Kerala Varma Pazhassi Raja

The movie is recommended since: 1. It has a gripping script even though it stays true to history. 2. The fight scenes are awesome 3. The cinematography is praiseworthy. It captures the beauty of Wayanad forests and war scenes well. 4. The sound design is one of THE best ever in Indian films. Resul Pookutty captures the sound of war and the song of rain effectively. 5. You won't be bored for a minute considering that the movie is around 3.5 hours 6. The film uses the best talent in Indian film industry. Lead actor with more National awards than anyone else, music maestro Ilayaraja, singers Yesudas and Chitra who holds the maximum national awards for the best male singer and female singer respectively, editor with the most number of National Awards, script writer with the most number of national awards and Resul Pookutty who won a Oscar. The team can't be better!

I have to say, I was taken by surprise. Something as Grand and Majestic as this could pop out of Malayalam film industry!! I am proud, being a Malayali myself. I loved it.

The movie begins with the British's decision to take heavy taxes from the local people under the Rajahs. Pazhassi who belonged to the Kottayam Royal family of Thalassery region oppose this and becomes the first ruler to resist them and fight it out. Pazhassi who is forced to flee from the his palace starts a carefully planned counter action, with the aid of Edachena Kunkan(Sarath Kumar)and Kaithery Ambu Suresh Krishna). He gets the full support from the kurichiers and tribal people headed by Thalakkal Chandhu( Manoj K. Jayan) and Neeli(Padmapriya) who fights the British using Guirella Warfare tactics. British faced heavy setbacks in various confrontations. Though Pazhassi was able to surprise the British with his tactics, traitors like Pazhayaveedam Chandhu helps the British in the later part of the warfare and capture each of Pazhassi's men.

Mammooty has given a graceful & effortless performance as Pazhassi Raja making him as Humanly as possible. Sharath Kumar gives us an electrifying performance as Kunkan with his machismo and sword fights. Kaniha, on the other hand, could have done better. I wasn't very impressed. Padmapriyas character maybe(I am not sure) first of its type in Malayalam films. She has handled it well and so has Manoj K. Jayan with his Thalakkal Chandu. Lalu Alex, Captian Raju, Thilakan..etc all of them have done a fine job. Its the English actors who really sucked. They should have put more professional actors. The cinematography was simply brilliant, capturing the beauty of Malabar Region. The sets and costumes and the lighting were excellent, simulating that bygone era on the silver screen. The music score by Ilaiyaraja is magnificent. The direction was good and so was the legendary M.T.'s script. The war scenes were impressive, except for the gravity defying stunt scenes.

Overall Pazhassi Raja is a great flick to watch. 9/10

Even if there was hype, this movie was also an underdog movie because: Everyone including me thought how can history movies be successful in this modern day? How can Hariharan and mt make film for audiences of today? How will the audience sit for 3+ hours? How can it ever be bigger than OVVG?

Except for the fans, a lot of others were very negative about the film.

BUT

I was breathless. How did they make this? I don't think there is a need for telling the story. There is nothing to prove for Hariharan mt. they are legends. They have made zero budget movies without stars (like Nakaksatangal) to prove it. But the beauty gets bigger when the canvas gets bigger. Great Script.Supreme direction by the ace director. Great cinematography Great art direction. Great music. Great everything.

Like what I said before Hariharan is the grandest part of the movie because- -the locations are super. He deserves an award just for finding such spots. -the takings are really majestic and thrilling.Truly a masters touch. -the determination and will to make one movie for three years in forests. -his casting is spot on. Not one character is out of place. He got the best performances out of his actors. -he managed to co-ordinate stars, hundreds of junior artists and technicians very well. There is not a doubt that his job was the toughest in the film to set the right atmosphere and also to make them act, successfully transporting us into the period.

Next points about MT: -This is a special script from the master. It is amazing how he managed to accommodate all the actors and give them equal importance in the script. A lot of people are complaining that there is no layered subtext or dimension or characterization like ovvg. I think they are fools. Ovvg is a story with which mt and Hariharan could bend it any way they wanted. The characters in Pazhassi are people with one sole aim- freedom, how much more can you add depth to that? Mt has lot of limitation. Even then mt has put a great family angle to Pazhassi.

-in my opinion this is one of Hariharan's and mt's best works considering how they have so far managed to satisfy the mass and the class (even to satisfy one of the two categories is something the current young generation is struggling to do)

Mammootty: He can be proud of the fact that there is NOT ANOTHER HUMAN BEING IN THIS WORLD WHO CAN PLAY PAZHASSI RAJA! -A lot of people are criticizing him now but trust me this is one of his career best. The Pazhassi raja you see is not the talkative Chanthu. He is the man who speaks more with his silence and his eyes. Hariharan and mt have done the opposite of OVVG and it will take time for people to acknowledge Mammuka's performance.

SARATH KUMAR: Hariharan has extracted the best performance of Sarat Kumar's life. He has an author backed role which is commercially more likable as the loyal army chief.

Manoj,Padmapriya and Suresh Krishna are really rocking too. Supporting cast was all good. Devan, Thilakan, Nedumudi Venu, Jagathy, and the foreigners were all great.The most impressive in the foreigners is Baabar and his exchange of looks with Pazhassi in climax was out of the world. The Major is also notable.

Sound and BGM: Rasul has done a great job overall. But I don't think that he is at his best in the movie. Sometimes there's too much noise and on second viewing I noticed that, some sounds( like the sarath stabbing Suman sound) is almost laughable. It's cartoon like.

Cinematography and art direction: Both have worked well on enhancing the director's vision although the camera work sometimes is inconsistent and blurred(maybe projector problem).

Next Gokulam Gopalan: It is no mean task to spend 25 Cr for a Malayalam movie. And there is no safer bet than the Hariharan mt combo but still you have to appreciate the raw guts of this man to stand by his team when so many obstacles came their way.

This is a film which is the product of great research from mt. And hard work, creativity and will power of Hariharan.

Hariharan is really the backbone as it is a very visual film. Flop Films like BLUE (100 Cr +), Kanthasamy (50 Cr+), etc. have proved that with great power… comes greater responsibility…we can be proud that we have our own classic big budget director. In these times when film makers fail to keep our attention even for 10 minutes, these two have made us gape at the screens for 3 hours and 15 minutes.

Pazhassi is actually a low budget war film. Hariharan deserves a lot of credit to make 25 Cr seem like a lot more. This is like 1/100th of the cost of a Hollywood film to put it lightly. Gladiator was approx 103,000,000.00 USD

This film is special because it has broken all the rules, trends and instilled a sense of patriotism in every audience member.

A Timeless & Priceless commercial classic

Indian ANSWER TO TROY,GLADIATOR BRAVE HEART. Its most awaiting movie in India.Its just not an Indian Cinema. Its a world cinema. Famous Indian actor, who won 3 National awards in Two different languages Padmasri Bharath Mammootty done the title role. The movie is simply awesome telling the story of one of the first freedom fighter in India Kerala Varma Pazhassiraja. Film is directed by Hariharan and the story is written by Famous award winning Indian writer MT Vasudevan Nair. The film is dubbed in to 5 languages. Hope this film will be rock in red carped. The sound mixing is done by Oscar winner Resool Pookutty. For more just watch the movie and enjoy.

Hariharan-M.T Vasudevan Nair-Mammootty team After 20 Years..After evergreen classic Oru Vadakkan Veeragadha..Expectations were sky high...Did they meet it..?My answer is a big YES...Yes one of the best war films in India..No doubt..

But comparing it with OVVG is not a good thing...In OVVG MT had full freedom to mould his character with multi-shades because of its fiction or fantasy treatment of Vadakkan Pattu. Here it is a chapter from History..So He used a safety path of straight forward storytelling...We can say script wise MT Excelled in OVVG than this..But a war film from history is not at all an easy task..Because common audience have to follow the path with less troubles..Here MT succeeded 100% with a gripping screenplay within the commercial format...You can see the beauty of dialogues here also..

Hariharan...Seriously I was very much doubtful about his treatment..Because of his recent deliveries..But he corrected in this one...His directorship is very much apt for this movie...He superbly handled(utilised) actors and production crew in all categories..

Mammootty...Who can else in Malayalam to portray a Legendary King...His screen-presence will do half the things..He performed it with subtle manner..kind of underplay...exactly opposite of Chandhu in oVVG...For fans It will be little bit disappointment...Because MT did his characterisation in this way...Thats the one of the best thing about the script..Otherwise it would have been a one-man show...

Sarathkumar...A real warrior in all aspects...Most favourite character in this film for masses..One of his career best..Manoj,Pathmapriya other protagonists..are also in good form... Technical side: Ramnath shetty:- Beauty of frames without camera gimmicks...Night shots the best one in Malayalam..(He excelled in these category in Virumandi also.."Unnai vidai" song). Resuls Sound Mixing...IMO, it's his best work than Oscar slumdog...BGM is good..But Raja sir could have done it even better...

Next is Gokulam Gopalan...big applause for his guts and dedication for this project..

I'm not going to the negatives...(because those are very minute things here...) This kind of films...Rarely happens in Malayalam...A real pride of Malayalam....