Pathonpatham Noottandu

I like the way the mytho-historic genre is treated in this film. There is an element of 'larger than life' persona of a historic figure and also important chapter in the fight of the subalterns against the dominant upper casts who had proclaimed insulting rules such as 'breast tax'. To think that such a 'tax' even existed is shocking these days. One had to fight to even restore the basic human dignity of covering oneself itself will be an eye opener to many in modern India. How much resistance from the upper cast men who wanted to legitimize 'letching' or more way to keep the subalterns humiliated. Definitely an important film to watch for its portrayal of modern social equality movement in India. At the same time the film narrative and visualisation is in the heroic mode, with stylised fight sequence and other 'hero' cinema tropes. On the whole an enjoyable as well as an enlightening watch.

*** Pathonpatham Nootandu ( 19th Century) Movie Review ***

Directed by Vinayan...

Starring Siju Wilson , Anoop Menon , Chemban Vinod , Sudev Nair, Kayadu Lohar in lead role...

Verdict of The Movie : Super Hit ... 5/5 ⭐

Plot of the Movie...

During the era of 19th Century, in the place of Travancore, there was a custom that women of lower caste is not allowed to cover their breasts..They were deprived of their fundamental right... Moreover they also need to pay breast tax..

Also there were other crimes named as tradition like moustache tax for lower caste men, not allowed to visit temple, not allowed to wear the used clothes of the upper middle class...

So Aaratpuzha Velayudhan Chekavar a fierceless person who also belongs to the lower caste was on a battle against this unjust crime against the state...

Positive Factors of the Movie

1) Siju Wilson, this man broken the expectations of the movie...If he was a comedian in Premam, no one ever believed that he could carry such a heavy character..Even when the movie poster launched i was confident that this will be an another disaster for Vinayan the film maker but Siju you stolen the show...

2) Vinayan Sir writing and screenplay was good... His involvement was well evident in all the sectors of the movie, be it action, sound design, art direction etc...

3) Kayadu Lohar as Nangeli also gave a stellar performance...

4) Action sequences were well choreographed, especially the climax fight sequence was awesome...

5) Vinayan sir able to bring out the hardships faced by the lower caste people in depriving from their fundamental right especially the last scene wherein Nangeli cuts her breast to show her protest against the attrocity was heart touching.....

6) Cameo Appearance of Indrans stolen the heart of the audience....

Negative Factors of The Movie

1) Songs were not upto the mark...

2) Casting of Tiny Tom Deepti Sati , Chemban Vinod was not right...

3) Portray of Kayamkulam Kochuni characterization seems to be incorrect as Kayakulam Kochuni Malayalam movie played by Nivin Pauly was different...

First of all I would like to appreciate the effort that has been put into making this film.

Positives.. 1. Good performance from The Nangleli actress. She did her best.

2. The BGM is nice even though there are places where its overdone.

3. The overall direction, art and choreography did well.

4. The film did bring those old era feels.

Now onto some criticism.. 1. Siju Wilson performance is just average, I mean the acting part.

2. Storyline is bit boring here and there. Not a totally compelling tale.

3. Gokulam Gopalan's casting as the lead actor's grandfather is terrible (cringe fest).

4. Also the Kannan kurup guy is below average.

5. Expected a more intense screenplay.

The film is better than Marakkar or Mamangam but no way close to Vadakkan Veeragatha or Pazhassiraja.

Felt like a good watch, if you don't have much expectations.

The nangeli character really worked for me, especially the climax portion was amazingly shot. The climax scene definitely leaves a impact on us. The production design, costume, cinematography was nice. They nicely set up the 19th century period of Kerala. The music was good. The action sequences were good, especially the climax fight on the boat. It was shot beautifuly with a lot of top angle shots and very stylised with slow motion, that fight scene was pretty cool. The performances were ok, nangeli rocked in the climax.

The issue in the movie is the writing. They messed up in writing of the character of velayudha paniker played by siju vilson. Velayudha paniker is a person from the lower cast and he fights for their rights but he is never affected by any issues the people from that community is facing because he is rich. He has the money to pay all taxes, owns a lot ships, has money to build a temple. He just feels like a saviour who is doing a charity to the community people rather than being one among them. So the stakes involved for him in the story was pretty low. And there were hell lot of other characters which failed to create any kind of impact. I felt there was a proper structure missing in the screenplay. So the movie pretty much fails to create a lasting impact.

When i first saw the teaser of pathonpatham nootaandu, I was surprised to see a good level of production quality especially from a director like vinayan whose previous film aakashaganga 2 being a so bad its good film. Such quality I didn't see even in movies like maamangam and marakkar both starring two superstars. I just wanted to see whether the writing too was updated.

The biggest plus point of pathonpatham nootaandu is its uncompromising production values. Hats off to gokulam gopalan for making high quality period films like pazhassi raja, kammarasambhavam, kayamkulam kochunni and now this. Siju wilson spent nearly two years of his career for this film learning horse riding, bodybuilding and martial arts. And it reflects it on screen very well. Hope he becomes a superstar after this film. Another freshness I felt was presenting kayamkulam kochunni with grey shades.

Though the film has good production values, the script is strictly average. The film looses its steam after the capture of kayamkulam kochunni character. And despite having an ensemble cast of talented supporting actors none of them are in their best form. Just an okayish performance from everyone.

On the whole pathonpatham nootaandu had the production quality to become a mini baahubali but writing turned to be just basic.