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.

Josutty(Dileep) narrates his story throughout the film with a voiceover where he lives in kattapanna with his family consisting of his father(Hareesh peradi), mother, sister and brother in law(suraj) and a younger sister(krishnaprabha). He has a love interest jessy(rachana narayankutty) who he had to sacrifice due to his financial problems. One day, his schoolteacher (sasi kalinga) offers him a marriage proposal of a divorcee girl named rose(jyothi) who works as a nurse in new Zealand and tells him that this marriage would solve his financial issues. To save his family from the debts, he agrees for the wedding and after few months, he leaves to new Zealand. Rest of the movie is how josutty transforms into a simple and innocent villager into a successful NRI.

Dileep as Josutty in the beginning repeats his kunjaadu act in a lite manner, but later gives a mature performance towards the end. Hareesh peradi was brilliant as the nanmamaram dad. Chempil ashokan as josutty's friend in new zealand was also good. The cinematography and locations of kattapanna in first half and new zealand in second half are very good.

The first half has some situational comedy which was pretty good. The second half where the story shifts to new zealand has some fish out of water comedy but none works. The film goes on a serious note when josutty gets seperated from rose a🙏most of the proceedings at that time turns melodramatic. Length is also another issue. Also the climax, with nayanthara's cameo looked convoluted.

On the whole, life of josutty is a long and melodramatic fictional autobiography which was saved by jeethu joseph's direction, cinematography and locations.

TL;DR : Life of Josutty is a unique take on a cliché story that contributed to hundreds of similar Malayalam movies - but this one feels better and it goes beyond the boundaries.

This story of this movie has some truth to it which is beautifully portrayed around the life circumstances of the lead character Josutty. All of the actors did an excellent job with their given roles and overall, the flow of story in the movie feels natural and relate- able to real life stories in terms of how many women ( and men ) succumb to the pressure of society and upholding family values by giving up their dreams.

The writer did an excellent job in portraying every character in their own right. Like Josutty's father advised to him, the story provokes viewers to take a second and see the situations from the other parties perspective. Even though, some acts can be seen as immoral / controversial, there is no one evil in any of the characters in the movie. The story sheds some light on the truth that we humans are little bit selfish about our own priorities - which is not necessarily same for everyone. For Rose, it was about being with the guy she loved, for Priya it was about upholding the integrity of her family and hence conforming to her family members expectations of her.

The cinematography and choice of locations in this movie deserves a special mention. The beauty around the hills and dams / lakes of Idukki and Auckland was nicely captured. These locations and the way they were presented definitely played an important role in keeping up the vibe of the movie.

The songs were nice, it synced with story and the sceneries.

Definitely, this movie deserves a spot in top 10 Malayalam movie for the year 2015.

I rate it a solid 8/10.

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

A neat movie. Feel good Film. Very nice script and superb acting. I like this movie very much. Life of Josutty was nice to see in which the emotions and relationships were well scripted with cool visuals.