point he decides to go back to his home and live the rest of his life there and during that period news about a high-tech coffin creates curiosity in him. Sasi decides to import that coffin and the movie is about the changes that happens to Sasi post this decision.

It is a satire, so looking deeply into the practicality is something that you shouldn’t do. But at the same time they haven’t made it like an unrealistic spoof. Writer director Sajin Baabu is basically teasing the irregularities in the basic concepts in our lives. The sarcastic attack is there against everything and the coffin is like a metaphor that gives the movie links to access all the social drama. While things like obsession for social media and fame are mocked peripherally, the main victim here is the religion. Through humorously unreal situations, Sajin uses his unconventional central protagonist to ask all those uncomfortable questions and somehow succeeds in showing us the hypocrisy in the answers. Even after having an offbeat treatment, the film never makes you want to take away your eye from the screen.

Sreenivasan who reduced his weight for playing Sasi delivers a superb performance. Looking at the kind of interviews I have seen of Mr. Sreenivasan, the character of Sasi is very similar to off screen Sreenivasan. The movie is ultimately built around this character and the majority of the screen time is given to Sasi. In important supporting roles we have names like Rajesh Sharma, Anil Nair, Divya Gopinath, SP Sreekumar, Kochu Preman and a few more and we get to see that realistic version of each actor’s performance.

Sajin Baabu has no intention to complicate the narrative in his second film. Ayaal Sassi gets the rhythm very quickly into its narrative. Like I already mentioned, the script this time mocks everything. While the movie strongly teases religion and its inability to explain certain basic questions, there are areas in the movie in the first half that looks a bit scattered. Pappu’s camera tries to grab the scenes without cuts and it enhances the flow of the narrative. Forgivable continuity errors are there.

I enjoyed watching Ayaal Sassi. It may not be your typical run-of-the-mill comedy entertainer, but it has a theme and that has been conveyed in a fair enough way. It is a sarcastic satire with realistic nuances.

Rating: 3/5