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Please note: This is a detailed and exclusive study of the movie Veruthe oru Bharya prepared exclusively by NJAAN. It is something simply thought in Malayalam and written in English!!Read only if you have a lot of time to spend..

INTRODUCTION

“VERUTHE ORU BHARYA”.Once again Malayalam cinema witnesses a clean and simple family movie.The simplicity of the movie begins from its title itself, which generates curiosity and not complexity.This is a movie based on the common man and keeps no surprises or thrills in store.The movie is directed by Akku Akbar, whom I believe was the one of the Akbar-Jose duo who once assisted Laljose and did “Mazhathullikkilukkam” and “Sadanandante Samayam” independently(if not, somebody please clarify).Before this film,he has done a Hindi film “Gauri” based on female foeticide this year.Scripted by Gireeshkumar who wrote some really passable scripts for Jayaram before(including Alice in Wonderland and Amrutham),the movie has a simple plot and well-defined characters.

THE STORY

The story revolves around a KSEB overseer Sugunan(Jayaram),his wife Bindu(Gopika) and their 9th std daughter Anjana/Anju(Niveda and not NIVEDITHA).The real surprise of the movie is that ,it is not Gopika,but the child is the real heroine of the story.That kid is a real boon to the Malayalam film industry which lacks a child artist of that age (not forgetting Sanusha who simply vanished into thin air!!).Remember forcefully fixing in a fully grownup lady Muktha(who still claims to be studying in std IX, maybe for the umpteenth year!!)into a school uniform in Achanurangaatha Veedu.??

The story goes like this.Sugunan is a typical keralite male chauvinist husband who believes that his wife is there for his service only.From the strong morning tea to packing his lunch and even helping him put his shirt on is part of the daily chores to be done by Bindu.Even though Sugunan is a leftist who is seen reading Deshabhimani all the time and always speaking of the rights of employees ,he is not giving any freedom for his wife anywhere. Bindu has to work like a servant all the time and Sugunan is not listening to even her simple needs or wants. Their daughter Anju is a good child,good in studies and behavior (but is having a silent “line” with the boy next door!).Sugunan’s office staff includes characters played by Suraj Venjarammod,Shivaji Guruvayoor and Sona Nair.And there is Innocent as Gopika’s father and a fat, bulky overweight Madhu Warrier as her brother (Luckily he doesn’t have much scenes to act.Otherwise we would have seen him simply making a big good smile before the camera,as that is the only acting skill he is possessing,besides being the brother of the versatile Manju Warrier!!).Following some tragic incidents like her mother’s death and some humiliating incidents which took palce during a family tour of co-workers to kodaikanal(hey..there is Kalabhavan Prajod as a bridegroom for the hundredth time!!) and during her brother’s marriage,Bindu takes a serious decision.She takes VRS from her work as Sugunan’s wife and goes back to stay with her loving father and brother.

The story takes a new turn here as till now Sugunan has’nt done a single job in the house and also he was always thinking that doing daily household work is so simple and easy.But now he is to face the real troubles in housekeeping and also bringing up their daughter who is left with him.In order to keep his daughter inclined to his side,Sugunan gets her a mobile (for which she was asking for along time,but was not sanctioned before).the mobile connection reinforces the next door “line” and the story is lead to a series of unlucky events.Meanwhile a new cook Kuttan(Jaffer Idukki) comes (from nowhere!) to the home.The cook impresses the kid by showing her some simple magics and gimmics.But his real idea was something different.One day Sugunan catches the cook trying to misbehave to his daughter and kicks him out. But one day Anju goes out with her next door boyfriend to watch some reality show rehearsal(somewhere far away!!)but gets entrapped in a forest when some miscreants come there and tries to molest her.But she escapes from them(That scene is really undigestable where she runs out of the forest in the dark and lands into the safe hands of her father who reached the exact spot within no time!!).There come a police jeep from nowhere and it has our police officer (rehman)in it.(We loved him in Koodevide and Kanamarayathu,approved him when given some shadow roles by Mammootty in Rajamanikyam and Black,but simply rejected him in waste action flicks like Abraham Lincoln,Nanma and the forthcoming Musafir).Rehman has only two scenes in this movie and in the second(and last)scene he is seen giving a study class to Sugunan and his daughter (and to the audience,of course!!) regarding how to grow up adolescent children,use and misuse of mobile phones,internet etc in a straightforward manner for about 10 minutes in a single stretch(Teenage kids beware:Watching this scene with your parents may have a bad effect on your present lifestyle as well as your future plans!!).

Sugunan comes back home with the rescued kid,but begins to behave frantically.The reality is Sugunan loves his family a lot,but his ego is not allowing him to give any freedom to his wife or daughter.He now thinks that he is the only one responsible for all the bad incidents happened to his daughter and grows mentally ill.He begins to think all the people except him are trying to do bad to his daughter.He shuts all the doors and windows and cuts the telephone connection so that no contact is made with the outside.He is seen guarding his daughter’s room in the midnight, fully awake and carrying an iron rod.He attacks his friends who comes there forhaving a drink with him(earlier he was taking drinks and the Kodaikanal incident simply took place because of him drinking too much and misbehaving).The terrified friends inform Bindu who was trying to contact her daughter over phone for days,but in vain.They together comes home,breaks open a window and finds Anju on bed with high fever and a fully abnormal Sugunan taking care of her.They break in to the house to rescue her.But the mixed up mind of Sugunan sees them as the miscreants,the boy next door and the cook all whom he thinks hascome to take his daughter away from him.Sugunan attacks them with the rod ,but in the confusion,Anju gets hit.In the next scene there is a well dressed, good looking Dr.Cheriyan Paul(K.B.Ganeshkumar MLA) giving a study class to Sugunan(who has spent much days under mental treatment and is completely cured now) and Bindu, and teaches them(of course,again the audience!!) the vices and virtues of family life,growing up teenage kids,and where they went wrong,thus sorting out all the problems.Then Anju is brought in (surprisingly without even a bandage on the head!!) and the family reunites.The last scene shows a completely changed Sugunan giving a morning tea to Anju, who is reading the newspaper(Deshabhimani,of course) and making some good hearty interaction with Bindu in the kitchen.The film ends with a modified title VERUTHE ALLA BHARYA.

THE ACTORS

The script is tailor-made for Jayaram and is a perfect comeback vehicle for the hero of the families.The movie has proved good for Jayaram who hasn’t seen a single hit after Manassinakkare of 2004 (that too because of Sathyan Anthikkaadu,Ilayaraja,Renjan Pramod and obviously Sheela).The climax scenes, but reminds us of Mohanlal’s performance in Sadayam and Pavithram.the last movie of Gopika can be considered her best one, as even though she was a part of many super hits she didn’t get a chance to come out of the huge shadow of her hero(remember mayavi,chanthupottu and all other star movies of Gopika).She didn’t get any meaningful characters or strong dialogues in those mega projects.There is an argument that she is inappropriate for acting as the mother of a 9th std girl.But the script itself is giving an excuse for that, citing that she was married off at the age of 18.Assaid in the first part,the best actor of the movie is Niveda(she was seen a child artist in many Tamil-dubbed serials of Surya TV including my dear bhootham and Jancy).In fact,she is given more scenes and dialogues than Gopika in the movie.Her character is the one which keeps the story going forward.Also,I think she has done the dubbing herself(if not,somebody please clarify).Innocent is good in many scenes,but is seen simply overacting(was it a mistake of the director??) in a scene where he is talking to somebody regarding the catering arrangements for his son’s marriage.Suraj is the one getting much applause as he has completely abandoned overacting and fits aptly into the role of a KSEB lineman,making wits and jokes out of simple incidents and situations.Another surprise of the movie is Shivaji Guruvayoor(the unforgettable sakhaavu Karunan of Arabikkadha),who is shown much young and wielding a comic character.The only miscast in the movie was Jaffer Idukki,who is always proving that he is not at all any good for movies,but only for stage mimics.He has done overacting to his maximum capacity, thereby obstructing the flow of the story somewhat.

ABOUT THE TECHNICAL SIDE

The direction is almost flawless except in some scenes like the one in which Anju escapes from the attackers. There is not even a single unwanted scene. The script is the best work of Gireeshkumar, withsimple and natural dialogues which mention special attention. There are some rotten mangoes, but can be forgiven. The camera is handled by Shaji (who is a leading one in Malayalam industry with an experience of most of the Vinayan films and with the last 3-4 Anil Babu films. His recent hit was Cycle) with ease. The advantage of light and shade is made much use in many scenes, especially in the title song Omkaram. There are no wild angles or frames and that give the viewers a feel of being in the scene. Master editor Renjan Abraham has done class work in keeping the flow of the film. The editor’s strong presence is seen in the tension-filled climax scenes where Sugunan is seeing his enemies in Bindu and his friends. The makeup, costumes and art direction are simply good for such a simple film.

THE SONGS

The music side is a great plus to the movie.Vayalar Sarath’s lyrics are of good standard.The music director Shyam Dharman, whom we loved for the albums Chembakame and Kumkumam, has done really great work (his first movie was the Saiju kurup starrer super flop Jubilee). The master song in the movie is ‘manjil kulikkum” sung by Shyam Dharman himself, whose voice is the best suitable one for Jayaram till date.The visualization of the song with Jayaram enacting all thesuper heroes make the audience roar with laugh and is still a super hit in all the music channels.The title track “Omkaram shankhil” by Unnimenon is also a good and hummable one.The other songs are passable.

THE REALLY BAD THING

The film fails miserably in the re-recordingand the DTS side.There are many scenes in which one find it difficult to understand what the characters are saying.Also on the DTS side,there are a lot of flaws(some new DTS mixing technician has done it,I believe).The most noticeable one is the scene in which Bindu is seencoming out from Anju’s school.The voice of the school band group playing outside in the ground is heard in the background.The sound is heard simply fromthe opposite side of the source!Then in the next shot where Bindu and the music players are shown in single frame, the sound jumps back all of sudden to thereal side,creating a big jerk in sound continuity.Even a school-going child can smell something rotten in the sound side on watching that scene.That is something which is really unpardonable.

CONCLUSION

Altogether,Veruthe oru Bharya can be given a vedict as a clean family entertainer.It has all the family ingredients like sentiments,drama,comedy,romance,songs and everything incorporated into it.It is a balanced mix of everything,and most importantly,picturised in a decent manner.Akku Akbar can be considered the next-gen Sathyan Anthikkad in the making.Let this movie be the first among his chain of family movies.

TO THE READERS

Please give your valuable feedback to my study,which is an attempt for the first time in any of these sites.Your response will make me decide whether I should continue writing or quit.

Submitted by NJAAN