Pazhassiraja - A True Review

t was my monthly bike trip to Sulthan Bethery from Mysore and this time my journey was to meet the King, Kerala Varma Pazhassi Raja. I had high expectations for this movie as the trio MT-Hariharan-Mammooty had created magic in the past with "Oru Vadakkan Veeragadha". My expectations were not completly let down and the 7 hours ride for a 3.15 hour movie was not at all a waste.

As Usual, MT has twisted the history in this movie too. MT is known for bending the facts and we love it when he bend the history according to his will and we usually tend to believe what MT Vasudevan Nair told is the truth and not what history says. In Vadakkan Veeragadha, he portrayed Payyampalli Chanthu as a hero who is accused for the crime which he has not done. Viewers sympathized along with Chanthu and even now for any malayalee, If you ask whether chanthu was noble, they would say "Yes". That's the power of MT's pen. Infact Payyampalli Chanthu was a cheat and its he who killed Aromal. The Generous Chanthu was MT's creation and we believe that is history. Similarly, MT again changed history through "RavanaSeetha" where he said, Seetha was Ravana's daughter and he kidnapped Seetha due to fatherly affection.

Likewise, in Pazhassi Raja movie too, MT had made lot of changes and iam sure the new generation would believe what they see on screen. To Start with, History says, Pazhassi Raja was a short and dark man. He was bit fat and was loved by many for his bravery. Here Mammooty is not Short and dark but we cannot imagine anyone except him to portray Pazhassiraja. So this can be ignored. MT Says, Kaitheri Maakam had an abortion and later no where its mentioned that she became pregnant later. With the song "Kunnathe konnakum" I dont really know where hariharan meant to say maakam was concieved again. But in reality she had a daughter. Later Kaitheri Maakam had committed suicide by hanging herself on a mango tree. 2 days back there was an article in Mathrubhumi about Kaitheri Mathu, grand grand daughter of Kaitheri maakam where she showed the personal belongings of maakam. According to it, Pazhassi Raja was not killed by British but he too had committed suicide by swallowing a diamond ring. But MT gave the character a heroic touch at the climax and thats what we wanted to see. There are lot of instances in the movie where MT deliberatly twisted the truth and has written his own epic. But whatever it is, we always love to read what he writes and always gets astonished by his innovative thinking.





Lets take a charcter by character analysis. We will start of with

Sarath Kumar as Edachena Kunkan
Sarath Kumar has rocked big time in this movie. He has done a brilliant job as the army chief of pazhassi.Tamil industry has not yet exploited this man's talent and its for the first time Sarath Kumar got a chance to reveal his "Acting" skills. He looks stunning, masculine and truly suiting the role as the Army chief. No other actor could have portrayed Edachena Kunkan better than him.

Right from his intro scene, till the end, Sarath's screen presence gives you thrills. The scene just before the interval was mindblowing. Edachena Kunkan Reaches Pazhaveedan's(Suman)house to tell that the bond between British and Pazhassi Keralavarma stands cancelled. Then he delivers a dialogue to pazhaveedan,

" One day we would see face to face. That days is not so far" and kicks the chair nearby.

It really gave me goosebumps and i wanted to see the scenen agian and again. Another thing to be mentioned, a man of late 50's has still maintained his body well.Remember Sarath Kumar was the only actor back in 90's who had a well maintained physique in Tamil industry. During the fight scene with pazhaveedan, he delivers a dialogue with a raised dagger. Just check out his biceps and the flames that sparkle in his eyes.
When he says,

"Ithu thalaykal chanthuvinte maladaivangalk Edachena kunkante Kuruthi" (This is Edachena Kunkan's offering to the God's for Thalaykal Chanthu)

That was one hell out of a scene and the entire theatre was filled with claps. His dialogue deliver is awesome and you can see the pain, Revenge, Hatred, everything in his eyes.Altogether, Sarath Kumar has done an excellent job as Edachena Kunkan

Manoj K Jayan as Thalaykal Chanthu

Another Plus point. There are 3 actors who are my all time favourites.Who can do any role with ease. Be it comedy, Character role or villain role, those 3 people would "Live" as the character within whack of a second. They are Manoj K Jayan, Siddique and Rajan P Dev. Thalaykal Chanthu is one of the powerful character of Manoj in the recent past, after the Digambaran in Ananthabhadram (Watch it, if you havent). When Manoj is on screen, viewers feel relaxed. Audience would have a confidence that Thalaykal chanthu would take care of British troops and nothing to worry. His expressions, Body language, Dialogues everything were perfect to be the tribal chief. His final scene in the movie is one of the beautifully portrayed shots. The Way manoj usues Bow and Arrow, also during the fight before getting caught, was truly amazing. Three cheers to Manoj K Jayan for living above expectations

Padmapriya as Neeli

Padmapriya as Neeli, Thalaykal Chanthu's lover is a powerful character. Padmapriya has not done anything kind of this role before in her career. She has played her part well and the hardwork and effort taken was seen on screen. She along with Thalaykal chanthu lead the tribal troop for guerilla war against the british. They fought the british behind the cover of woods and dense forest. Neeli's fight sequences are worth a mention and a thumbs up for her

Suresh Krishna as Kaitheri Ambu

Now this was one miscast in the movie. I really dont know why Hariharan casted this dummy piece, Suresh Krishna. I believe if Siddique was casted instead of Suresh, the character would have been much powerful and would have gained a lot of cheer from the audience. Eventhough Ambu has a huge importance in the story the weak casting made it go un noticed. But Suresh has done whatever was told to him. So we can give a grade of "Met expectations" and nothing more. As usual, there was no power to his dialogues and sucked big time during the emotional dialogue delivery towards the climax. Thos who have already seen this movie, just imagine the role with Siddique, instead of Suresh and you could feel what a great miss it was from Hariharan

Kanika as Kaitheri Maakam

She looked quite good as Maakam, eventhough there were nothing much to offer from her side. One scene where Kanika outstanded is where she helps Pazhassi to escape from the British troops. Kanika was apt for the role and did a decent work

Last but not least, Mammooty as Kerala Varma Pazhassi Raja

Mammooty looks stunning here both in the first half and in the second half. During the second half, with the beard and all, he looked exactly same like Chanthu and we feel, Time has not affected this man. The scene were he go alone to the British regiment to take revenge, is beautifully shot and i just jumped out of the chair clapping when he shoot the british man from the horse.

However, I feel Mammooty's talent for stunt scenes were not properly exploited. There were just 3 fight scenes for mammoty through out the movie, where as Manoj K jayan and SArath Kumar has more than 6 fight sequences. Most of the time he was shown just as a one who sit back in the gallery and enjoy the match. His Army and his mighty warriors fight the british through out the movie to save their king, to protect him and the King was no where to be seen when his mighty warriors needed his help.
His dialogue delivery is at its best and there is one scene which would generate a small drop of tear on the corner of your eye.

When Pazhassi sets out to fight the british alone at the climax, his nephew cries for him. Then Pazhassi would say,

"Dont cry for me. Shed your tears for this unfortunate country!!!"

That was one of the best emotional scenes in the movie and MT's powerpacked script does make us ponder for a while. Altogether, Mammooty has a huge comeback after the 6 consecutive flops and he can be relaxed. He looks elogent in the King's Attire and motivates not only his army but also the Audience with the powerful dialogue delivery.

Now the Minus points are,

Like Anil mentioned, String works were totally poor and doesnt even worth a mention. People were flying as if they were the ancestors of spiderman and superman. String Work - Total Disaster

Pazhassi Raja's Intro scene. They had been moulding the scene well for his intro but spoiled at the end. I agree, Mammooty was not hyped, but when the movie is about Kerala Varma Pazhassi Raja, atleast a background score during his entry would have been better. Pazhassi Raja's intro was just like any other no name character in the movie.

Jagadeesh was absolutely Un necessary.

Less fight sequence for Pazhassi Raja

There are few mistakes or negatives here and there but while taking the movie as a whole, it can be accommodated. Jagathy Sreekumar, Thilakan and the Foreign actors have done their job more than expected. Cinematography was at its best and deserve an applause. Ramachandra babu has again proved himself. There are plenty of scenes where you would sit with your mouth wide open by seeing the beauty of the shot. Many shots just appeared like a beautifully written poem.

Altogether, This movie is worth a watch and Gokulam Gopalan can relax. This would transform into a super hit for 2 reasons.

1)A historical movie after a decade
2)The combination of MT - Hariharan - Mammooty