Mathilukal (1990) :
Brief Review -
One of the Finest Prison-Drama ever made in WORLD CINEMA. An intellectual conversational lecture turned into a Sweet yet Metaphorical Love-Story. How many prison-dramas have you seen which does not include crime horrors, Escape tricks, brutal scenes and highly intelligent characters? Let me give an answer, its NONE. I am saying it again, Mathilukal is one of the finest prison-drama ever made In WORLD CINEMA, I repeat WORLD CINEMA. As i cleared, this does not include POW escape, World War and Crime genre flicks otherwise my list would be full of Hollywood, French and Russian films made before 60s. One more thing to notice is, Mathilukal was made before famous 'The Shawshank Redemption' which also had the same subject with different theories, different methods and different motive of course. Mathilukal focuses on the prison life of a writer Vaikom Muhammad Basheer and the love between him and Narayany, a female inmate of the prison, who remains unseen throughout the film. In two hours of its runtime, Mathilukal has 75% portion covered with jail life and the Intellectual conversations of the protagonist and then last 25% goes into forming an interesting Love Story. Though, i felt that it should have provided the more space to the love story. It rushes so fast that the stability seems lost. And for 40s period such a quick Love Story, i mean just one indirect conversation didn't look appropriate. Rest, it is an engrossing drama with lots of philosophical and human life circle stuff. Mammootty's portrayal as Basheer is cent percent natural. He does not seem like he's playing it on screen. It seemed like as if he was just wandering as Basheer in himself in front of camera. Adoor sir's direction is simply outstanding. Every single frame says so. Overall, a True Classic that deserved all the acclaim and awards.
RATING - 8/10*
By - #samthebestest.
