Jacobinte Swargarajyam

Its always difficult to travel against the flow. Here Vineeth Sreenivasan took a nice step without much interfering the culture of a typical malayali. In general the word 'kachavadakkaran' is not accepted in kerala. Exceptions are there with a few. Culture level it sometimes belongs to certain families or at the most a few castes or certain regions. Boldly the lady character is telling that 'I am an Ichayathi'. It has got those kind of indications. I wish to view it is a movie of a lady : Jacob's wife. But normal clichés like 'Villianising the investor', 'negotiation is bad with him' etc are portrayed for making it consumable as a commercial movie. However we should always appreciate a director for these kind of things are as he is not publishing it as an art-movie. Hats off Vineeth.

It's a one of the lovely family entertainer movie in malayalam.

How well can you present a simple,feel-good movie that it will leave you spellbound with its inimitable positive vibe and heartfelt connection that you make with its characters - The answer is 'Jacobinte Swargarajyam'.Stellar performances,refreshing narration,sparkling visuals,fitting musical score and the warmth of togetherness in each frames makes this one a special film from Vineeth Sreenivasan and team that will stay close to your hearts for quiet a long time.

It's been some time since I watched a movie like JSR that's brimming with such immense positive energy and optimism that it will have a purifying effect on your senses once you are done with the movie.The humongous response from the families in the form of unanimous claps and the smiling faces of the viewers after the show is testimony of the impact of this simple film that's taken to another level by master-class direction by Vineeth,who have showcased his mettle in presenting human emotions so convincingly and impactfully on the silverscreen.

Based on the true story of Vineeth's friend Gregory Jacob and his family,JSR tells the story of Jacob,an NRI businessman and his family,the bondage between them,their emotions and faith in each other and God.The movie certifies the eternal truth that the biggest asset for one is his family and there's nothing more divine than being with your loved ones and standing by them at the times of need.If there's something that can make you feel complete,it is your family,your 'kingdom of heaven' like the one Jacob possess.

The storyline might seem too simple and even predictable,but the presentation by Vineeth is top-notch that there aren't any notable negatives to point out in its 145 minutes of running time leaving aside some minor lags in the latter part of the first half that faded away by the onset of the second half.Notably,there was a consistency in the narration by Vineeth that was well-maintained till the end of the movie.

Casting is a major highlight of the movie and credit must be given to Vineeth and the casting team for the fact all that we could see in the movie was Jacob,his family and companions rather than any actor as such.

Nivin Pauly did his part really well and stamped his ability on choosing brilliant scripts of late.This one is undoubtedly the best film from the heavily successful combo of Vineeth and Nivin that have earlier produced box office superhits like Thattathin Marayathu and Oru Vadakkan Selfie.Renji Panicker was the most impressive among the lot and lived as the title character Jacob,his career best portrayal till date.

T.G.Ravi was brilliant in his supporting role and made the eyes wet with his touching dialogs.Stacen,Sreenath Bhasi and Aima Sebastian were lovable.Lakshmy Ramakrishnan was a delight to watch and excelled with her dialogue delivery.Reba Monica John as the love interest of Nivin was adequate.Ashwin Kumar,Dinesh Prabhakar,Sai Kumar etc too gave notable performances.Aju Vargheese and Vineeth made their cameos memorable.

Jomon.T.John was as usual brilliant with his amazing camera work that captured the beauty and essence of the city of endless possibilities,Dubai.Editing by Ranjan Abraham was fine.Songs by Shaan Rahman were complimenting the storyline and the songs along with apt background score added to the beauty of the narration.

Overall,Jacobinte Swargarajyam is a brilliantly narrated feel good movie that deserves a watch with your family from the big screens.

Ironically, like all movies inspired from real life, the story is exaggerated and idealised into something far removed from real life.

The movie is the story about the story of Jacob, a wealthy businessman of high repute, being cheated by one of his most trusted dealers and thereby ending up in debt with his investors. Now its upto his son Jerry, who Jacob had been mentoring, and his wife to bring up his "ideal" family back to their previous status. I believe that if not for the direction of Vineeth and outstanding score by Shaan Rahman the movie might not have been as good as it is.

All the cast deliver apt performances. Ranji Panicker does what he does best, be the ideal cool father-figure that Malayalee youth expects their dads to be like. All other cast does what is asked of them. Nothing extraordinary from anyone, except maybe the mother whose attitude was a pleasant surprise. I was probably disappointed at the sister character having the least screen time, and contributes zero to the plot.

Rewatching the movie, especially right after watching "The Great Indian Kitchen", I noticed that Jacob's "ideal" family was a celebration of patriarchy. I had a major gripe at how Jerry is irritated and is protective when his sister is seen talking to group of boys while Jerry himself has a girlfriend and even youngest kid being always with girls is a funny gag around the family. I am not saying that every movies need to be progressive. This attitude is/was expected from a "reputed" family. But it suddenly became weird, when you start to notice that.

Awesome movie with a neat screenplay - Lot of maturity shown by the film maker in terms of screenplay post Premam - It a clean and neat editing and what a beautiful way to put all these things on screen - Its again a clean sweep.