Pranchiyettan and the Saint

Pranchiyetten and the Saint is a satirical, surreal, thought provoking and a character driven movie that manages to draw us into its story, enjoy and cherish, the comical and eccentric adventures of Pranchiyettan in pursuit of fame. The whole story is narrated by Pranchi to the Saint as reply to his question "What is it that worries you?" Eenashu Cherammal Francis or Pranchiyettan or "Ari Pranchi" (Mamooty) is a wealthy businessman, who is quite unhappy with the way people call him "Ari Pranchi" referring to the business of his ancestors (rice vendors), without respect. He wants to earn respect of the people and his efforts to do so is so hilarious. Later in the film, he comes to the point of literally 'buying' respect. He is not well educated and therefore, obviously, suffers from an inferiority complex. He, in his pursuit for fame, is also used by others for their own profits. He never gets mentioned for anything he does (His company sponsored a ceremony for congratulating the achievements of the Oscar winning Malayali "Gaffur Chekutty". He was, quite politely, thrown out of the stage and thus losing his chance to become a well known person). He has a rival, who was his schoolmate (Siddique), to whom he lost his girlfriend (Kushboo) while at school, which leads to another complex he has. He is extremely bothered by certain failures in his personal life. Both the rival and his wife are 'well known' doctors in the city (which really bothers Pranchi a lot).

Ranjith(writer & director) is among the few film-makers in Malayalam film industry, who tries to do something unconventional. He has such films like Nandanam, Thirakatha, Paleri Mankiyam to his credit. Ranjith has created such a brilliant tale and narrated it almost flawlessly and quite stylishly that makes the film, a far cry from the usual, mediocre and clichéd stuffs that has been ruling the roost at the box office lately (a few exceptions of course). The humor here is simple and brilliant. Mamooty has breathed life in to Pranchiyettan. He literally lived as Pranchiyettan in every frame. Mamooty has been getting quite a few experimental roles lately (Kuttyshrank, Paleri Manikyam and this film). This is, in my opinion, one of those movies where his excellent acting skills have been really put to use. He has handled comedy so naturally rather than overdoing it like in Thuruppugulan. A few friends of mine, complained about the way he handled 'Thrissur' accent. But I've no such complaints as I was too busy enjoying the film. Priyamani makes a brief entrance as 'Padmasree' an artist, in the story who is another love interest of Pranchi. This part in the movie could've been a tad longer in my opinion, as the exit of the Padmasree from the story, lacked the intended punch (on me. I don't know about others). Master Ganapathy plays Pauli, a rebellious but intelligent kid whom Pranchi meets in the later parts of the film. (I am not going to reveal much about the role). The Saint is played by an Australian theater artist and I liked him. He was much better than the other foreign artists that show up in most other Malayalam films. Innocent plays Menon a close friend of Pranchi who gives the ideas to Pranchi to get famous. Everybody has done a nice job in the film.

The movie explores or at least touches superficially on a lot of things, which I noticed and which I don't think I am matured to enough to say. I am talking about humans & human relationships. This is so far the best film I've seen this year. In my opinion it will be future classic.

I don't know the number of times I have watched this. The story is Ari-Pranchi aka Pranchiyettan who is trying hard to remove his knick name is then crux of the movie. What all he and his friends try to change this is presented in an extremely hilarious way. Innocent has a wonderful role as Mammootys sidekick. With thrissur slang and simplicity of the dialogues, this movie clearly entertains you.

Siddique plays Pranchis arch enemy. Priya Mani is the female lead. Both have good roles in the movie. Jagathi also has a super cameo. It's a laugh riot with a final feel good ending .

Once in a while along comes a movie that makes your spirits soar and helps you forget the mediocrity that this medium often serves. That is does it without seeking recourse to any manipulative tools, that we are all too familiar with, makes is even more remarkable. It solely depends on unalloyed storytelling skills.

Director Ranjith's latest offering Pranchiyettan and the Saint, starring Mammootty, is one such effort where the viewer is drawn into the story to experience the sheer joy of it. This film just tells the story of a rich but uncouth simpleton, C. Francis -- popularly known as Pranchiyettan. As his family has been into rice business, he is also known by a nickname Aripranchi, and this pains him.

So, he makes serious efforts to get rid of the nickname -- and his efforts include diversifying into other businesses and supporting worthy charitable causes. But, as fate would have it, the nickname that has troubled him since school days, never leaves him.

What works for the narrative of this film is the simple humor, which is continued till the fag end of the film.

The film depends heavily on Mammootty's histrionic skills to be convincing and it works. It is this effortless and natural performance that gives Pranchiyettan the lifeblood.

Mammootty as an actor has resorted to slapstick comedy to prove his credentials too, but in this film it is quite different -- the middle aged character that he plays here possesses a natural sense of humor and does not require any help in the form of slapstick situations.

On the whole, the success of Pranchiyettan and the Saint rests on the shoulders of Mammootty and Ranjith.

This movie is well taken with a excellent message of " Don't go behind laurels, if you deserve them they will come looking for you". Every 10 minutes in the movie there is some kind of message to the viewers. Mammootty was so involved in his role and performed exceptionally well, I think this will remain as one of his best movies for the next decade or so. Again there is no words to explain how well Renjith has directed this movie, he has spent time and effort and gave importance to every crew in this ship. If you see the movie you all will understand how each actor and actress is well placed to make this a magnificent movie. Ranjith also has studied Thrissur very well and has taken so much care in portraying exactly how Thrissur natives will behave in their daily life. I wish every director gets to take these kind of movies there by raising our standards. Cheers to all the crew and cast of the movie "Pranchiyettan and the Saint" even saints will like this movie.....!!!

Viewers generally go out for the movies to be entertained. Thats exactly what Renjith has managed to do with this wonderful movie. The movie starts off with Mammootty being introduced by some ghosts. That initially made me feel that it would be something like Shyamalan's movies. But I was totally mistaken and taken aback by what followed.

The story telling is some thing that one would find remarkable in the movie. The feats of the so called Mammootty character 'Pranji Yettan' is depicted very skillfully and meticulously. He thrives for the respect and recognition that he always wanted. He tries to become a better man but still no one seems to take his seriously. The manages to become a helper of the needy in spite of being a wealthy person. How his friends try to become a well know personality is the crux of the story.

The Thrissur slang has been used very cleverly in the movie and manages to chuckle the audience. Though not used very dramatically it stands out as the best feature of the film. Innocent, Tiny Tom, Siddique, Jagathy and Khusboo play their roles to the at most of perfection not to mention how great Mammootty was.

I would give it a 8 out of 10 for entertainment.