Actor Mammootty has almost landed where he belongs, terrific line-up for the Megastar with LJP's Nanpakal Nerathu Mayakkam to Nizam Basheer's Rorschach recently announced. I was hyped right from the day Puzhu was announced to see him play a grey character. The teaser dropped, then the trailer on May 1st which only exceeded my expectation. A Mammootty film to look forward after years, last time it was Ram's Peranbu (2018), check out my review for the masterpiece which still ranks as one of his best roles ever.
In Puzhu, Mammootty plays Kuttan, a real scumbag (egoistic, casteist, dominant) suffering from obsessive-compulsive disorder and a slave to his ideologies. He raises his only son in a sophisticated way like how toxic fathers are portrayed in almost every European arthouse movies. All the interest of this story arises first of all from this father-son relationship. It gets to the point that everything Kuttan does exasperates his son and the people around him as the story slowly unfolds. This film is a misfire as it is neither an arthouse film nor a psychological thriller, even if revenge plays a central role. Starting with the mythological play, Puzhu trudges undeterred in a far darker, a mixed bag direction and begins with to settle as characters walk in only to mess or rush things up towards the end. The allegory of the play is clearly in the background and sometimes irritating and the parallel almost ruins it in the rushed climax.
The problem with this one is that there is very little story and more unwanted threads (political background) for no apparent reason. Some scenes and screenplay choices are culprits in its shortcomings. It is only because of Mammootty that the film partly works, we start to follow the character as he nails it dealing with problem within his world and screwing things up. He has it in him till the climax, this worm gnaws at him from the inside, but he can't do anything about it but to live with it. It is a film where Mammootty stand out above all, he exacerbates the alienation and anger already hidden inside his mind.
Final thought, It is an unsettling film, not exactly in horror terms but something so full of ambiguity that its atmosphere lingers a for a little while after the movie ends. It is only because of the multi-layered character arc of Mammootty as a father, a brother. Remember this is not a film that makes melodramatic statements, but instead rummages. I still recommend you should give it a go at least once, and fans those who loved his negative roles, you will probably embrace it more.
"This is TRANSMIGRATION: To seek revenge, the forest will reach the sea, King!"
