Review: Pinneyum looks like a compromise

It feels as if Adoor Gopalakrishnan has targeted Pinneyum to be a commercial success, feels Paresh C Palicha.

While launching his latest film Pinneyum, starring Dileep and Kavya Madhavan, auteur Adoor Gopalakrishnan had said it was a love story but you won’t find the stars breaking into song or see them running around the trees.

You did not need such a reassurance from him as you are aware of his brand of film making and you know that not only the people of Kerala but the world calls him a Master.

So, it does not take you long to realise that his statement was not about his own film but a dig at the directors using stars for commercial gains.

Pinneyum is not really a love story but the aftermath of an immature love story.

Purushothaman Nair (Dileep) is an unemployed young man. He is married to his lady love Devi (Kavya Madhavan) and they have a daughter.

It is Devi’s job that sustains the family and they live in a house that she inherited.

Her father (Nedumudi Venu), a retired school teacher and her elder brother Kuttan (Indrans), who is not fit to do anything also stay with them.

Devi has drifted away from Purushothaman and treats him with open contempt. Yet, he pleads with her not to stop loving him as it is not his lack of effort that he is jobless and that it is just a matter of time for the situation to change.

Initially, we feel that Purushothaman’s character is a reworking of Unni the legendary protagonist in Adoor’s Elippathayam (1981) but here, he takes a positive diversion and find a lucrative job in the Gulf. The helps them tide over the crisis in their marriage.

But before the end of the first half, the narrative takes a turn and gets into crime thriller mode.

In the initial stages of the story we had seen Purushothaman reading an Agatha Christie story to kill time. Halfway through the film, we know from where our man got a get-rich-quick idea of a criminal nature.

This may be a film for the masses, as there are no pregnant pauses or layered emotions, it feels as if Adoor has targeted this film to be a commercial success. The choice of the lead pair is additional proof.

But Dileep redresses the complaint that he does not try to do variety of roles by accepting this role. And, we have seen Kavya in such despondent roles many a times.

This makes Pinneyum a sum total of many compromises.

Rediff Rating: