There is a brief phone conversation that happens between Fahadh Faasil and Lal, who plays his father, in a scene in Odum Kuthira Chaadum Kuthira (OKCK). The latter ends the call with "Over, over," and the former says, "Everything is a bit over for you." Look who is talking. Fahadh's character Eby is guilty of the same, and so is the film and most of the characters in it. The actors, of course, seem to be having a lot of fun, but the audience clearly wasn't, save for a couple of laughs here and there. But then I'm not sure if it was a genuine reaction or if they were laughing at the movie.
Perhaps those two or three people in the audience did find it very funny. Perhaps this movie was made for them. Perhaps this was a bold experiment from the filmmakers, irrespective of the outcome. After all, this is the same land that produced Aadu, which didn't do well in theatres but attained a cult following on home video. Watching OKCK wasn't exactly my idea of fun. Not that the trailer gave me high expectations either. This is just another example of a movie delivering exactly what we saw in the trailer. And this is why I'm not angry to the point of pulling my hair out. In fact, I didn't feel anything. I do, however, admit to finding some of Lal's and Suresh Krishna's shenanigans mildly amusing, but those scenes make up around 1 or 2 per cent of this 150-minute-long movie.
Many events occur in OKCK, but little of them makes sense. If the intention was to echo the idiosyncratic vibe of a Korean rom-com or emulate Wes Anderson or Woody Allen, the attempt falls short. Successful eccentric comedy requires finesse, as seen in the works of — from contemporary Malayalam cinema — Ratheesh Balakrishnan Poduval and Lijo Jose Pellissery, who themselves at times verge on self-indulgence. OKCK attempts this style but never grounds its excess in substance, leaving the audience adrift.
Look, I'm a big fan of Althaf Salim's sense of humour, but what he does as an actor. In fact, he shows up briefly in the film and attempts to light up the scene with his comical presence. And I did find much to like in his directorial debut, Njandukalude Naattil Oridavela. OKCK, however, felt like the sort of material that suits more for an actor of Dileep's calibre than Fahadh, and one that would've found more success in the 80s or 90s, maybe with a completely different supporting cast, too.
You see, that's another problem with not just today's Malayalam cinema, but international cinema as well. Take Malayalam, for instance. Once, we used to have a treasure trove of actors with distinct personalities. Actors with mannerisms that stood out. A few examples that 90s kids like me grew up watching: Jagathy, Sreenivasan, Maniyanpilla Raju, Kuthiravattom Pappu, Mala Aravind... When they did over-the-top humour, it worked. Besides, they were versatile too. They brought something new to every character they did. In OKCK, we have, of course, Lal and Suresh Krishna, two popular senior actors from 90s Malayalam cinema., who are more apt for this material than everyone else in the movie.
However, again, not everything they do in OKCK hits the mark, but at least their presence slightly revives the film whenever its energy dips. The moderately interesting story in the movie, to me, is not that of Eby (Fahadh) and Nidhi (Kalyani Priyadarshan) — their story is such a mess that trying to make head or tail of it would be an exercise in futility — but that of a woman named Revathy (Revathi Pillai), whose path crosses with Eby's for a significant portion of the film. But even Revathy — and her backstory featuring a "viral star" in Malayalam — feels underdeveloped. The biggest culprit is the film's tonal inconsistency and, might I add, insensitivity when it comes to its depiction of mental health issues.
Let me ask this: If the aim was to tell an emotionally affecting story, why not take some effort to spend more time with the characters, instead of having its attention go all over the place, not to mention being in a hurry to rush towards its ending? Such a strange, strange film — not in a good way. It's a film with a 150-minute duration that feels like it's trying to rush things while also feeling slow because it inundates us with one boring and unfunny scene after another, while also trying to be meta by having the characters ask each other questions like, "What exactly are you trying to say?" I'm asking the film the same thing.
Film: Odum Kuthira Chadum Kuthira
Director: Althaf Salim
Cast: Fahadh Faasil, Kalyani Priyadarshan, Lal, Suresh Krishna, Revathi Pillai
Rating: 1/5
