Devasuram

Few movies can be described as artistic, and they are a joy to behold. Devasuram is one such movie from the good old, early 90's. A classic which was not even replicated by it's sequel.

A wonderful movie directed well by I.V. Sasi and wonderfully acted by Mohanlal. This has to be one of his most iconic roles ever. Revathy, who is by nature a lovely actor and a fine dancer, did her role to perfection. Her chemistry with whom the Malayalis refer to as "The complete actor" was endearing. All the supporting characters, including the likes of Nadumudi Venu and Innocent, played a significant part. The music, directed by M.G.Radhakrishnan and S.P. Venkatesh gelled with the story profoundly, especially with the help of some legendary singers. A once in a lifetime movie, not to be missed by lovers of art.

Devasuram is the best Malayalam film I have had the chance to witness as of yet . The film commands a certain aura of its own and perfectly strikes the cordial balance between what we so simply call as ' class' and 'mass ' . The characters so brilliantly written, the story told with utmost panache and the dialogues so written as onto the pages of the industry's history itself. Magalassery Neelakandan is probably the best character written for a Malayalam film and who better to portray it than Mr. Mohanlal himself who has given on screen a performance for the ages. The film easily holds its fort as a Golden Classic.

I'm a self-declared mohanlal fan in spite of his recent crap releases. I have watched devasuram umpteen number of times and every time i watch it i do realise that it is not his best performance but then what makes me watch this film is that perhaps there is nobody in Indian cinema who can do that role better than him. When mangalessery Neelakantan depicts his street fighter and spendthrift image i got to believe it. He doesn't leave a chance to question his different forms of dominance over society in the film as questionable from the analysing viewer point of view. His arrogance has a charm not just to the people whom he insults but also to me as a viewer. Its amazing how this man can control his histrionics so well. His scolding of Warrier ironically exudes a kind of respect that probably is the best in Indian films,famous for its father-son relationship dramas,though they are not father-son. His subsequent change of attitude(after knowing the truth)is fantastic.and so is his subtle romance with revathi who herself is very good in this. A must see for all mohanlal fans and non-mohanlal fans.

This is easily one of the best Malayalam movies made. And one of the most iconic. The character of Mangalassery Neelakantan is as legendary a cult figure as it gets. The script was great, and so was the dialogue, both by Ranjith. No crass monologues as there would so often be a decade later. An example of the splendid dialogue (one example among many good ones) would be when Neelakantan talks about all the girls he'd romanced before as corpses, commending Bhanumati's character and calling her a real woman. Rarely in Indian cinema do we get a strong female lead (played so well by Revathi) going toe- to-toe with the male lead.

But the heart and soul of the movie was Mohanlal. Without him, there would be no Devasuram. The ease and spontaneity with which he essays that role is commendable. Such a role is easy to ruin with one- dimensional histrionics, but Mohanlal does not do so. Also, he always has that quality to bring a dash of vulnerability to even the most invincible of the characters he plays.

Even though this is one of my favourite movies I cannot give it a perfect 10 (I am tempted to do so). As great as it is, it could have potentially been even greater a movie, if it was handled with some more subtlety, like Irinjal rightly said. For example, the fight scenes were relevant to the plot, but a bit out of line with the realistic tone of the film, even with Mohanlal's larger-than-life character. The antagonist Shekharan could have been so much better than a bland, grimacing Napoleon. Imagine someone versatile like Siddique as Mundakkal Shekharan (sadly his versatility was exploited much later).

Set in a very traditional 'valluvanadan' (a region of Kerala known for its affinity to art & culture) scene, this movie is easily one of the best movies in the history of Malayalam movies and quite possibly Indian movies in general. The story line depicts how a feudal lord, given his irreverent and spend thrift nature, is much vulnerable within. The vulnerability is exposed when the lord is told about his adoption as a kid by his ailing mother. What happens after that is depicted to absolute perfection by Mohanlal. Such performances that captures every bit of imagination and attention of the viewers runs through the whole film, by all the supporting cast. Couple that needs to be mentioned are that of Innocent and Oduvil Unnikrishnan.

All in all, if you do not watch this film, you are at loss!