Iyobinte Pusthakam

An excellent direction by the director giving us the real pre independent India..amazing acting by the crew..fantastic..a story that makes a mark in pre historic India..and in our hearts too

There are very few Malayalam movies that surprise me with its style. And this is one among them. The movie tells the tale of Munnar in the pre-independence era. I have never seen a movie that picturizes the beauty of Munnar so well. Each frame evokes me a feeling of watching a Hollywood movie. It is difficult to type-cast Amal Neerad's movies, but to me, this one is the best that showcases Amal Neerad's ability as a director. Revenge, adventure, romance, fantasy, revolution; it has everything. I guarantee it would fascinate anyone who loves serious movies.

If this ain't on your watchlist, you are missing out on a ton. Iyobinte Pusthakam is one of the finest crafted Malayalam movies in the industry's history. The film is a period drama set in a pre independence era focusing on the empires left after by the British after their occupation. This flick focuses on the titular character of Iyob (Lal) who takes upon the mantle of Patriarch of the tea exporting empire left by a former British businessman. The film takes its time in establishing its premises and characters. Cinematography and Direction is spot on. Casting is brilliant as Fahadh Faasil and Jayasurya gets into the shoes of their characters quite effortlessly and gives career defining performances. The 3 songs felt completely out of place . Aside this the movie is one of the finest you will watch in this genre.

I haven't considered the name "Amal Neerad" as trustworthy. Also didn't tried to watch his movies first day. The names which made me buy an fdfs ticket of this magnum opus were, Fahadh Faasil & Jayasurya. Yeah, I said "magnum opus". Iyobinte Pusthakam is the career best of cinematographer/director Amal Neerad till date.

I had seen the manhunts from Genesis to Revelations in this movie. Job is a person who can be seen in the Bible. He's wealthy, righteous and was a person who don't hurt anyone, even an ant. But here, Job from Iyobinte Pusthakam is an antonym of Job from the Bible. They'll take the opposite poles when it comes to the characteristics.

And Ivan is the representative of Kane from Bible. Isn't he? Up above at heaven, there's Lasar who's sitting next to god. Down below at earth, Lasar is on the right side of power and money. Dimitri is definitely not Pothifer, but we can relate his wife Rahel to Pothifer's wife. And Aloshy is having the characteristics of Abel and Joseph (from the old testament) at the same time.

The names of Job's 3 sons are taken from the Russian classic novel, "The Brothers Karamazov". Iyobinte Pusthakam is a visual treat from Amal Neerad. I'll name it as the 'visually stunning movie of the year'. Fahadh Faasil performed well as usual and did a great job in action sequences. Jayasurya also made his role memorable. Another actor who should be praised for his performance is Jinu Joseph, who played Ivan. As I said before, cinematography is excellent. Neha Nair and Yakzan Garry Pereira produced good music. But as a period story, Iyobinte Pusthakam lacks the honesty. Amal Neerad preferred style over history.

Malayalam industry is producing wonders using limited budget. If someone ask me 'Bahubali or Iyobinte Pusthakam', I'll prefer Iyobinte Pusthakam.

So guys, Iyobinte Pusthakam is a must watch.

This movie actually surprised me a bit. Two things I absolutely loved about it - Amal neerad's cinematography and fahad's Aloshey.the creative reconstruction of the Russian novel under the colonial period with the mesmerizing beauty of Munnar as background was totally unexpected. Iyobinte Pustakam gave more space to all the actors to perform as none of them seems to be less important. The movie brings to light some significant socio-political issues of the era highlighted by feudal mindset of Iyob and the rebell inside Aloshey. Lal,who is a proved actor have handled Iyob with ease and perfection. Padmapriya's Rachel is the real twist element in the story and she have done justice with it. This is perhaps the best reply to all the criticisms calling Fahad Fazil a highly typecast actor. The music suits the mood of the movie but could have been made better. The stunning visuals are the best part of the movie which is almost breathtaking. Amal neerad has freed himself from constant trolling over the extended slo-mo scenes. This is surely the best movie of his career so far.