I saw it again: Having seen the movie on TV in between commercial breaks, I had to see it again so hired its CD & dedicated my last Friday latenight to it. The last time I saw it it was thought provoking, but this time it gave me goose bumps too because the script, acting was so great that I thought the movie was happening just around me. The very fact that someone dared to make a movie like this, shows that there are still people around who make movies because they have something to say!! To be frank this movie has left within me a tsunami of thoughts, with some of which I am going to flood you ;-)
The plot: abstract as it may sound for a movie title, the word pavithram means ‘purest’ in Sanskrit. This movie is about love it its purest form – love that is self-sacrificing. No, this movie doesn’t depict the marketplace bollywood love where handsome guy meets butiful girl & they sing, dance with in Switzerland. For a change the movie is about a brother’s love for his sister!
Story-cast: Unnikrishnan (mohanlal) is 2nd son of Eeshwar pillai (tilakan) & Devaki (late srividya). The other son is a henpecked husband, doctor Ramakrishnan (Sreenivasan). Unni works for a local industrialist, Shankar ( narendra Prasad), whose only daughter Meera (shobhana) is in love with books & unni. Unni also helps his father in their occupation as cooks for social occasions like house-warming, wedding etc. the family is in debt due to loans taken for Ramakrishnan’s MBBS education. He too doesn’t repay the loan as he is now married & cant afford to disobey his wife. They are childless. Other supporting character are KPAC lalitha as punchiri, innocent as unni’s assistant.
The story takes a never-before (un)believable turn when Devaki becomes pregnant. Everyone reacts in different ways, there are even suggestions to get it aborted. The parents themselves feel low thinking what will their childless son & DIL think. Unni is happy. Despite all this they go ahead with having the baby. As tragedy wud have it, devaki dies during delivery leaving behind a baby girl. Though he wants it, childless ramakrishnan cant take home the baby as his wife wont approve. So its now for unni & eeshwar to look after the baby.
Soon an argument between father-son results in eeshwar leaving home without telling anyone. Having decided to look after his sister, unni conveys to meera that he cant marry her. Shankar also villainously requests unni to distance meera. From there on he becomes the father, mother, brother to the girl, meenakshi. His whole youth, life is sacrificed after his sister. She is now to go to city for her college.
What happens when she becomes rebellious & unni fears losing her? What happened to meera over the years? Will they re-unite again? Will the rebellious sister understand her brother’s sacrifices & return to him ..these all form the ending of the story.
Why I liked it: I liked it because the story might have happened really. There are chances. There was a time when parents accepted children as ‘God-given’, now everyone says ‘I made 2 children’. My mother was the 12th child, but thanks(?) to infant mortality of post independence India only 5 survived to tell their tales. Only one of my maternal uncles followed in his fathers footsteps to have 13 children. The rest only managed between 3-7. ;-) so there is a difference of 23yrs between my mother & her eldest brother.
I liked the movie bcos it appealed to the brother in me. I could never play the bigbrother as both my sisters were elder to me. In fact when I was small I once went to my mother & said ‘either you get me a small sister or make one these younger to me’ !! The reason was all my buddies then had a little one in tow, who used to cheer for their brothers!
I liked the movie bcos though it has big stars & made like a commercial movie, it does have a message to convey. The message is about love, sanctity of human life, abt caring for aged parents etc. in subtle ways thru out the film we see a clash of values.These messages are very relevant to times when infant mortality is low, but female foeticide is high, when the child isn’t safe nor in the womb, nor the galis. I liked the movie also bcos its set in very rural, very simple family, who are aam aadmis. When was the last time a mainstream movie had a cook for a hero?
What I liked: The script, superb acting by all, excellent camera work by santhosh sivan ( since santhosh being in his name, it cud only be excellent ;-) ], dialogs, comedy. The direction was story telling at its best, except at some places in the second half where the story seems to drag. Mohanlal does great acting considering his character goes thru lot of changes with age.
The naughtiness portayed by unni when be brings raw mangoes on hearing that his mom is carrying, & the grace with which srividya acts make superb scenes. Lal depicting his pain when the sister he loved so much acts rebelliously. In another scene mohanlal is excruciating-pain personified when he goes to Meera ( who is still single, and looking after her paralysed father) and learns that she cant come with him. The scenes where unni makes peace with sister after every argument. Comedy in the form of innocent is refreshing for an otherwise serious story. Another scene I liked was where unni after an argument succeeds in putting coconut oil on the sister’s hair and slowly makes her laugh and make peace. After seeing this scene, I have resolved to use this ‘coconut oil lagao, aur uska dhimag thanda karo’ forumla, when the need arises ;-)
The climax is left open-ended for us to think what might have happened ahead. Though I got angry with it for a while, on second thoughts I think that’s a better ending. Bcos with an ending where ‘all is well, lived happily ever after’ we are prone to forget the movie as we are out of the theatre, but with a open end, I am reminded of the movie all the more.
Music: there are at least 2 songs which you will remember for long. Songs are such that all gel with the story and mostly are background songs. One of the songs has one of the best ever instrumental start u can think of. It goes like this. ;-)
Kukkuhukuhu kukkuhukuhu kukkuhukuhu kukkuhukuhu kukkuhukuhuoooooooooKuhukuhu kuhukuhu kuhukuhu kuhukuhuooooo [ flute ]
Taktakatak taktakatak taktakatak [ghata or dole ] + jill jill … tana Tanana tana Tanana tana tantana tana tana [ veena ] …sree raagamo thedunnu nee …
wow wow what a song. I hear it once a day. Please keep in mind that I have typed out music (!!! ) ;-) only to give u an idea of the sound. If I were to do a video revu, I might have produced the sounds vocally!! [ did you say ‘thank god for saving music’ ;-) ]
My recommendation: I don’t know if this has been remade or dubbed to other languages. For those fed up of seeing routine escapist movies this may come either as a refreshing change or an annoyance. Nevertheless for anyone who can lay hands on a copy with subtitles or anyone who can follow the language remotely shudnt miss it, if a chance to see this comes. ..wud like to receive your comments, questions on the movie or review. Please do RRC ;-)