Pazhassi Raja (2009) ***1/2

When these two men make film the whole Malayalam industry stands still and watches it.The magic of M.T.Vasudevanair and Hariharan deserves it and the two are the most respected and highly honoured pair in Indian Cinema.When they make a movie on a freedom fighter we need to look in to the depth of the character than the film itself.My friend Sooraj invited discussion on MT and Hariharan an year ago,and from then on I have been reading some thing about MT.Pazhassi Raja as a movie is a crafted work from the legends of Indian cinema with some constraints. MT,Hariharan,Ilayaraja,Rasool Pookutty,Mamooty.What else you can ask for ?

Keralavarma Pazhassiraja(Mamooty) is a brave king of Kerala who stood against the British Colonial rule when his neighbour kingdom were surrendering themselves to the East India Company.Pazhasi Raja moves with his men to the Waynad woods and attack the British force with Kurichiyar natives through Guerilla warfare.British force defeated and frustrated plan in wily manners to bring him down.But the Men of Pazhassi Raja never surrendered to the English men.Thats history !

First and foremost thing ,I watched in the Tamil version of Pazhassi Raja and I wasn’t comfortable with the dialogues penned by Jayamohan.It was discontinuous,hyper toned and it was not impressive at all.I experienced the same in Nan Kadavul with Jeyamohan who is actively now getting in to dialogues.I would sincerely request him that he should either look for correcting the skill of dialogue or stay away from Movies.He is a respected writer but film dialogues are much different which doesn’t come to the same frequency as we read a book.If Tamil version doesn’t impress amidst all the greatness below then it should be because of Jeyamohan.I was totally bothered on this.

Mamooty has lived with honour and valour in this role and he just makes us prove time and then why he is one of the best actors in Indian Cinema.He is an inspiration for acting in many sense though he hasn’t mastered the art of stunts.His body language and expressions are very influential in some scenes when he doesn’t speak a word. Sarathkumar as Edachena Kunkan is a revelation of a character for the Tamil Actor.This will easily become the best in his career.The best thing about these characters are its human side though they get enacted in the War movie.MT’s script doesn’t leave even the characters of Padmapriya and Manoj K Vijayan to go in a shade .

Hariharan’s direction is well aware that he is making a movie of a generation and about the revolt which took place before 1857.The budget constraints are very well visible but to bring a technically brilliant direction with this production values is truly amazing and respectable.I could definitely say this wouldn’t go as a great of Malayalam cinema but this would surely make the industry flourish which is in a back foot note for production and budget reasons.MT’s script tries to capture many aspect of soldier’s emotion,Sometimes it kills the time.The movie is three hours long and it could have been reduced .

Ilayaraja is Ilayaraja ,Yesudas sings only if its Ilayaraja,The orchestra and the BGM makes this man a legend and he will be forever.Pazhasi Raja needs a bigger platform though its speaking about a small hero of freedom fighter,It delivers with immense energy to move the Standards of Malayalam Production values.I respect that .Watch this movie for some of the splendid performances and the magic scripting of MT.

Rating :***1/2