Life of Josutty

TL;DR : Life of Josutty is a unique take on a cliché story that contributed to hundreds of similar Malayalam movies - but this one feels better and it goes beyond the boundaries.

This story of this movie has some truth to it which is beautifully portrayed around the life circumstances of the lead character Josutty. All of the actors did an excellent job with their given roles and overall, the flow of story in the movie feels natural and relate- able to real life stories in terms of how many women ( and men ) succumb to the pressure of society and upholding family values by giving up their dreams.

The writer did an excellent job in portraying every character in their own right. Like Josutty's father advised to him, the story provokes viewers to take a second and see the situations from the other parties perspective. Even though, some acts can be seen as immoral / controversial, there is no one evil in any of the characters in the movie. The story sheds some light on the truth that we humans are little bit selfish about our own priorities - which is not necessarily same for everyone. For Rose, it was about being with the guy she loved, for Priya it was about upholding the integrity of her family and hence conforming to her family members expectations of her.

The cinematography and choice of locations in this movie deserves a special mention. The beauty around the hills and dams / lakes of Idukki and Auckland was nicely captured. These locations and the way they were presented definitely played an important role in keeping up the vibe of the movie.

The songs were nice, it synced with story and the sceneries.

Definitely, this movie deserves a spot in top 10 Malayalam movie for the year 2015.

I rate it a solid 8/10.

Josutty(Dileep) narrates his story throughout the film with a voiceover where he lives in kattapanna with his family consisting of his father(Hareesh peradi), mother, sister and brother in law(suraj) and a younger sister(krishnaprabha). He has a love interest jessy(rachana narayankutty) who he had to sacrifice due to his financial problems. One day, his schoolteacher (sasi kalinga) offers him a marriage proposal of a divorcee girl named rose(jyothi) who works as a nurse in new Zealand and tells him that this marriage would solve his financial issues. To save his family from the debts, he agrees for the wedding and after few months, he leaves to new Zealand. Rest of the movie is how josutty transforms into a simple and innocent villager into a successful NRI.

Dileep as Josutty in the beginning repeats his kunjaadu act in a lite manner, but later gives a mature performance towards the end. Hareesh peradi was brilliant as the nanmamaram dad. Chempil ashokan as josutty's friend in new zealand was also good. The cinematography and locations of kattapanna in first half and new zealand in second half are very good.

The first half has some situational comedy which was pretty good. The second half where the story shifts to new zealand has some fish out of water comedy but none works. The film goes on a serious note when josutty gets seperated from rose a🙏most of the proceedings at that time turns melodramatic. Length is also another issue. Also the climax, with nayanthara's cameo looked convoluted.

On the whole, life of josutty is a long and melodramatic fictional autobiography which was saved by jeethu joseph's direction, cinematography and locations.

A neat movie. Feel good Film. Very nice script and superb acting. I like this movie very much. Life of Josutty was nice to see in which the emotions and relationships were well scripted with cool visuals.

As the promos suggested,Jeethu Joseph's latest flick 'Life Of Josutty' is devoid of any elements of suspense or twists and portrays various phases in the life of protagonist Josutty,the characters that he come across in his life,his emotions and his realization of where he belong to.

The basic idea to throw light towards the life as its is was good,but the feel of a stage drama was evident through out the narration and the characters looked helpless inside the screenplay by Rajesh Varma that turned lifeless by the time the half-way path was reached.

It all started well and good with some brilliant visuals by Ravichandran and interesting initial minutes which gave hint of yet another box office biggee for Jeethu,but the vibe started to loose steam as the story advanced and started testing the patience of viewers as the second half started to roll.

Screenplay by Rajesh Varma failed to carry the momentum that it generated in the first half and turned over-melodramatic and pathetically dragging,being over-flooded with deadwood sequences,prolonged conversations and predictable formulation.The storyline has slight similarities with Renjith's 'Kadal Kadannoru Mathukkutty' and even tallies as far as the height of boredom too is considered.The climax even though looked forced for an happy ending was well-received.

The light-hearted elements in the initial hour added with few genuine real life sequences were the only saving grace in the lengthy run time of 165 minutes that felt much more,courtesy the snail pace of the narration.There are a large number of double intenders that's typical of Dileep-Uday-Sibi movies but totally unlike of Jeethu which was shocker for a big admirer of the talented director that he is.If one can find it chewable for the family audience,its better not to complain about movies like 'Mayamohini' where the basic humour line was based on such non-veg jokes.

Dileep was at his safe zone playing the title character Josutty impressively with necessary depth and perfection.Jyothi Krishna did her part well and was a good choice for playing the role of Rose.Rachana Narayanankutty was pathetic particularly handling the emotional sequences.Saju Navodya and Nobi were impressive with their catchy one-liners.Chembil Ashokan,Hareesh Peradi,Sunil Sukahda etc were adequate.The surprise cameo towards the end was good.

Some brilliant visuals by Ravichandran was a big relief,the same being the case with the melodious music composed by Anil Johnson.All the three songs,"Mele Mele","Kettoo Njan" and "Kaalame" were good.

Overall,Life Of Josutty is a totally disappointing flick that can even test one's limits with its never ending second half.