I have been hearing good reviews about the latest movie Pazhassi Raja. So I went to watch this brilliant movie last week-end. It's not often that I go to the theatres to watch a movie, especially in a place where Bollywood is dominent. As a rule, a typical Bollywood movie always fail to live up to the expectations & hype and most of them are a copy of major Hollywood movies. They cater to the needs of mostly an ignorant and illiterete masses. In such a scenario, Pazhassi Raja - a regional Malayalam language movie comes as a whiff of fresh air. 
Among the actors, the Mega-star of Kerala - Mammooty is perfect in his potrayal as the warrior-king. Mammooty has this knack of getting under the skin of his charecters effortlessly - Pazhassi Raja is no exception. I expect no less than a National Award for his performance. The Tamil super-star Sarath Kumar excells as a second-hero with his great physique and action-skills. The cast & crew also include many foreign artists and technicians as well .
The review would not be complete with paying homage to the director HariHaran. For a film-maker who has been in the industry for 30-years, who has made movies in every genre - art-house,comedy, musicals, historicals - his command over the meduim is unparellel. 'Pazhassi Raja' turned out to be his magnum-opus.
The film tells the real-life story of Pazhassi Raja , the 18-th century king of Kerala who waged a guerilla-war against the colonialists with the help of tribals. The story-line of Pazhassi Raja has all the ingredients of a historical-flick, with its warrior-heroes, cold-blooded villains and treacherous-traitors. What makes the movie stands-out is its sheer international quality . 'Pazhassi Raja' is a double-treat for movie-goers : apart from being a good historical movie, it is also a brilliant action-movie. The action sequences are of Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon tradition but never even once the movie resort to Bollywood style copying. Infact 'Pazhassi Raja' can boost on its own a few innovative fight-sequences. The director(Hariharan) himself is no stranger to making movies based Kerala's martial-arts Kalarippayattu and its legends. The story-line of Pazhassi Raja is more akin to another international movie with oriental-theme The
Last Samurai (2003) - esp. clash between two distinct cultures and mode of warfare - ie. sword/bow & arrow versus guns & cannons.
Last Samurai (2003) - esp. clash between two distinct cultures and mode of warfare - ie. sword/bow & arrow versus guns & cannons.
One such spectacular action-scene : the colonialists entraps Pazhassi Raja at his home and arrests him; the king gallantly gave himself up offering no resistance; but before being taken away the Raja asks his wife to get some water ; wife brings the cup on a brass-plate ; on the pretext of drinking water, Pazhassi Raja instead unleashes from the brass-plate an urumi
(a long, flexible sword) and as his captors watch in wonderment the brass-plate and cup that has shot up in the air (in slow-motion) , the 'urumi' falls on them like thunderbolt, creating all round destruction and mayhem.
Full credit to the action-director and the special-effects team. Infact the movie displays an array of talented and experienced film-personalities who have long proved their mettle in their respective fields. The sound-editing is done by none other than the Oscar-winner (Slumdog-Millionaire) Resul Pookutty. The back-ground score is by the Beethoven of India - Ilayaraja. The doyen of Malayalam literature M.T Vasudevan Nair has written a well-knit screen-play. The art-direction too is equally of world-class.
Among the actors, the Mega-star of Kerala - Mammooty is perfect in his potrayal as the warrior-king. Mammooty has this knack of getting under the skin of his charecters effortlessly - Pazhassi Raja is no exception. I expect no less than a National Award for his performance. The Tamil super-star Sarath Kumar excells as a second-hero with his great physique and action-skills. The cast & crew also include many foreign artists and technicians as well .The review would not be complete with paying homage to the director HariHaran. For a film-maker who has been in the industry for 30-years, who has made movies in every genre - art-house,comedy, musicals, historicals - his command over the meduim is unparellel. 'Pazhassi Raja' turned out to be his magnum-opus.
More over Pazhassi Raja is a triump for the regional-language films in India which has long been in the shadows of Bollywood. At a time when the big bad Bollywood is rotting under a feudalistic, clan based system which has marked the end of creativity, the movie Kerala Varma Pazhassi Raja (the full-title of the movie) shows what can be achieved if the best of creative minds come together.
