Paapam Cheyyathavar Kalleriyatte, the latest Shambu Purushothaman movie after his debut film Vedivazhapadu pretty much has the same intent in terms of politics. The movie wishes to mock the double standards and hypocrisy of the society that has this extremely pseudo morality code. I am a sucker for social satires and was extremely impressed when I saw Vedivazhipadu. Even though you may sense a technical upgrade in Shambu Purushothaman’s storytelling in Paapam Cheyyathavar Kalleriyatte, the caricature feel is slightly on the higher side, making it a watchable movie that needed a little more push in the satiric angle.
Linda and Rohan belong to two high profile Christian families and they are all set for an arranged marriage. The wedding of the two is the premise of the movie. Rohan’s brother and brother in law are seeing this as an opportunity to settle all the financial issues of the family from the dowry money they are getting. The seemingly easy plan had its own problems which got unfolded during the course of the wedding ceremony. What were all those problems is what Paapam Cheyyathavar Kalleriyatte showing its audience.
The movie is a satire and satires are always on that eccentric side in terms of character presentation. But the pacing here is on the slower side and I felt the movie was lingering onto certain portions for too much time. The movie is definitely interesting when you look at the whole story, but somewhere the engagement factor sort of misses the beat. And the movie was overly focusing on the mere “affair” angle which after a point sounded too repetitive. Towards the very end, Linda is saying a lot of controversial stuff which I really wished got better attention. But Shambhu Purushothaman was interested only in the sarcastic side of the event and never utilized the scope to be that hard-hitting social commentary.
Vinay Forrt as Roy, the brother who wants to handle the whole situation is pretty impressive. He is yet again playing a tensed character, but Vinay makes sure his performance doesn’t look that repetitive. Tini Tom as Alex is funny and the performance is something we are familiar with. Alencier Ley Lopez as Xavier was an interesting character as he played the womanizer character with a lot of ease. Santhy Balachandran, in my opinion, did a commendable job by not making the character look overly goofy on screen. James Eliya and Anil Nedumangad are funny. Srinda gets a performance worthy role. Arun Kurien was on the stiffer side. Anumol, Sunil Sukhada, Madhupal, etc are the other major names in the elaborate cast of the film.
Shambu Purushothaman is pretty much repeating the same theme of his first movie in a different backdrop. The fake morality of our society is the point of criticism and he is asking the viewers to embrace human vulnerabilities. It is interesting on a script level, but when it comes to the making, the film has the pacing issues and the visual experiments are not fully baked. There is a purpose attached to each character and the presentation can’t really pull it off with full perfection. There are definitely hilarious moments here in the movie that helps Paapam Cheyyathavar Kalleriyatte in holding the interest of the viewers. Technically the movie is very much on the just about okay side as the politics is conveyed largely through dialogues rather than using the visual language.
If you are someone who liked watching Vedivazhipadu, then I would say you will find this movie as a passable entertainer. The 2013 movie, in my opinion, was a very effective dig at the society for its double standard. The major thing that differentiates Paapam Cheyyathavar Kalleriyatte from Vedivazhipadu is that effectiveness.
The major thing that differentiates Paapam Cheyyathavar Kalleriyatte from Vedivazhipadu is that effectiveness.
Green: Recommended Content
Orange: The In-Between Ones
Red: Not Recommended
