Thursday, July 3, 2014

Pranchiyettan and the Saint (2010)

Director: Renjith
Writer:    Renjith
Cast:       Mammootty, Jesse Fox Allen, Priyamani
Language: Malayalam

Cherremmal Eenashu Francis, a.k.a. Pranchiyettan (Mammootty) is a successful businessman based in Thrissur. He longs for social recognition since he has poor educational background and in all other aspects of life he so far had disappointments. Film is narrated in a flashback mode with him having an imaginary conversation with St. Francis in his church. 

The flashback mode helps the film in making the episodic nature of the story feel palatable. Pranchi is incredibly naive and prone to falling for bad advice from his friends circle. The character is in some sense similar and in contrast with the character he played in 'Azakiya Raavanan' which is a much better film when it comes to the comedic aspects of it. Both films have really weak third act. In Pranchiyettan, the third act was potentially good but is let down by really poor script and acting which might be a case of both influencing each other. I don't know if it is a case of older film-makers  not able to make script for child/teenage actors or the latter simply not having the necessary skills or it could just be both. 

When I saw it for the first time I was not convinced by the lazy episodic feel of it which felt like comedy routines. This time round I didn't mind it so much because I was multi-tasking by browsing the net also. Mammootty is the best when portraying rich loser/arrogant characters and this is a very good version of it. He also adds some subtlety to the character with his mannerisms and not just relying on the slang aspect of the dilaogs.  It is a good watch and could have been a great film but for the third act.

Rating: 3/5
 

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