Papanasam

Chill thrilling experience. Waiting for Papanasam2.

Papanasam (2015) review: Remakes from Malayalam are not new for Tamil film industry. To name a few the recent successful 36 vayadhinile, Yester year's success movies like Friends, kadhaluku Mariyadhai, Chandramookhi, Ninaithale Inikum Kuselan, perazhagan etc

Drishyam was a one of the blockbuster Malayalam movies of all times. The successful movie went to speak Telugu, Kannada and proved its worth in both reprisals. Following that it was remade in Tamil and Hindi (yet to hit the screens). Who knows this script might be reprised in other languages as well in future.

Papanasam is a family drama – thriller. Since the story and screenplay is well known for almost all south Indian Cinema viewers. Kamal has not added anything extra to the script he seems to be the clear director's artist in the movie.

The story is about an ordinary village man trying to save his loved ones who has committed a situational crime. The Nellai nativity flows all over the story applause the writer Jeya Mohan who has penned the dialogues.

When it comes to the performances obliviously we have the ultimate show from the Ace actor and the legendary film star Kamalhassan. Asha Sharath who has reprised the same role has done 100% justice to her role as an I.G and a sobbing mother. Nivedha Thomas as the daughter fits comfortably on the role. The entire team was a good pick for the roles.

Plus points of the film would be definitely Kamal's acting, the script and the gripping story line.

On the contrary the length of the movie seemed too long almost 3 hours ten minutes and the initial portion of the movie to introduce the characters was bit long journey before the actual turning point of the movie.

Overall for those who didn't watch Drishyam this would be an ultimate family thriller. For the other viewers definitely the flavour of Drishyam would be missing throughout because originals stay in your mind which is inevitable.

-Reviewed by Sivakumar Balachandran

Beginning on a serious note, I really feel sorry looking at the way our Indian regional cinema is ignored by the Hindi film viewing audience, considering it always something loud, over the top and action based fast moving drama to be eluded. In fact it really makes you feel the pain finding a film like DRISHYAM (Malayalam) not reaching a wider audience all over the country despite being capable of redefining 'Indian Cinema' breaking all the preset notions and assumptions about regional movies.

Anyway moving ahead of the film's original concept and its similarities with a foreign flick here are my honest views about the worthy, must watch remake given below.

Directed by Jeethu Joseph himself (the man behind DRISHYAM), PAPANASAM is a very loyal remake of its original since it even follows the lengthy first half as it is, that was pointed out to be 'a drawback' by many viewers and critics together. But looking at these initial 40 minutes of the film from a different viewpoint, it does help in building a solid base of individual friendships, rivalry and family-bonding having their own interconnected importance in the later crucial part of the film as required.

The biggest attraction of PAPANASAM (literally meaning 'Destruction of Sins') remains Kamal Hassan returning to his much adored portrayal of a simple, common man that was missing in most of his recent films featuring all 'heroic' or 'larger-than-life' characters away from reality. So here we have a loved maestro (Kamal) carrying the bright torch lit by another hugely respected maestro (Mohanlal) with the same dedication, sincerity and perfection that deserves to be experienced as a must.

Plus PAPANASAM also has Gauthami reappearing on screen after many years, once again proving her immense talent in the tough role superbly. In fact it was great watching them together as a couple making me recall those lighter days of APPU RAJA and many more. Just like the original the entire supporting cast here is again well chosen (a few retained from the original), contributing hugely in the overall impact of the film with many key sequences bringing you onto the edge of your seats repeatedly. Having a longer duration (3 hours) than the Malayalam film, PAPANASAM has a couple of catchy tracks and a powerful background score that successfully takes the film to the next level undoubtedly. And one of the major highlights of the film is its climax conversation scene between Ananth Mahadevan (better than the original) and Kamal Hassan that forces you to join your hands together praising their commendable job wholeheartedly.

No doubt, comparison between the two veterans is bound to become a matter of debate within film institutions & keen students of cinema in the coming months or years. But ideally instead of comparison, one should focus on the different approaches followed by the two in their individual portrayals on screen deserving a huge applause.

To give you the exact gist, where Mohanlal's solid act in DRISHYAM stressed more on intelligence, confidence, patience and ruthless expressions in his interpretation of a concerned father, there Kamal Hassan in PAPANASAM keeps emotions in front and stays an intelligent emotional father right till the finale sequence crying in front of Ananth Mahadevan. And this major difference in their respective visions can be studied in the police torture scene & the climax in particular, dealt distinctively.

However in my personal opinion since a super composed, intelligent and less emotional personality remains more close to the 'thinking' character of the father hiding the unintentional crime, therefore Mohanlal and his DRISHYAM stays 'one step ahead' venture for me putting it honestly. But at the same time that doesn't allow me to rate PAPANASAM any lower deserving an equal praise, successfully giving you the same pulsating, unpredictable, emotional and mind boggling experience in the theatre that needs to be cherished at the earliest without any slightest of doubt. Moreover it also becomes a must watch for the younger generation in particular since it raises a valid question on the use of all new age gadgets that can become both a boon as well as a curse if used with wrong intentions following an evil mind.

Coming back to the subject of regional films, if after reading and listening such strong positive views about the exceptional content of Malayalam DRISHYAM and now the Tamil PAPANASAM all over the media, if you still haven't seen any of these films due to some of your own (silly) language reservations………. then that's like a crime committed will-fully by a supposedly true lover of great cinema if I must say that.

Edge of seat thriller! Super realistic film with awesome plot twist and eye catching scenery!

This is a rare instance where the remake surpasses the original. Not many remakes do that. But Tamil cinema has quite a few memorable instances like Ghilli and Vasoolraja MBBS that stepped above the remakes and became better films. Papanasam joins that list now. Kamal Haasan makes Mohanlal look so uninteresting, bland and inept. Yes, that final climax scene was slightly overdose of the melodramatic Kamal Haasan but that's his strength and that's why people love him. He comes from the Sivaji school of acting (his mentor is Sivaji Ganesan as said by him umpteen times).

The film is so superbly blended into the Tamil nativity that a lot of effort and detail have been done by the makers to achieve this. The girl who plays the elder daughter is top notch, and so is the younger one. Gautami passes muster. Asha Sharrath (the cop) is as brilliant as she did in the original. Kalabhavan Mani goes one step above the original's actor to deliver a knockout performance. The music greatly aids the film with the haunting background score (very well done Ghibran). Overall, the Kamal Haasan factor lifts the film above the original easily. Note: I watched Drishyam (Malayalam) first, but now I regret it. I wish I watched Papanasam first. But out of the two, I will end up watching Papanasam again.