Watching the 4K Dolby remastered version from the theater was pure bliss. The Matinee Now Remaster a few years ago was good but I noticed a slight change in color grading with that one. This didn't have that kind of an issue and with a tighter edit, cutting down the unnecessary comedy portions, it was an incredible audio-visual experience.
It's now a pure gothic horror romance that is so atmospheric. The cinematography and production design need to be commended. The sets, the clothes, and everything else are chosen specifically to create a specific look. Even random things can be seen here and there that add to the beauty of the frames. So many frames that are gorgeous, and so unlike most of the mainstream Malayalam movies from that era. I guess, it shows more about how the directors like Sibi Malayil shoot the film in a way that is apt for that style of film. I wish they'd have made more movies like this then. This kind of aesthetics would've been a little more popular among those who came after.
However, the greatest thing about this movie is its soundtrack. All the songs and the background music are just such masterpieces. Just to watch and listen to those songs with a crowd, I can go to the theatre again. "Ayaal Sangeethathingte Rajaavanu" is for Vidyasagar, he truly shows he's a king of music. All the songs in this movie are favorites of mine.
Cutting this movie down was mostly a very good thing. The introduction fight and the scenes along with it always felt like they didn't belong in this movie. Removing that and the unnecessary comedy scenes was right. But in doing that there were a few scenes that made a little less sense. A few abrupt cuts, some information missing etc were there. I didn't mind those too much. I understand the decision to remove Jagathi because of his characterisation mainly for comedic purposes but completely removing his portions made the phantom dogs sequences less impactful. Those were the parts where the movie became truly a horror movie with that eeriness that lingers for some time. Without the length of it, we don't truly get that feel there. But I do understand why they did it.
Mohanlal looks great and delivers the role really well. Everyone talks about that, so I don't really have to add. But it's really Jayaprada that gives that emotional connection with her eyes so easily. She is just such an incredible actress.
But the other actress just for the sake of having a heroine was pretty bad. But I won't really blame her for that because it was clear that she had such bad lines and even vague situations to act out where the director should've been giving better directions on how to present it. Even in general, the dialogues are not the best. Whenever the characters Aleena or Maheshwar are present, physically or otherwise, there's a mystery and pathos present, and at those moments, the dialogues work really well. But in every other instance, the dialogue and the delivery are very bad. This is even more apparent now that the unnecessary comedy scenes are all cut down.
Nonetheless, it was such a great theater experience. I was glad to see that even on a Monday morning, most of the good seats in the theater was filled for such a re-release.
