Vanaprastham

Vanaprastham (1999) : Brief Review -

A supreme legacy of Mohanlal blends mythology with an amazing art form but fails to condemn the infidelity. Vanaprastham is a rich experience overall, actually it is one step higher than what we deserve in late 90s and therefore it deserves that fan following. But the fact that the film being too specific about Mahabharata's ideology where having an sexual affair outside arrange-marriage is termed okay is totally absurd. I am shocked to see many critics and movie buffs not mentioning this ridiculous factor anywhere in their reviews. Additionally, it is linked to Mythology then i guess it deserves even more bashing than what I've just done. In a film we see an illicit relationship between a Kathakali dancer and a young woman from an upper caste family resulting in an illegitimate child. He faces hardships when she refuses to let him see their child and then seeks for ultimate salvation. Isn't it a big joke that he seeks salvation for his own mental peace and not for his sins? How ethical it was from the woman's side to hid the child from his father for her own mistakes and how etihical it was from his side to have this extramarital affair and not feeling sorry when he's living with his wife and a daughter? This part didn't make any sense to me even if i assume historical references of Arjuna and Abhimanyu. Come on, this was 1950s and you don't apply Mahabharata theories here. Thankfully, Vanaprastham is blessed by Mohanlal's legendary performance and Shaji Karun's skillful direction. These two overtake the weak writing and makes Vanaprastham an absolute cinematic experience of poetic proportions. Overal, Vanaprasthan has absurd theories to tell but Mohanlal's acting and Karun's direction have saved the ship from sinking. A very good attempt to bring new modulation in Indian Cinema of late 90s.

RATING - 7/10*

By - #samthebestest.

I am luckier since I didn't miss Vaanaprastham the latest movie from Shaji N Karun when it was in box office.

The movie talks about the identity crisis of Kunjikuttan the Kathakali dancer facing in his life. Although he is accomplished dancer his family life is a failure. His wife advises his Krishana( his daughter) keep away from the Poothana because he is full of poison and it might kill her.

His character "Arjun" in "Subra arohanam" makes Subhra ( Shuhasini ) attracted towards him. Subhra breaks away later when she have a child in him. She tells " I Love the Arjunan Not Kunjikuutan". Kunjikuttan love and passion towards his son which in turn is a search for his identity makes him dance a beautiful love scene in Kathakali (Subhra arhohanam) with his daughter.

Kathkali dances performed in the movie gets slow, fast , violent, romantic and even ugly with movie!!!!!!!! As the other two shaji's movies(Pirvai & swam) it also have to tell a lot about father son relationship.

Just watch it for his eyes...and that's enough reason.

About a week ago I saw the movie "Vanaprastham"...........

The movie has been with me for over a year now.....but I did not watch it because I thought it to be a slow movie depicting the poverty of Kathakali artists..........and I could not find the mood to watch that film............

But somehow one week ago I watched it...........and oh God, what a movie it was.............one of the best movies ever in Malayalam........actually in my opinion, one of the best movies I have ever seen in any language..........it stands a class apart from an average Indian movie..................hats off to Shaji N Karun, Mohanlal and Zakeer Hussain for his soothing background score...................

From what I knew, even some of the serious movie watchers have failed to watch this movie.......may be because of the similar attitude, I do not know......I seriously urge anyone who wants to see a good movie to see this movie if you have not yet............

The movie is about a Kathakali artist Kunjikkuttan portrayed by Mohanlal.........but the director is showing the life of an artist in that movie, be it a Kathakali artist or a painter or a movie artist, whatever........Kathakali is just a setting...............The name itself speaks about the movie........"Vanaprastham"............it is one of the four ashrams of life........."Brahmacharya" "Grihasthasram" "Vanaprastham" and "Sanyasam".............the movie portrays the different stages of an artist........................evolution of an artist, may be you can call it that way................

To me the stand out performances have been from the director Shaji N Karun himself, the great tabala maestro Zakkeer Hussain who composed the background score and the acting legend Mohanlal..............hats off to the director for making a complex storyline such as this into a movie which never bores the viewer...........not even for a second..........that is the main success of this movie.........It grips you from the start to the very end like in another world..........a world of Kathakali.........a world of art.......................and when the movie finishes, it haunts you....................the characters never fade..........they are still with me, every scene is being replayed over and over again in my head..........

The background score by Zakkeer Hussain plays a big part in setting the mood..............the music is really gentle and soothing..............what should I say........heavenly, may be

The supporting artists are also good......................the likes of Suhasini and Mattannur Sankarankutty Marar have done a great job........................but the real star of the show is Mohanlal himself................he made the character "Kunjikkuttan" alive....................I could feel him walking, breathing..........I did not at any time feel that there was any sort of acting going on...................there are some instances in the film when Mohanlal, being in the Kathakali Chutti makeup had to act with his eyes only................and oh, my God.........that was simply amazing...................Mohanlal is surely one of the greatest if not the greatest actors ever to have walked our planet earth............

The movie did win many awards including the best picture and best actor award and best editing award also in the national film awards....................the movie was greatly critically acclaimed but I do not think it was that much appreciated by the common folk, ie, us..........It is really sad actually...........................It is actually movies like Vanaprastham that should get popular acclaim instead of the unrealistic movies that we all love because we want to enjoy rather than appreciating reality.............................Really sad, really.

Is a beautifully and articulately cinematographed formalist piece of drama that does the Indian tradition of melodramatic film proud. It is a film of mirrors ..where the strict defined roles hold up a mirror to undefined, imperfect humanity with no answers...and no questions.Where formal Indian dance(kathakali) holds up a mirror to classics so perfect that humans define themselves in the melodramatic masks of epics. and formalist concepts of art, such as truth, nobility and beauty defines themselves into the drama in such a way that what is left for humans that wear the masks is only weakness, bewilderment ...duty and weariness.

The film is structured as a set of pure cinema (and minimal and melodramatic) events intercut with Kathakali dance performances that reflect the basic emotional drama underlying the scene. The director makes sure that we understand that this is no mere narrative device. the characters in the film don and disturb the masks and makeup of characters in the play...and in myth easily as if they have a very blurred line between present time and fictional reality.

Wwe end up looking for the truth in reflected, broken mirror fragments, reflecting it off one another- one side colored with formal myth, the other with minimalist melodrama. The failing of the film is in its certainity that objective truth can be found in art (it is by no means certain...we are all,IMO, and to quote newton , just children playing in the sands of time amusing ourselves with the discovery of a colorful shell here and there...). The tension with this film is that it succeedes as the formalist art that it critiques , thus, holding a mirror unto itself.