Perumazhakkalam is a drag

Rasikar Films' Perumazhakkalam (Malayalam) scripted by T A Razzak and directed by Kamal tells the story of Rasiya (Meera Jasmine), a young mother who stays on the banks of the river Kallayi in Kozhikode with her father (Maamukkoya) and is always on the wait for Akbar (Dileep), her husband working in Saudi Arabia. One evening, Najeeb (Sadik), Akbar's cousin comes to meet Rasiya and her father with a bad news- that Akbar has murdered his friend Raghuramaiyer (Vineeth) following a tussle and has been awarded capital punishment by the Shareeyat court of Saudi. There is just one way out to save Akbar- obtaining a pardon letter from Raghu's widowed wife Ganga (Kavya Madhavan) who is bereaving the death of her husband at her agrahaaram by the banks of the Kalpathi river in Palakkad. How Rasiya manages to meet Ganga and how she saves her husband Akbar in the face of stiff opposition from Raghurama Iyer's parents and brothers is what the rest of the movie is all about. T A Razak has never really impressed as a script writer in the past. He is adept at choosing topical subjects for his script (Bhoomigeetham and Kanakkinavu are good examples) but is also well known for messing up his scripts (The memories of Vishnulokam, Rappakal and Bus Conductor still send shivers down my spine). Here also, Razak is in his elements. His script is loaded with excessive melodrama, his metaphor of rain plays spoil sport and drains the script of its strength and the climax is unbearably long and undesirably cliched. His depiction of Tamil Brahman community is far from reality and the characters in the agrahaaram look and sound as if they are straight out of a pulp fiction (painkilikkatha in colloqial Malayalam). It is high time Kamal looked beyond Razak for scripts. The duo have delivered half a dozen duds together including this movie. Kamal's confusion as a film maker is evident with the way the movie progresses. The trauma that the protagonists go through is unable to strike a chord with the audience. The sudden change in Ganga's attitude towards Rasia and Akbar comes out as the weakest link in the film. To a certain extent, Kamal is saved by the performances of his cast. Meera Jasmine is adequate as Rasia though her performance borders on over acting in certain scenes. She needs to restrain herself badly. Kavya Madhavan underplays Ganga effectively with her subtle body language and ample use of facial expressions. Sadik as Najeeb, Biju Menon as John, Mala Aravindan as Kunjikannan and Salim Kumar as Akbar's uncle stand out. Dilip's cameo as Akbar is nothing much to write home about. Vineeth appears in a song sequence and does not make much impact. Mamukkoya gets a chance to exhibit his acting prowess as Rasia's father and the veteran does a great job worthy of the Special Award from the Kerala Government which he won for his portrayal. M Jayachandran's background music is loud and disturbs the tempo of the movie. The songs are well tuned and well picturised but they are completely out of place. Looks like the Kamal- Razak duo were unsure about the kind of movie that they wanted to make and due to this Perumazhakkalam ends up as a wannabe Middle of the Road kind. I really hope Kamal and Razak would have caught up with Nagesh Kukunoor's "Dor" which was based on the same story. Let the mastery of Kukunoor and the subtlety of Dor be lessons enough for Kamal and Razak to come up with something impressive in future.