{"id":423,"date":"2021-05-27T12:16:38","date_gmt":"2021-05-27T16:16:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/totallyfilmi.toutes-directions.com\/totallyfilmi-wp\/?p=423"},"modified":"2021-05-27T12:16:39","modified_gmt":"2021-05-27T16:16:39","slug":"mosayile-kuthira-meenukal-dir-ajith-pillai-2014","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/totallyfilmi.toutes-directions.com\/totallyfilmi-wp\/2021\/05\/27\/mosayile-kuthira-meenukal-dir-ajith-pillai-2014\/","title":{"rendered":"Mosayile Kuthira Meenukal (dir. Ajith Pillai, 2014)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This post first appeared on Totally Filmi on June 10, 2015.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I had a feeling watching the trailer for Mosayile Kuthira Meenukal <\/strong>(Swordfishes of Big Tides<\/em>) that it would be my cup of tea.  Starting with the cinematography by Abinandhan Ramanujam \u2013 I fell in love with his work in Lijo Jose Pellissary\u2019s 2013 film Amen<\/strong>, where he made me long to visit the backwaters around Kumarakom.  Here he does the same for Lakshadweep and Andeman \u2013 I can\u2019t imagine a more beautiful setting and Ramanujam makes it look ethereal.  It\u2019s probably no surprise that I also feel the same way about the film\u2019s music \u2013 hello, Prashant Pillai, also of Amen<\/strong> fame (The film\u2019s music deserves a post of its own, so beautifully does it support the film). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What I didn\u2019t expect, however, is that Ajith Pillai\u2019s film would totally bowl me over like the billowing ocean waves of the film\u2019s title.  I watched with some trepidation, just waiting for the moment that would spoil it all.  And it never came.  My heart just kept swelling with the happiness of watching the stories of Alex and Akbar Ali; of Akbar Ali and Isa; of Alex and Deena play out on the screen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When we first meet Alex (Asif Ali), he\u2019s making yet another attempt to escape from prison \u2013 he quickly fills us in on his history as he prays for some help to get him out of the dark tunnel he\u2019s got himself seemingly stuck in.  Alex is the 14th<\/sup> son of a father who comes from a large family himself \u2013 in fact, his is a family that prides itself on the number of its offspring.  The irony, of course, is that despite coming from this enormous extended family (Alex\u2019s nephew, ten years older than he is, is the warden of the prison he\u2019s escaping from), Alex finds himself alone, leading a dissolute life, doing nothing except drinking and partying, and trusting the wrong people altogether, the latter of which lands him in the prison he keeps trying to escape from.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"MKM_IMG_0237a\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Did I mention that Alex is the 14th child?  Irony.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alex\u2019s saviour comes in the form of Akbar Ali (Sunny Wayne), also trying to escape from prison at the same time.  Akbar Ali is a man with a mission, and that mission is to get back to Lakshadweep to divorce Isa (Swati Reddy) before she heads out to a fisheries job in Singapore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"MKM_IMG_0267a\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Alex discovers, however, that his name has ended up on the list of prisoners to be pardoned on the upcoming Indian Independence Day.  In order for that to go ahead, his nephew the prison warden insists not only that Alex return to prison so that his escape can be covered up; as well, Alex must return with Akbar Ali, so as to keep the prison\u2019s record intact (in one of the film\u2019s fine details, a fellow prisoner tells Alex that only two people have managed to escape from this prison \u2013 a man named Jeevan and some foreigner, a reference to the Mohanlal film Season<\/strong>, as well as to the Shawshank Redemption<\/strong>).  This leads Alex to follow Akbar Ali to Lakshadweep.  On the boat journey there, Akbar Ali tells him the story of how he met Isa and how he married her \u2013 or, rather, how she asked him to marry her.  Before Alex can learn more, Akbar Ali has literally jumped ship.  Alex, in an attempt to find Akbar Ali, seeks assistance from the newly arrived post office employee, Deena (Janani Iyer) \u2013 Alex and Deena have met on the boat to Lakshadweep, where they both arrive on deck suffering from seasickness and try to help each other through it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"MKM_IMG_0288a\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Alex eventually tracks down Akbar Ali, where he learns the rest of his story with Isa.  Turns out Isa had been divorced from her first husband, Hashim (Nishanth Sagar), and having decided they made a mistake and want to remarry, tradition demands that she can only remarry after she has married and been divorced a second time.  That she asks Akbar Ali to marry her turns out to be less romantic than it seems \u2013 she wants Akbar Ali to help her so that she can remarry Hashim.  Isa\u2019s father grudgingly agrees to this, but only if Hashim pays a mahr<\/em><\/a> \u2013 and in order to do that, Hashim asks Akbar Ali to help him illegally catch and sell a whale to raise the amount.  The police come to get Akbar Ali in the middle of the ceremony performing the divorce from Isa \u2013 and Akbar Ali decides that instead of letting Isa remarry a man who clearly isn\u2019t worthy of her, that he\u2019ll give her the divorce when he\u2019s released from prison.  In the meantime, Hashim, who proves Akbar Ali right, abandons Isa a second time; but Isa finishes her studies and gets a job in Singapore.  Because of that she needs to leave before Akbar Ali is released from prison, so he escapes in order to give her her freedom as she moves on to her new job and her new life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"MKM_IMG_0307a\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Mosayile Kuthira Meenukal<\/strong> is, I would argue, a most perfect example of New Gen Malayalam cinema at its best, with lessons that span the generations.  Even its title harks back to the Golden Age of Malayalam cinema, with its poetic and metaphoric film titles, such as Padmarajan\u2019s Thoovanathumbikal <\/strong>(\u201cDragonflies of the Spraying Rain\u201d).  And although it represents the realities of a younger generation of Malayalees, it also holds the past in high regard, referencing that Golden Age of cinema most obviously with Padmarajan\u2019s cult film Season<\/strong>; in fact, clips of Mohanlal\u2019s escape attempt from that film are intercut with those of one of Alex\u2019s attempts to escape from prison. As well, it pulls from the best of world cinema \u2013 that Shawshank Redemption<\/strong> reference cannot be accidental \u2013 using the language of cinema to tell a story unique to Kerala.  It\u2019s fascinating to see how the framing, in particular, shifts as the film progresses.  The first half of the film, focussing on Alex\u2019s time in prison, and his escape, is all shot in ways that emphasize the fact that Alex is trapped, confined, that he needs to break out.  This shifts dramatically at the interval \u2013 just before the interval card goes up, Alex and Akbar Ali are shown at the doorway to the ship\u2019s stern.  They step out onto the deck, and view the expanse of water as the ship leaves for Lakshadweep.  Freedom awaits them, as do events that will change both their lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"MKM_IMG_0345a\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Ajith Pillai\u2019s film is, in essence, a study of human nature, of selfishness, of self-interest, and, ultimately, of sacrifice and selflessness.  It is, as well, an exercise in redemption, at least for Alex, and of the redemptive power of a place like Lakshadweep.  Akbar Ali tells Isa of a foreign tourist he guided once, who told him that he was lucky to be from such a beautiful place; the two of them agree, they live in the most beautiful place on earth. Alex\u2019s journey is like a rebirth, out of the drainage tunnel under the prison, out to Lakshadweep, on the way meeting first Akbar Ali, and then Deena.  From Deena he learns that one of the secrets to life is making others happy; from Akbar Ali, he learns the importance of love and self-sacrifice.  Akbar Ali\u2019s nickname on Lakshadweep is \u201cswordfish\u201d, like the swordfish of the film\u2019s title.  Swordfish, Alex is told, are selfish fish, thinking only of themselves.  And although it looks as if Akbar Ali is acting in his own self-interest, by making Isa wait until he\u2019s out of prison to deliver his talaq<\/em> (divorce), Alex learns that, in fact, everything Akbar Ali does is to ensure Isa\u2019s happiness \u2013 even if that means sacrificing his own relationship with her, even if it means going to prison.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the end, Akbar Ali\u2019s friend Sulaiman (Jijoy) makes the most important observation about human nature:  everyone, everywhere has moments when they are selfish, when they look out for their own self-interest.  At some time in our lives, we are all like the mosayile kuthira meenukal<\/em>, those selfish swordfish, and really, in the end, what is wrong with that?  Nothing, as long as we balance it with the advice from Deena\u2019s mother: that the most important thing we can do is to make others happy along the way. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"MKM_IMG_0455a\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

This post is part of the Beach Party Blogathon<\/a> hosted by Speakeasy<\/a> and Silver Screenings<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This post first appeared on Totally Filmi on June 10, 2015. I had a feeling watching the trailer for Mosayile Kuthira Meenukal (Swordfishes of Big Tides) that it would be my cup of tea.  Starting with the cinematography by Abinandhan Ramanujam \u2013 I fell in love with his work in Lijo Jose…<\/p>\n

Continue ReadingMosayile Kuthira Meenukal (dir. Ajith Pillai, 2014)<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":427,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[370,212],"tags":[200,495,120,498,496,494,497,236,408,499],"class_list":["post-423","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blogathons","category-malayalam-movies","tag-abinandhan-ramanujam","tag-ajith-pillai","tag-asif-ali","tag-janani-iyer","tag-lakshadweep","tag-mosayile-kuthira-meenukal","tag-nishanth-sagar","tag-prashant-pillai","tag-sunny-wayne","tag-swati-reddy","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/totallyfilmi.toutes-directions.com\/totallyfilmi-wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/423","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/totallyfilmi.toutes-directions.com\/totallyfilmi-wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/totallyfilmi.toutes-directions.com\/totallyfilmi-wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/totallyfilmi.toutes-directions.com\/totallyfilmi-wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/totallyfilmi.toutes-directions.com\/totallyfilmi-wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=423"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/totallyfilmi.toutes-directions.com\/totallyfilmi-wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/423\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":426,"href":"https:\/\/totallyfilmi.toutes-directions.com\/totallyfilmi-wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/423\/revisions\/426"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/totallyfilmi.toutes-directions.com\/totallyfilmi-wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/427"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/totallyfilmi.toutes-directions.com\/totallyfilmi-wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=423"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/totallyfilmi.toutes-directions.com\/totallyfilmi-wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=423"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/totallyfilmi.toutes-directions.com\/totallyfilmi-wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=423"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}