Ee Adutha Kaalathu (2012)

To me, this movie is perfection.

An Exercise In Nonsense

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

Dear Murali Gopi, it was a great script by you, exposing the phoniness of the Malayali middle and upper classes. It was a great account of a profoundly sick society with multiple narratives featuring characters from many walks of life.The film started off in a very unusual manner with the protest against the dumping of garbage in a rural area. I guess the garbage was a very obvious symbol for the dubious and depressed characters who were to be introduced one after the other.I liked how you inserted the narrative about the serial killer into what was otherwise a film about normal people. Apart from your writing, the tight editing by the director is another of the film's virtues. I remember the film had fine sound recording especially in the scenes where the doctor's wife is flirting with the young man.Tanushree Ghosh was a bit of a let down with her Bengali accent. But Mythili and Indrajith were terrific as the working class couple desperate to make ends meet. Baiju as the quotation killer was pretty hilarious. The guy ought to be in more films. Nishan's performance as the flirtatious young man was pitch perfect.You seem to be slightly sympathetic towards the RSS. Or did I interpret those scenes incorrectly? Anyway, this was a great effort, Murali.Best Regards, Pimpin.(7/10)

Life is like a Rubik cube…. and thus begins this movie. Different stories of completely different people coming together at the end was a trend popularized in Amores Perros by Alejandro González Iñárritu and thus this technique of story telling has come into many different films. To say, that this technique has been abused(many a times even in Malayalam ) by many filmmakers will be a understatement. Contrary to the recent experiences , Ee Adutha Kalathu, is one movie in which this technique has been used pretty well. There are loop holes in the story,but then the way it has been written is raw, blunt, tight and gripping.This is one of the movies that can be considered as the struggle that the Malayalam film industry is doing to come out of the claws of the conventional and clichéd film making. Murali Gopi, who has penned down the script , have molded the main characters well , and takes guidance from many tried and tested scripting techniques to make sure that he doesn't loose control over the story and idea that he has to convey. A very good example is the preparation of two main characters for telling a simple lie, when stopped by the police. The main characters played by Indrajith, Tanushree Gosh, Anoop Menon, Lena , Mythili , Nishan and Murali Gopi himself has been painstakingly created as each of their characters reveals itself step by step as the movie proceeds. The director has done a good job in keeping the scriptwriters vision intact. The control he has over the story is never let away. Being an editor most of his life, he definitely knows what to edit out and thus it never drags a bit. There are many instance handled very carefully, as the audience is expecting something and what ends up happening is different. The narcissistic character of Anoop Menon , who misses a very important conversation , which he could have easily overheard and lead the story in a totally different direction was visualized very well in the movie. The camera work is apt for the story, keeping majority of the shots tight and compact, which more or less resembles the style of storytelling and the way it has been shot. Its like seeing each of the character only through a keyhole not letting in anything that the audience shouldn't see. A really strong script , well written characters, some good acting all adds up the great movie that is Ee Adutha Kalathu. Not a family type entertainer, but a definite watch for the serious moviegoer.

Murali Gopy spins a fantastic yarn about a set of people who are all heading to converge on a series of events. The actors in this play come from differing backgrounds but end up having to depend on each other to make sure they are able to salvage their lives.There are a few places where the director slipped up which took away a lot from the viewing pleasure. First is the opening background narration by Jagathy Sreekumar which leads you to believe that he is a key played in the events to come and that the story is somehow about Trivandrum, the city. Neither is true and that leaves you disappointed in the end. Then there is the slide at the opening, which he claims that the Rubik's cube has some gazillion moves and that when it all fits together it is beautiful. The statement in itself is good, but then it gives away the end and takes away the suspense. It would rather have been more apt to have that sentence mouthed by someone in the movie, just before the end when the pieces are all finally falling into place.But the criticism notwithstanding, the movie is a good watch and very refreshing.

Ee Adutha Kaalath knits in several pieces from many plots and spin it with all the twists, flips and turns just like we do it in Rubick's cube. You need all the patience and brain in the world to really like it in the end just the way you need to solve the Rubik's cube puzzle. Its really lovable only if you follow the game from the beginning with keenness.The multi-plot threads are always gripping and thrilling, the character sketching being too substantial for this mode of story telling. "Ee Adutha Kaalath" doesn't come out good in that respect with some of its characters half baked, and some sub plots over dramatic. Though the dialogs were a bit rhetoric throughout the movie, the scenes in which the book titles explaining the situation were pictured rather smartly. Murali, the script writer who also played Dr.Ajay Kurien needs special mention for unveiling his character so rigorously. Indrajith as Vishnu excels. The casting wasn't the best to be, so was editing - Arun Kumar who is the editor & director had a dream debut with "Cocktail" - which went down at times. The background score by Gopi sundar saves the movie many a time from getting drowned.The movie brings in many contemporary social issues in the plot, all very brilliantly knitted. But seldom do we really stay glued to our seats anticipating the next move for it falls in shades where it could have been neat. That said, the script needs appreciation for bringing in too many things which are connected making them all fall in place in the end. Had it been suave and shrewd, it would have been a class apart. Ee Adutha Kaalath is a diacritical attempt which stands tall thematically and philosophically. Watch it once or twice.