Watched Driyshyam, the Malayalam movie which is spawning so many remakes, yesterday.
An interesting thriller, which inverts the usual thriller genre, as we know from the beginning who committed a crime. The suspense of the movie is whether the criminals would be saved or not. The sympathies of the audience are towards the criminals. They want them to be saved.
For me, the movie didn't work. And it didn't work because of its moral apathy. What it says that to save one's family, it is alright to hide a killing. What it doesn't explicitly say, but plays upon, is people's disenchantment with the workings of criminal justice system and hence their acceptance of different alternative justice mechanisms like Kangaroo courts or equivalents.
Another reason the movie didn't work for me is Lalettan, as the larger than life Mohan Lal, is fondly called by his crores of fans. In fact, he is so larger than life and every other character is so much in awe of him, that the film looks to be suffering from miscasting. It is not that he doesn't try. He does and also succeeds in conveying the life world of an auto didact, with its attendant lack of self doubt. Life world of a self made man who values the life he had created. But many others seem in awe with his character. And that doesn't work.
Would love to hear more from friends who have seen the movie.:-))
An interesting thriller, which inverts the usual thriller genre, as we know from the beginning who committed a crime. The suspense of the movie is whether the criminals would be saved or not. The sympathies of the audience are towards the criminals. They want them to be saved.
For me, the movie didn't work. And it didn't work because of its moral apathy. What it says that to save one's family, it is alright to hide a killing. What it doesn't explicitly say, but plays upon, is people's disenchantment with the workings of criminal justice system and hence their acceptance of different alternative justice mechanisms like Kangaroo courts or equivalents.
Another reason the movie didn't work for me is Lalettan, as the larger than life Mohan Lal, is fondly called by his crores of fans. In fact, he is so larger than life and every other character is so much in awe of him, that the film looks to be suffering from miscasting. It is not that he doesn't try. He does and also succeeds in conveying the life world of an auto didact, with its attendant lack of self doubt. Life world of a self made man who values the life he had created. But many others seem in awe with his character. And that doesn't work.
Would love to hear more from friends who have seen the movie.:-))
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