‘Ponman’ film evaluate: Basil Joseph headlines an engrossing character examine that’s value its weight in gold

A nonetheless from ‘Ponman’

First impressions may be arduous to vary, however in Ponman most of our preliminary assumptions concerning the characters become fallacious, because it occurs in thoughtfully-written movies. This variation will not be caused by misleading writing or staging of scenes, but it surely slowly will get revealed to us within the natural unravelling of the plot from one occasion to a different. Neither is the change achieved by means of a fast whitewash job of characters we had judged harshly, however by constantly giving us these little items of knowledge that might make us perceive their actions in a greater perspective.

The central concern of acclaimed artwork director Jyothish Shankar’s debut directorial Ponman, primarily based on GR Indugopan’s novel ‘Naalanchu Cheruppakkar’, is dowry. However relatively than from the attitude of the shameless dowry seekers or the plight of the households pressured to borrow closely for his or her daughters’ weddings, the movie approaches it by means of the eyes of an agent who supplies gold jewelry with assistance from financiers and collects the cash gifted to the household throughout the wedding ceremony. It’s a job which is as area of interest as it may well get and Ajesh (Basil Joseph) seems to be a cut-throat grasp of it, till we get to know him higher.

Actually, we get to know virtually all of them higher, as well-rounded characters are formed by the altering circumstances proper in entrance of our eyes. Steffi (Lijomol Jose) transforms from a shy however reluctant bride to at least one who takes an surprising, brave flip, solely to take a extra nuanced, humanitarian stand when she understands her adversary’s plight higher. Bruno (Anand Manmadhan), her brother’s arc, extends from a hot-headed, violent political employee to a helpless man who simply loses his zest for all times. As for Steffi’s husband Mariano (Sajin Gopu), we get one thing greater than the straightforward portrayal of a brute husband.

The depth that these well-defined character arcs which bend in superb methods, present Ponman is immense. However these alone wouldn’t have sustained the movie. The screenplay, written by Indugopan and Justin Mathew, is punctuated by exceptional occasions — one among which takes place inside a dingy lodge room, one other in a prawn farm and one more in a family the place a marriage has simply taken place. The rhythm the movie attains in its preliminary section is sustained all by means of, with the plot taken ahead by the mildly humourous exchanges at first and intense dramatic encounters in direction of the tip.

The weaknesses which turned Oru Thekkan Thallu Case, the movie adaptation of one other attention-grabbing Indugopan story, right into a staid affair are usually not seen in Ponman. Together with higher screenwriting, some credit score for this has to go to cinematographer Sanu John Varghese and music director Justin Varghese. To not neglect, the performances of the lead actors, particularly Basil, who pulls off a job which is nowhere close to his consolation zone.

Ponman might have simply become one other movie with a progressive message towards dowry and the unhealthy obsession with gold. However what we get as a substitute is an engrossing, non-judgemental examine of characters, most of whom are victims of social malaise. Ponman is value its weight in gold.