ഉയരങ്ങളിൽ (Uyarangalil) (1984)

Director: I V Sasi
Writer: M T Vasudevan Nair
DOP: Jayanan Vincent
Cast: Mohanlal, Rahman, Nedumudi Venu, Kajal Kiran
Language: Malayalam

Mohanlal is an ambitious assistant manager in a tea estate who along with two of his colleagues decides to steal company's money. He is the chief planner and lures the other two into his plan as all three are in need of money. The plan doesn't come off and they are caught by the manager who extracts a confession letter which he is gonna present it to the board to dismiss them. Mohanlal goes to negotiate with him, while the other two are reluctant and remorseful, and ends up killing him. His career takes off after that as he is promoted as the manager but his co-conspirators and a Police officer who suspects him are a constant nuisance.

I had caught glimpses of this film from TV but hadn't seen it in full. My friend Prajeesh recommended it to me, like Chandrika was recommended to Amala Paul by her friend Ria. It is an underrated gem of a film with a protagonist who is genuinely 'bad', which is such a unique thing for Indian films. You will have people pointing out Spadikam and Devasuram as examples of films in which Mohanlal played characters who are not socially correct. But you are meant to root for those characters and they don't stay 'bad' for too long.

In Uyarangalil, Mohanlal's character is a genuine villain but I still ended up rooting for him and wanted him to succeed so that the film doesn't have a 'Crime doesn't pay' message kind of ending. It doesn't take that route but does even better by leaving us questioning whether he is also a hero. It doesn't come up in a twist kind of way because I was able to tell what was going to happen next which means it happened organically.

The choices made by the character is consistent in the sense that he was forced to commit the murders to serve his survival needs and ambition. The best thing about the portrayal is that it is done in an understated matter of fact way. That is so essential because that is how he gets away with it for so long. I haven't seen any of MT's period films quite recently but I do think his films set in contemporary times are better and often overlooked. Uyarangalil is not perfect and Rahman's very obviously fake beard is thoroughly distracting but it is such a different film done with no apologies and the last lines, screenshot posted here, should be quoted much more. Other film I could think of where our big 'heroes' played a genuinely bad character is Vidheyan. Difference is that Mammooty's character is not the chief protagonist but the titular character is.

Rating: 4/5

പഞ്ചവടിപ്പാലം (Panchavadi Palam) (1984)

Director: K. G. George
Writers:  K. G. George, Yesuadasan
Cast:      Gopi, Nedumudi Venu, Srividya, Jagathy, Sukumari, Thilakan
Language: Malayalam

A henpecked politician wants his name attached to a new bridge, even if that means destroying another, perfectly serviceable bridge. He is egged on by his coterie and even the opposition is also in on the plans as long as they get a cut from the government contract and associated activities. As everything proceeds religious politics also enter into picture which is resolved by a mutually agreed formula that is quite the norm in Kerala politics. Film works as a political satire and looks even more relevant when put in context with what is happening these days in Kerala politics with numerous scams that everyone are aware of. 

Film is based on a short story with the same name by Veloor Krishnankutty. The characters in it are given names from Hindu, Christian and Muslim mythologies and are portrayed in a caricatured manner. The deliberate lack of subtlety was a bit disconcerting for me initially but you will adjust to it. It does become cleverer as it progresses and the overall exaggeration sits pretty well now because the politicians are also very unsubtle when it comes to looting people these days. I don't think there were many films prior to this which had entrenched corruption as their central theme. You get a microcosm of what Kerala politics is these days with this film which was made three decades ago. I don't think the condition was this bad in those days and in that sense the film can be considered prophetic. It features almost every other features of Kerala political system including how things are carved out based on religious lines and the only thing that I could think of that it doesn't tackle is the dynastic politics which is chronic in the Congress party. We are having a crucial bi-election this month in Aruvikkara and you can see everything that is bad about Kerala politics happening in that campaign. The only qualification for the Congress candidate is being the son of dead MLA and you can see all parties approaching religious power centers for votes. The ruling party (Congress) is smeared with all sorts of scams and it will be a travesty if they manage to win this one due to sympathy votes.

Overall the film is a great watch and is one that has stood the test of times. At around 130 minutes length, it is around twenty minutes longer than it should be. Everything in it is very exaggerated including the background music and some might find that a bit problematic. It boasts of a great ensemble cast. The new bridge collapses quite predictably during the last scene and it is done quite well in terms of effects. Other obvious film for comparison would be 'Sandhesham' which had so many quotable lines and is a favorite of mine. The humor in Panchavadi Palam is quite different in nature as everything is distributed evenly across its script without relying on set-piece dialog barrage between characters. The only other film I have seen from K. G. George, that too not in its entirety, is 'Yavanika' which is considered as his masterpiece. 

Rating: 4/5  

                                                                            

The Terminator (1984)

Director: James Cameron
Writers:  Gale Anne Hurd, James Cameron
Cast:      Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton, Michael Biehn

A human-looking indestructible cyborg is sent from 2029 to 1984 to assassinate a waitress Sarah Connor, whose unborn son will lead humanity in a war against the machines, while a soldier from that war is sent to protect her at all costs. The situation in 2029 arose after the machines decided to wipe out mankind so that they may not destroy everything in the future and the way they went about it was by launching a nuclear war. 

I have seen Terminator 2 like when I was in school and don't remember much about it apart from the famous chase sequence and the last thumbs up shot of the film. Those who know their onions often claim that the first film in the Terminator franchise is the best out of the lot. It is understandable because the first one often have the best story as the audience don't know anything about the universe the film is set in and the director can reveal little by little throughout the film without it feeling like a sequence of action sequences just for the sake of it. This is indeed how 'The Terminator' turned out to be, a great action film with an interesting story line. It is a very enjoyable watch even though the whole idea about the film is from a very basic story about Man Vs Machine & Time Travel. Like all time travel films, it also features Bootstrap Paradox. Paradox here is that it is the soldier from future who impregnates Sarah Connor leading to the birth of John Connor who goes on to become the leader of men in their fight against machines. John had used information given to him by his mother to send the soldier back in time, while Sarah got the information in the first place from the soldier himself. So the information is circular without an origin but it is done in an interesting way since the time travelling soldier doesn't know that there is an extra motive for John to send him back in time. He could have seen John being named as a Connor, after his mother, as a possible clue. People often cite Bootstrap Paradox to chide time travelling films when in fact they are a recurring feature in almost all such films and it is what make them interesting. Same was used to criticize Interstellar when in fact that film had so many other problems that you could beat it with. Presdestination is an excellent film from last year which celebrated the paradox in such a way that I still can't get my head round all the paradoxes. 

Overall it is great watch with some solid chase action sequences. The time travel aspect of the film and the paradox must have been novel when it came out in 1984, much before the 'Back To The Future' franchise. Towards the end you do get a feeling that Terminator is just a turd that refuses to be flushed down and we can totally relate to Sarah's words: 'You're terminated, fucker!'. They could have very well ended the film with that tanker explosion scene. Arnold's Terminator character is listed in AFI's lists of 100 best Heroes and Villains in both categories with the only other one such character being Al Pacino's Michael Corleone. Looking forward to watching Judgement Day again. Hast la vista, baby!

Rating: 4/5

                                                                        

This Is Spinal Tap (1984)

Director: Rob Reiner
Writers:  Christopher Guest, Michael McKean, Harry Shearer, Rob Reiner
Cast:       Christopher Guest, Michael McKean, Harry Shearer, Rob Reiner

Spinal tap, one of England's loudest bands, is chronicled by film director Marty DeBergi on what proves to be a fateful US tour. Rob Reiner plays the role of Marty who is making the 'Rockumentary' and the actual film turns out to be a mockumentary. Spinal Tap justifies their claim of being England's loudest band by having an amplifier that can be turned up to eleven instead of the usual 10. As a homage to possibly film's most memorable sequence, IMDB shows it rating to be out of eleven instead of the usual ten.

Film didn't do very well when it was released but went on to gain a cult following since its home video release. Many rock bands have admitted that they saw few of their own experiences in the film in one way or the other. Many people thought when the film released  that an actual band called Spinal Tap existed and this was an actual documentary. The documentary way in which it is filmed makes it a very non-slapstick approach to comedy and the reactions by the band members as they bullshit their way through interviews trying to sound deep are hilarious. I hate it when filmmakers kind of lingers on at a comedic moment after the punchline as if they are gloating about their own cleverness, making sure that audience got the joke. This film doesn't do that in anyway whatsoever and so there is no spoon-feeding. You get all the 60s & 70s rock band tropes like pretentious existentialism, band members ending up dead suffocating on vomit, in you face sexualization , mystic hippy vibe, a Yoko Ono like girlfriend derailing things etc. Metallica's Black Album is a reference to Spinal Tap's 'Smell the Glove' which in the film was released in a black cover after their original cover idea of having a naked girl on all fours in a leash being made to smell a glove was deemed sexist (What is wrong with being sexy?). Spinal Tap has become a verb now in rock lingo.

This was a re-watch for me after seeing it for the first time some four years back. The character name Marty DeBergi is an homage to Scorsese, Brian De Palma, Spielberg, Fellini and Antonioni. Rob Reiner did his best two works very early in his career with the other one besides 'This is Spinal Tap' being 'Stand By Me'. Apart from these I have only seen 'A Few Good Men' which was an alright film made famous by that hilarious yet powerful monologue from Jack Nicholson. Am gonna check out 'When Harry met Sally...' soon.

Nigel Tufnel: The numbers all go to eleven. Look, right across the board, eleven, eleven, eleven and...

Marty DiBergi: Oh, I see. And most amps go up to ten?

Nigel Tufnel: Exactly.

Marty DiBergi: Does that mean it's louder? Is it any louder?

Nigel Tufnel: Well, it's one louder, isn't it? It's not ten. You see, most blokes, you know, will be playing at ten. You're on ten here, all the way up, all the way up, all the way up, you're on ten on your guitar. Where can you go from there? Where?

Marty DiBergi: I don't know.

Nigel Tufnel: Nowhere. Exactly. What we do is, if we need that extra push over the cliff, you know what we do?

Marty DiBergi: Put it up to eleven.

Nigel Tufnel: Eleven. Exactly. One louder.

Marty DiBergi: Why don't you just make ten louder and make ten be the top number and make that a little louder?

Nigel Tufnel: [pause] These go to eleven.

Rating: 4.5/5