Hey Jude

The ultimate agenda of Hey Jude directed by Shymaprasad is to show us the transformation of an Asperger Syndrome patient. And the slightly disappointing thing is that it is the only area where this movie is failing to convince us. While Nivin Pauly as an actor gives his full to convince the viewer, the screenplay wasn’t investing fully into the transformation part and ultimately Hey Jude becomes a really different Shyamaprasad movie that doesn’t show much interest in exploring the characters like the way the director did in his previous films.

So Jude is the elder son of Mr. Dominic who sells antiques. Jude has this autistic nature which makes his socialization skills very poor. He is adamant about his routine and diet and nobody in that family has managed to understand him. When a death happens in the family, Dominic had to go to Goa to attend the funeral along with his son and wife. The film Hey Jude is apparently about how this short Goan life influences Jude in becoming a better person.

If you are someone who has never seen a Shyamaprasad movie and have only heard that he makes these complex films, you will surely feel surprised as this movie is entirely a light hearted one. Unlike other films from the director, they have diluted this movie’s treatment to make it look way too simple. While the witty humor lead by an outstanding Siddique keeps us occupied in this film, the movie somehow forgot to focus on the transformation. Every segment in the movie that shows us the change in Jude feels a bit hurried and the sort of gradualness one would expect in depicting such transformations wasn’t there. And the last half an hour has too much of drama happening which again feels a bit rushed and also typical.

For the first time I felt that Shyamaprasad was playing it for the gallery. I am saying this in comparison with the other movies he has made. Most films from the film maker made us indulge in those characters and those conflicts. But with Hey Jude, he has approached it in a much simpler, less subtle manner. The humor is pretty effective and organic in this movie. The second half of the script looks more like a Shyamaprasad film. But there also you can sense a bit of desperation to make it simple. Girish Gangadharan gives the movie that breezy feel through his frames. After a while Ouseppachan’s score sort of worked for me in a movie.

Nivin Pauly has taken a commendable effort in becoming the character. Like I said, even though the transformation of the character on a screenplay level wasn’t convincing, what Nivin managed to do on a performance level was appreciable. For me the star of the movie was Siddique. One might say that the role was a comical, but it was undeniably a fantastic performance. Trisha does have a space to perform here and the dubbing was fine as it mostly had her speaking English and singing English songs. Vijay Menon gets a really good role here. Neena Kurup as the mother was also fine.

Hey Jude has memorable performances from Nivin Pauly, Siddique and Vijay Menon. On a film making level this movie wasn’t that appealing for me. May be it is because I prefer to see Shyamaprasad exploring complex and delicate human behavior.

Rating: 2.5/5