Prathi Poovankozhi

Prathi Poovankozhi is a movie based on the short story Sankadam by Unni R. What’s so interesting about the story of the movie is that it sort of has realness in the way it treats the situation through which our main character goes through. If a movie like Ozhivu Divasathe Kali exposed the inherent discrimination tendency in society, Prathi Poovankozhi shows the need to react to any form of assault rather than accepting it as a normal thing. Within a compact runtime of around 105 minutes, Rosshan Andrrewss manages to tell an effective story.

Madhuri is a salesgirl in a textile shop in the town. She lives with her mother and the family has certain financial problems.  One day when she was going to the shop a man inside the bus molests her and that incident affects her in a very disturbing way.  When she talked about it to her friends and colleagues almost all of them discouraged her from going after him. Madhuri’s efforts to find that guy and make him learn a lesson is the story of Prathi Poovankozhi.

In a way, this is one more movie in the long list of films that sort of talks against the physical abuse women faces in society. But what is interesting here is that it is subtle about that agenda. We are shown a character who is clear in her mind that she has to slap that man at any cost. She was adamant about it even after seeing the man torturing other people brutally. And she is surrounded by a lot of women who are of the opinion that she should either ignore it or take precautions. The relentlessness of Madhuri is what grabs your attention in this movie and Unni R shows various kinds of perverts in the movie and Madhuri never compromises her stand in front of any of them.

The movie is pretty much a Manju Warrier show. In the beginning portions and in those areas where she counters the arguments of Anusree’s character, you can see that vintage fluent Manju Warrier. The climax of the movie has a mad Madhuri vigorously fighting a guy and, the way she has performed that portion without any sort of inhibition elevates the quality of the movie in a big way. Rosshan Andrrewss has played the role of Antappan and to my surprise, he was pretty effective as the bad guy. He doesn’t have too many dialogues here. Anusree as the flirting friend of Madhuri was hilarious and there was nice sync between the two. The movie utilizes the ability of Saiju Kurup to play grey-shaded characters very smartly. Grace Antony, Divyaprabha, Alencier, and a few more names are there in the cast and they were all memorable.

Rosshan Andrrewss knows the importance of the pivotal scene where everything changes for Madhuri and he has taken it in a way that will surely give the viewer a shock. Because of the impact of that scene, you are never going to enter that mentality of the other female characters who are advising our heroine to forgive that. Unni R plants his social satire angle through the characters around Madhuri. He shows that the perverted nature is there among all kinds of men and the best way to stop them is by responding against it. The crookedness of the system also gets a place in this screenplay. The movie is ultimately asking all the women to raise their voices against any sort of abuse they face and it also mocks the women who take advantage of the gender. The initial song was really unnecessary. Sreekar Prasad has made this 105 minutes long thriller a totally engaging one. The cinematography understands the mood of each scene.

Prathi Poovankozhi is a thoroughly gripping experience. Because of the terrific performance of Manju Warrier, the journey of Madhuri becomes exciting and the subtle approach of the movie to present its politics makes it a quality movie in its niche.

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