Prakashan Parakkatte

The problem with Prakashan Parakkatte as a movie is precisely the problem of its central protagonist; lack of focus. With its episodic nature that lacks depth, Prakashan Parakkatte never gives you an idea of what it wants to depict. When the movie reached its interval, I thought the film was about to get some shape. But writer Dhyan Sreenivasan again goes after skit jokes to beef up the screenplay, wasting the potential of its talented cast.

Prakashan is a lower-middle-class family man who has a grocery shop in the town. His family consists of his wife and two sons. The elder one, Dasan, is our central protagonist, and he is this aimless plus-two student who has no interest in studies. The events that happened in Dasan’s life, which somewhere molded him to be a focused human being, seem like the theme of this wannabe feel-good drama.

If you have seen Dhyan Sreenivasan’s interviews (you are probably living under a rock if you haven’t), it won’t be difficult to understand where the characters are inspired from. The anecdotal comedy works in interviews. But it needs to fit into the narrative if it has to work in a movie. The cluelessness of the movie is evident in the way it squeezes in comedy at various points in the movie. Throughout the film, I was wondering how they were planning to connect the story with the title, and Dhyan Sreenivasan literally had to use use a voice-over to convey that.

Mathew Thomas as Dasan was excellent in those post-interval scenes. But he was forced to be in the Thanneer Mathan space, which never made any sense. Just like Mathew, Dileesh Pothan also had his winning moments in the beginning portion of the second half. Despite being the title protagonist, the writing largely ignores Dileesh Pothan. The annoying character of Kuttan, played by Saiju Kurup, was totally irrelevant to the story. Nisha Sarang tries to be that simple housewife. But the decision to crack the slang was causing some issues. That problem was there in the case of other actors as well.

Shahad, as a director, wants to keep it in real space by making the characters look relatable on screen. But the screenplay’s eccentric tone is never helping him. From a highly emotional phase, the film takes a jarring tone shift in the second half. And after muddling the narrative for some time with pointless jokes, Dhyan Sreenivasan goes back to the emotional formula once the movie reaches the climax. He has openly admitted that he had a scene order prior to shoot and wrote the dialogues on the set. Looking at the sheer lack of clarity of the movie, I think they just went to shoot with a one-liner.

Movies like Thanneer Mathan Dinangal, Super Sharanya, Jo & Jo are extremely tricky on a making level. If the writing and making fail to have clarity on what to achieve as a story, these films can turn into a Pathrosinte Padappukal or Prakashan Parakkatte. Squeezing in motivational speeches and sentiments in the middle of sloppy skit comedy is not the formula to make a “feel good” movie.