'Elsamma Enna Aankutty' (Malayalam, Drama, 2010)
Director: Lal Jose
Cast: Kunhako Boban, Indrajit, Ann Augustine
Yes, you have been there and seen that.
Lal Jose’s 'Elsamma Enna Aankutty' is no out-of-the-box piece that will floor you with its transfixing storyline and phenomenal performances. Though the film does not belong to the absolute killer league, it has nothing new to offer, not even a new formula for melodrama.
Sindhuraj’s script is a major disaster and full of cliches. Ann Augustine lays a mild variation of the role Manju Warrier did in 'Kanmadam', a film in which she eclipsed all other actors with her incredible histrionics. Lal Jose’s Elsamma also is a sufferer and survivor, a young girl shouldering the responsibility of a family. She too frets and fumes at the debauchery of the rest of the world, but the similarities end there.
Though Ann is passable for a newbie, she hardly looks like a woman who roughs it out to win a bruising battle called life. She looks cute and fresh in almost all frames and does all hard work without any grease on her forehead. In spite of conspicuous efforts from the actor and the director to mask it, she exudes a sense of raw vulnerability.
You cannot call a film female-centred by giving the actor more reel time and filling her screen space with silly gimmickry. We have seen plenty of screen women cowing a hostile crowd single-handedly. It is the fire in their eyes and tempestuous outbursts that do the trick, not the mere swaying of a sickle. Elsamma’s individuality stands suspended in air somewhere between a lass hardened by adversity and an ordinary wee baby. Doused by this incongruity, her actions fail to create an impact and her attempts at bravery lack any possibility of an applause.
Kunchacko’s Palunni appears different, but only on a superficial level. We are impressed first, but as the film moves on, we realise that a close crop and a costume change can hardly bust the lover-boy image conferred upon the actor years ago. His dairyman avatar too has the same body language, the same lovesick puppy look on his face - the only difference being he rides a moped instead of a high-end bike and wears a lungi in the place of his usual designer trousers.
Vijayaraghavan’s brewer also falls victim to defective characterisation as his Sugunan, too, like Elsamma, suffers from a deficiency of credibility. Indrajit’s character is a cliche from time immemorial - the city brat trying to lure the village belle. Camera does no magic but the picturesque highland locales come as a real breather. To top it all, the film also has the most exasperating song picturisation in recent times and the ‘kattuthumpi’ song is simply intolerable.