22 Female Kottayam is
a much hyped and a very well (by very well I mean excellently) marketed (which
apparently makes this sentence redundant) Malayalam movie directed by Ashiq Abu,
one of the better directors among the new crop of directors in Malayalam and
scripted by Abhilash Kumar and Shyam Pushkaran starring Rima Kallingal,Fahad
Fazil ,Prathap Pothen , TG Ravi, Sathar etc. The movie which is considered to
be part of the new wave of film-making opened to thunderous applause and rave
reviews. The movie was praised for the performances of the lead cast, the boldness
of the makers to explore a subject never before tried, the technical perfection
and the music and much more.
But apparently we
could not agree (well except for the beautiful visuals and the music) with
that. We as in yours truly and Jithin
Jacob who actually paid for the tickets, shared a bottle of Romanov Red
afterwards and came up with some insightful inputs (has nothing to do with the
Romanov Red you know ;) ) into this post.
This is less a review of the movie and more of our
observations about it and our reasoning for why we think it is not the classic
many reviews claim it to be.
1.
There is a difference between feminism and
pseudo feminism (the kind 22 Female Kottayam endorses), the former intends to
empower women and the latter intends to malign men for applause. The difference
between the two is that a feminist perspective movie would have strong female
characters and 22 FK has weak male characters and weaker female characters.
What 22 Female Kerala really does is manipulatively commercialize feminist
thought. Same in the lines as this ad
does:
2.
The line between reality and pretention is not
exactly a thin one and 22 Female Kerala crosses the line to the wrong side by
miles. As if the movie wasn’t pretentious enough there is preachy voiceover at
the end to top it.
3.
How does a movie, that say it is okay for women
to exchange sex for favors, exactly be a feminist film? Ultimately the film at
many levels objectifies women. For the genuine (if they exist) feminist, this film
would be the greatest insult.
4.
You must either kidding or ignorant to believe
that Tessa K Abraham is one of the strongest female characters on Malayalam
screen ever - Sarada, Shobhana, Sumalatha, Suhasini , Monisha would have
something to say about that. Rima Kallingal was grossly unconvincing as the
innocent girl, the convict and as the revenge seeker; the transitions had to
come with acting not new hairstyle and accessories.
5.
A movie with beautiful frames is not exactly
technical perfect, just for your information that’s all.
6.
Adding Kill Bill to your filmography does not
make any connection between your movie and the classic. Hopefully Tarantino
would never know about this travesty. Yeah, but Ashiq Abu can take a few cues
from his movies for tips about revenge and intensity and all those stuff. And
yes ‘Revenge is a dish best served cold ‘. But this was way too cold for any
revenge, not the cold as in the tagline of Kill Bill, but as in lacking
intensity.
7.
There is nothing new in the plot or the narration
and this is not the first revenge of a rape victim on Malayalam screen. Actually
I don’t believe there is anything wrong in not using a fresh plot in every
movie, this for those who really believe that 22 Female Kerala is a path
breaking change in the Malayalam film
industry and can’t stop praising the filmmakers being bold. You can start with
Miss Pameela (don’t frown watching Silk movies is more trendy after Dirty
Picture you know).
8.
How many times will our filmmakers show the same
jail sequences again and again? Jail sequences are so clichéd and predictable.
Yeah everyone in jail has a story and every criminal has a soft side and just
sprinkling a little ‘feminism’ over that makes no much difference. From a
director who (and his fans) claims to make new wave movies, this looks pretty
bad.
9.
A serious question to the ’ new generation’
filmmakers; is the new generation as you portray in your ‘new generation’ movies or do you
know that you are overdoing it.
10.
Nothing to do with the movie as such , just a question
to the ‘new age ’ Malayalam movie fans, how does ‘hugs to all Facebook fans’
from Ashiq Abu differ from ‘Thanks to the fans association’ how is the former
so adorable and the latter grossly despicable.
22 FK coming from Ashiq Abu whose previous film was the
brilliant Salt N Pepper is a huge disappointment. The new wave in Malayalam
cinema is good and is here to stay for good, definitely 22 FK is not one of
them
PS: Me, Jithin and the Romanov Red are not male chauvinists.
PPS: None of us are middle aged either.
Special Mention: Rahul Raghavan, Kiran PR
Special Mention: Rahul Raghavan, Kiran PR
