The Monkey’s Paw is a horror short story, written by W.W. Jacobs with a theme
cautioning human beings not to play with their fate. The monkey’s paw in that story was nothing but a jinx. But the Malayalam film ‘Philips and the Monkey’s Pen’
released in 2013 does not have any such horror base. On the other hand this critically
reviewed film, seems to sing a
corrective melody with a variety of themes, as notes and ragas. One
would initially feel a bit confused about too many layers getting into a single
narration. One would even doubt if it is
a historical anecdote or a mythical
mystery or a social malady the film is trying to project.
A few vital factors, as life’s standard
norms, are focused without raising the volume of the didactic voice. One is about truth and
falsehood. The clear statement is ‘Truth might appear to be bitter, but
falsehood is too sweet to taste’. The second thumb rule is, one should solely depend on oneself to
come up in life. The other refreshing perception is
about the demarcation of learners into meritorious, mediocre and
mischievous categories with their respective percentages of 20+60+20 and with a categorical emphasis on the last
segment, becoming memory pointers and value indicators for an Alma Mater.
Aggressive adolescence, has been the chosen
theme of a small group of film directors of all languages. This film made me a
considerably nostalgic about late Balu
Mahendra, whose ‘Azhiyadha Kolangal’ that
came in the Nineteen Seventies, created indelible impressions of the
vagaries of adolescence, through a different mode of narration. Recently the
Tamil film Pasanga,directed by Pandiraj, also dealt with memorable adolescent days at school with an inseparable mark of
mischief and pranks and the freshness in narration made the film eligible for a
National Award. The concept of drawing a longer line, parallel to an already existing line in
order to make it smaller, owes its courtesy to director K.Balachander ,whose
title and theme impressively discussed its significance in the film’ Iru
Kodugal’.
The
major plus point of the film ‘Philips and the Monkey Pen’ is its overall
aesthetics in presentation that includes the natural role play of all the kids,
particularly the cute little boy playing the role of Ryan Philip, {Master Sanoop Santhosh}with consummate understanding of all nuances of acting, the exuberant photographic
grasp of human mood and natural landscape, the commendable underplay of a compact father character by Jaya Soorya and
the integrating musical elegance.All these fascinating components of the movie raise it to its deserving heights. Should the
beginning of a reformed behavioural pattern always be preceded by the death of a loved one? The death of a girl student in an accident involving the
school bus, becomes a prompter for sermonizing
on parental and social responsibilities, besides forcing an already
reforming delinquent, to introspect.
The Mathematics teacher’s
change over from a conventionally flawed approach to one of ripeness in dealing
with victims of formative age syndrome, could have been pictured in a little more
acceptable way, than as a casual course. But the teacher throwing a party to
his wards even after losing the competition, certainly adds a fresh dimension to
the change over, that spontaneously drives Ryan to confess his act of making
a phone call to the police, in order to
falsely implicate his teacher by using the latter’s mobile phone.The
boy’s crying aloud on account of compunction
comes as a genuine follow up, sharply reflecting his sense of shame and
guilt. The other unusual aspect of the film is, the avoidance of blaming parental pampering
or negligence, as the sole reason for adolescent misbehavior. After watching
the film one would certainly carry solid memories of the events on screen, vibrating deeper some where in the mind, accompanied by a sense of fulfilment of seeing new
talents, getting ready to conquer cinema in its original creative form. It is not
that easy to forget this film. In this regard
I am sure, the duo Rojin Thomas and Shanil Muhammed have made a clean start.
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