'Thirakkatha' is a reminder of the unchangeable process of life. It is more a bittersweet portrait of nostalgia - a melancholic reflection of the inescapable passage of time and an irretrievable past.
Renjith's 'Thirakkatha' has a peripheral layer of celebrity marriage, divorce, associated mysteries and above all, the hectic processes that go on to make a fruitful script. But the movie is about none of those things specifically, but rather the choices that people make in life and love and the end results of those choices.
The movie is all about Akbar Ahmed, a young movie director, who is in the search for the scripts for his second movie. Akbar is already a talk in the industry about his different way of approach to the profession, and for his living away from tinsel town, simultaneously running a motel 'Casablanca' with his crew and friends. Akbar is in no hurry into his second venture, though he has plenty of offers. He chances upon to the life story of Malavika who was a rage in Malayalam Cinema in the 1980's. She had faded out from the screen after her marriage and divorce, with the superstar Ajaychandran and nobody knows what has happened to her. Akbar together with his friends wants to track her down for his next film and what happens as an aftermath forms the rest of the plot.
The highlight of the movie is definitely the exquisite script work by the director, telling the plot as monologues of different personalities involved. This juxtaposing of stories between past and present may sound very complex and confusing, but in reality `Thirakkatha' is one of the simplest stories you will ever see. The complexity comes from the depth of the characters, the strength of the script, and the extra investment that every single actor brings to their roles.
The story offers a lot of curiosity about whom on which the movie is based. The makers have placed the late actress Sreevidhya, directors Bharathan and Padmarajan on the posters and presented the movie as a tribute to the late beautiful actress. The movie also shows striking similarity with many actual incidents that happened in the eighties like the film 'Kazhinja Manjukaalam' that introduces three stars -of which the villain later turns out to become the superstar. The movie also shows the sets of `Rudhiram' (or is it Roudram?) where the super star even behaves like a police officer even in his own circles, outside the film's sets.
Quite surprisingly, young actor Anoop Menon has equal or more screen space in `Thirakkatha' than Prithviraj who is just there as a medium to narrate the real love story of Ajayan and Malavika. Anoop makes the best of his chance and comes up with a controlled and riveting performance as Ajayachandran - the superstar of filmdom. He, with his different attires, hairdo and constant switching over from the mannerisms of each of the present day superstars, creates a dejavu on whom each sequence is actually based on. Priyamani makes a cake walk through another role that demands the acting powers of such a talented actor. She carves out each dimension on her character with such a precision that we hardly find anything dramatic in the proceedings. Samvrutha Sunil, Mallika Sukumaran, and Nandhu comes up with good performances while director Renjith and Manianpillai Raju also appears in good cameos.
Renjith seems to have concentrated more on his scripting abilities than on direction and has not delved more into recreating the atmospherics of the eighties in dress codes or in ambiance. The editor Vijay Shankar doesn't even attempt to tell the past with varied tones. But the solid scripts, with intelligent management of the plenty of characters, satirical reality bites, and interesting dialogues sprinkled all through make up for those little deficiencies.
In Renjith's most visually lush film to date, M J Radhakrishnan's camera does not wander, but retains focus on the space, creating an unbiased perspective of the characters. Shareth in his comeback has given fine tunes to five songs of which 'Paalapoovithal' and `Onnodonnu' are hummable, while other three are soft melodies.
''There isn't really a need to find reasons for each and everything. Or else, reasoning may soon become your way of life'' - Renjith reminds us through his best movie, in recent times. The ending is poignant and subtle, about some who forgive, some who remain in limbo, and some who will survive with .Had the makers trimmed the last overly melodramatic scene, the movie would have been even more better.
All in All, 'Thirakkatha' is a refreshingly different movie .Recommended for all those who like to have something novel and distinct from the regular run of the mill stuffs.
