Puthiya Niyamam

For the bigger share of its run time, Puthiya Niyamam looks like a very silly revenge story with a lot of loop holes in characterization. But the success of the script is in the twist that happens in the very last quarter of the movie where the director explains the mismatches and awkwardness the audience felt in an impressive way. It is a little uncomfortable to see the typical drama on screen after having seen two wonderfully realistic movies in the last weekend. But still with its sensible twist with a little too ambitious “technology” added to it, Puthiya Niyamam is a movie that won’t disappoint you for sure.

Louis Pothen is an all rounder. He is a lawyer specialized in divorce cases, he is seen in channel debates on various topics and he is a movie critic too. His wife Vasuki is a Kathakali artist and the couple has a daughter. The movie actually focuses on an incident that sort of changed the lively Vasuki in to an introvert. The story is an exploration on what happened in her life that changed her drastically.

The first thing you will notice (if you have followed A K Saajan movies) is that there is an unusual amount of witty and cool dialogues from our hero. Mammootty’s Louise Pothen is undeniably cool and more of a common man. His male chauvinistic arrogance may not please all of us, but you have to take it as the nature of a character. As the film moves on you sort of sense the revenge pattern that is being constructed. In my mind I was questioning the attitude of the police chief and also the relevance of Mammootty being the male lead of the movie. At the peak of the indigestible feel you get because of these factors, A K Saajan takes that U turn which creates the surprise. Just like how George Kutty got applauds in the second half of Drishyam, the last 10 or 15 minutes of the movie has a series of moments that will make you clap for the hero. I wasn’t that convinced with the “voice” tactic, but the care of the husband part looked convincing.

A K Saajan has admitted that he is an old school director and you could sense that old school drama in making. The good thing he did was that the other crew members he selected were young. That added a new feel and attire to the movie. In the first independent venture as cinematographer Roby Raj reminds us of his Guru Jomon T John with the kind of lighting and visuals. The edits from Vivek Harshan was crispy. Gopi Sunder has done the background score in an effective way (I don’t have the skill to identify whether he copied from any other film from the first listening itself). The screenplay has some added up portions to take a dig at the divorce obsessed modern couples, film reviewers etc. All I can say is that just have the same spirit when you receive a negative review 😉 .  Except for that “technology” used by Louise, everything else in Puthiya Niyamam climax looked pretty convincing. The last scene where Louise Pothen discusses his inner pain with S N Swamy kind of looked similar to one of the Drishyam scene.  I mean the content had similarity.

Mammootty adds charm to the cool and male chauvinistic Louis Pothen. The humorous portions and the serious parts were portrayed nicely by the actor and kudos to him for selecting a project that demanded less of him and more from the heroine. Nayantara got to do the pivotal character of the movie as Vasuki. The complexity of emotions was portrayed nicely by her. Rachana Narayanankutty was okay in her character. The three antagonists performed neatly.  Sheelu Abraham was disappointing. With Puthiya Niyamam after AHB, I must say Sohanlal looks like a promising talent after the likes of Renji Panicker.

Puthiya Niyamam is a last minute thriller that uses its flaws smartly to be a pretty satisfying thriller. Don’t expect an out and out thriller package. Just have the patience to sit through it and you won’t feel cheated for sure.