Movie review - Calcutta News (malayalam)

I just finished watching Blessy's new movie 'Calcutta News' today. What to expect out of this movie? Be prepared to be disappointed. In the pack of five movies Blessy has made so far, this one is sure to stick out like a sore thumb.

As far as the plot goes, it tells the story of Ajith Thomas (Dileep), a journalist for Calcutta News who happens to come across a newlywed Malayalee girl, Krishnapriya (Meera Jasmine) whose husband was found dead in mysterious circumstances. Having encountered the couple a few times earlier, he takes interest in the girl's case trying to find out what lead to her husband's death. Later, it becomes evident that the husband, Hari (Indrajith) was part of a huge sex racket and only wanted to sell her for a sum of money. Ajith tries to bring the devastated Krishna back her happiness by finding her a job as a music teacher at the local malayalee association. But little does he know that the very people Krishna was supposed to be sold to are still on her trail.

Lets start with the actors. Dileep as Ajith Thomas tries very hard to look like a Calcutta born and bred journalist (the tufts of hair on the forehead, thick glasses), but his accent and diction deceive him throughout the movie. Not that Dileep's acting skills are poor, but he could have given some more practice into his english and bengali, both of which overflow with malluism.He acts mature for his role, doing away with the usual comic nature of his previous roles and overall is fairly convincing. The only problem with the role is that the fact that he's Christian hasnt been stressed by Blessy. His dialogue delivery makes him look more like Ajith Varma than Ajith Thomas.
Meera Jasmine. Now what can i say? Meera is a brilliant actor. But look at her last three movies. Rasathanthram, Vinodayatra, and now Calcutta Mail. In a few months time, i wouldnt be able to distinguish one of those roles from the other. Every one of her recent characters have been acted out with the same mannerisms, the same expressions, even the same look, whereas the situation here demanded a much darker, brooding persona which she simply fails to provide. When she starts out, she does well as the naive, cheated newlywed Krishna but quite soon enough, she returns back to being Meera Jasmine. Also, her sudden transition from a wrecked soul into a happy-go-lucky character is quite unconvincing. How she was able to overcome the death of her husband AND the fact that she was brought to Calcutta for the flesh market so quickly is puzzling.
Other characters include innocent (who desperately tries to make the viewers laugh) as the samajam president, Bindu Panikkar, Vimala Raman as eye candy, and a host of other Malayalee and non-Malayalee actors. Producer Thampi Antony guest stars as a know-it-all psychiatrist who treats Krishna.

The predominantly blue tinged cinematography of S Kumar brilliantly captures the raw feel of the streets of old Calcutta. Music by Salil Choudhary protege Deb Jyoti Mishra is passable (its quite evident that he's in love with K S Chitra).

Time for director - bashing! Blessy is one director in the Malayalam film industry that i admire and respect. For his ability to present unconventional storylines without being bogged down by the task of commercializing it for family audiences. And that is what i expected for this movie. But i was wrong. For one and a half hours of this movie, it looks like Blessy had no clue where to lead the story. The audience will be at aloss to identify what genre this movie falls into - is it a movie about social evils? a suspense thriller? investigative thriller? horror movie? psychological thriller?
What could have been a brilliant dark realistic story about Calcutta's skin business is polluted with unneseccary romance elements, ghost sightings, black magic, medical psychology (a la Manichitrathazhu) and a totally out of place girls-hanging-out song. The characters in this movie do not leave an impression on the viewer unlike Blessy's previous movies where Mohanlal's helplessness and Mammootty's innocence touched a chord with the viewer's heart. Here, the inner emotions of the characters haven't been presently explicitly for the viewer to absorb. Meera's character is a poorly developed one. Instead of being devastated at what is happening to her life, she suddenly develops a crush on Dileep's character and turns into someone totally not her. But im quite sure whatever I or anyone else says, Meera Jasmine's name will most definitely be nominated for some awards or the other. But Blessy does show us in the last half an hour of the movie that he hasnt completely lost his brilliance. The last 30 minutes of the movie are its best with brilliant acting, visualization and cinematography that gives us a terrifying picture of the Sonagatchi area in Calcutta. If only the rest of the movie had followed a similar formula, this movie would have been a masterpiece.

Overall, i give it a score 0f 1.5 out of 5.

Comparing this with the rest of the movies showing in theatres, i think the critics would favour it. It would probably bring in a decent collection at the box office too. But with the recent decline in quality movies in the Malayalam film industry, it will hurt any thinking man's conscience to see a capable director like Blessy fall to the terror of commercialism.