Life of Josutty

Life of Josutty sometimes reminds me of the serials we have. But Jeethu Joseph's frames have always been mediocre at best in the absence of someone like Sujith Vasudev. And his staging isn't so good.

I loved the story. A story of someone poor becoming successful have always been one of my favorites. Most of the cast did a decent job. But Dileep nailed it. May be because of the lack of popularity, Dileep's portrayal of Josutty is often overlooked.

Yes, the movie has a lot of flaws. But it's still has some soul. Watch it for the story and Dileep's performance.

Let this be a lesson for people who expect astronomy from a man who just got lucky with his magnum opus.

After a gymnastic performance by the cameraman through the valleys of high-range Kattappana, the story about a 6th grade failure named Josutty (Dileep) begins. He comes from a poor family whose head talks like he is Aristotle. Brought up in a poor, lousy environment, all that Josutty wants from life is to marry his childhood sweetheart (Narayanankutty) and get laid. However, his beggarly background poses a threat, and then ironically and manipulatively, he marries a money machine and flies to New Zealand hoping to make babies.

Before I talk more about anything else, I want to inform you that throughout the film the only thing I wondered was if the camera was being handled by an infant. Shaky, robotic shots, weird close-ups, more focus on the locations than the characters, and plain restlessness. Believe me, the cinematography is so bad, it might give you epilepsy. Why don't people just hire Jomon T John? If the draggy start doesn't put you to sleep, the never-ending second act definitely will. Songs are thrown at you like Hussain used to throw paint at his canvases. Characters are introduced nicely, but all we want to focus about is Josutty getting lucky with any one of the eligible characters. In the first half, he doesn't. In the second half... well, if you get there.

The film primarily talks about how detachment affects people's lives. How living far away from the people close to you can be the source of pain, and by the time you realize what you're missing, it's too late. Conveying this specific point, mostly to Malayalis who are obsessed with Gulf, is the only thing the film achieves during its 57 hours of running time. Nevertheless, the way the film is executed using cliché, is what sabotages the whole shindig.

My 3-year old niece does better make-up, but she's not as funny as some of the characters in the film. Humor is a relief, but relying on puns and slapstick is not artistic anymore. Mr Joseph should know that his unschooled protagonist fails at playing life this time because maybe education is after all important. The direction could have been more intrusive; the characters seems like they improvised a lot, which is not always a good thing.

However, there are minute details which, if picked up, can boost one's ability to appreciate the writing. But, still, adding a comedy skit-like sequence in the middle of a drama shows how ill-prepared the writers were. It pokes fun at the insanity of marriage functions, debunks the popular claim that one can see Sri Lanka from Kerala, and uses cultural references to spew humor.

The cast is fine, nothing extraordinary. Exotic Kiwi locales may enthrall you, but a twist, which we were assured that it won't have, plays against the whole drama as we see the story slip into melodrama and high dosage of ridiculousness. I felt no pity for the primary characters nor did I care if Josutty put his P in a V. Usually, I am interested in those stuffs, but hey, the snooze-fest had started and I don't like to be disturbed in my sleep.

BOTTOM LINE: Jeethu Joseph's Life of Josutty is an average drama about a villager whose life story was written by the film's spot boys because the writers just got lazy, the way you would after completing the marathon.

GRADE: D+

Can be watched with a typical Indian family? YES

As the promos suggested,Jeethu Joseph's latest flick 'Life Of Josutty' is devoid of any elements of suspense or twists and portrays various phases in the life of protagonist Josutty,the characters that he come across in his life,his emotions and his realization of where he belong to.

The basic idea to throw light towards the life as its is was good,but the feel of a stage drama was evident through out the narration and the characters looked helpless inside the screenplay by Rajesh Varma that turned lifeless by the time the half-way path was reached.

It all started well and good with some brilliant visuals by Ravichandran and interesting initial minutes which gave hint of yet another box office biggee for Jeethu,but the vibe started to loose steam as the story advanced and started testing the patience of viewers as the second half started to roll.

Screenplay by Rajesh Varma failed to carry the momentum that it generated in the first half and turned over-melodramatic and pathetically dragging,being over-flooded with deadwood sequences,prolonged conversations and predictable formulation.The storyline has slight similarities with Renjith's 'Kadal Kadannoru Mathukkutty' and even tallies as far as the height of boredom too is considered.The climax even though looked forced for an happy ending was well-received.

The light-hearted elements in the initial hour added with few genuine real life sequences were the only saving grace in the lengthy run time of 165 minutes that felt much more,courtesy the snail pace of the narration.There are a large number of double intenders that's typical of Dileep-Uday-Sibi movies but totally unlike of Jeethu which was shocker for a big admirer of the talented director that he is.If one can find it chewable for the family audience,its better not to complain about movies like 'Mayamohini' where the basic humour line was based on such non-veg jokes.

Dileep was at his safe zone playing the title character Josutty impressively with necessary depth and perfection.Jyothi Krishna did her part well and was a good choice for playing the role of Rose.Rachana Narayanankutty was pathetic particularly handling the emotional sequences.Saju Navodya and Nobi were impressive with their catchy one-liners.Chembil Ashokan,Hareesh Peradi,Sunil Sukahda etc were adequate.The surprise cameo towards the end was good.

Some brilliant visuals by Ravichandran was a big relief,the same being the case with the melodious music composed by Anil Johnson.All the three songs,"Mele Mele","Kettoo Njan" and "Kaalame" were good.

Overall,Life Of Josutty is a totally disappointing flick that can even test one's limits with its never ending second half.

Much expectations from Jeethu Joseph after 'drishyam' wasted...If you want to see some parts of NewZeleand ,then the second half of the movie will help you out.Also in first half too some village sceneries like in 'drishyam'.In first half director filled some comedy moments using 'pashanamshaji','dilips' role somewhat similar to 'merikkundorukunjad'.Second half is so disgusting.I wonder why 'NayanTara' came for a cameo role here..I would appreciate the viewers in theater for the mess If you have no other movies to watch, do watch it else don't take the risk I warn Expecting one good movie from 'jeethujoseph'