Paavada

If you look at the cast and crew of the movie Paavada, it is really a mixed bag. It has Marthandan in the director’s chair after a disastrous Acha Din, but it also has the screen writer of 1983 and Best actor, Bipin Chandran sharing the writer credits. I also had a slight fear that Prithviraj might do overacting while performing humor after seeing the Joy song. The glitches of melodrama are there for sure, but overall Paavada is entertaining and won’t disappoint you much.

Joy aka Paambu Joy is an alcoholic who is married to a nurse. As his drinking habits started to have a bad effect on his relationship with his wife, he decided to go to a de addiction center. The film is actually about his relationship with a professor he meets there. Who is this professor and how Joy is connected to this professor is what this film all about.

The first half of the film has that Bipin Chandran touch to it. The writer nails it with his usual style of humorously rich dialogues which succeeded in making the audience laugh out loud. You will never feel that scenes were separately written to add humor. It all blended very well with the narration. The drawback is basically in the second half of the film, where a little old fashioned melodrama eats a good chunk of screen time. You will find a sort of discomfort in enjoyment due to those entire Television program episode and certain coincidences surrounding that. Glimpses of Vellaripravinte Changathi can also be seen. But the movie manages to get away from that moody phase in that climax court scene. And I liked that idea of using a drunkard’s lack of credibility for his own benefit.

Prithviraj surprised me for sure by handling the humor neatly. The first half has him portraying the silly and witty Joy. The second half focuses on the emotional side of the character. Anoop Menon according to me was a good choice to play the role of the professor because of the character structure. Maniyan Pilla Raju, Nedumudi Venu, Miya, Asha Sharath, Kalabhavan Shajon and Siddique did their characters neatly. Many other actors are there in the movie in very brief roles including Sudheer Karamana, Sharafudheen, Sunil Sughada, Murali Gopi, Sai Kumar etc.

As a maker, the style of Marthandan is still a bit outdated when you look at the sort of drama he creates in scenes. More than directorial glory, I think it is the smart writing that has helped the film. A better director could have managed that beginning portions of second half in a more appealing way. As already mentioned, Bipin Chandran has managed to write some hilarious and fresh dialogues. Cinematography and background score are just okay. The edits were fine and the two tracks were enjoyable.

Don’t fall for the pre release Maniyan Pilla Raju statements about the movie. But looking at the combination of the director and writer, I would say I am somewhat satisfied. Paavada has a hilarious first half, slightly overdramatic second half and a climax that has mixed both drama and humor.