Punyalan Agarbathis - Movie Review

Crew

Directed by     Ranjith Sankar
Produced by     Jayasurya, Ranjith Sankar
Written by     Ranjith Sankar
Music by     Bijibal
Cinematography     Sujith Vasudev
Editing by     Lijo Paul
Studio     Dreams N Beyond
Distributed by     Central Pictures
Country     India
Language     Malayalam

 Cast

    Jayasurya as Joy Thakkolkaran
Nyla Usha as Anu
Aju Varghese as Greenu Sharma
Innocent as John Thakkolkaran
Rachana Narayanankutty as Advocate Sai
Sreejith Ravi as Abhayakumar
TG Ravi as Achuthan Master
Mala Aravindan as Ayyappan
Idavela Babu as KC Mathews
Vinod Kovoor as Pappan Kottapuram
Lishoy as Pauly

 

 'Punyalan Agarbathis' tells the story of an ambitious, wannabe Ambani of Thrissur, businessman. After trying out may ventures he finds his last resort in 'Punyalan Agarbathis', special kind of incense sticks made from elephant dung. The efforts to acquire the 'raw material' makes him ruffle feathers with few big-wigs which turns his life for ever. Will Joy succeed in the battle of & for his life, forms the rest of the story.

80s-90s are said to be the Golden period of Malayalam cinema which produced movies which common people could much identify with, dealing with issues faced by common man in his daily lives, like Mithunam, Varavelpu, Vellanakalude Naadu etc. 

Punyalan Agarbathis belongs to such series of movies. It tells the issues a common middle class man has to face to make his dream come true, without resorting to illegal paths. 

It also discuses how bureaucracy, politics etc which are meant for the benefit of people, in many cases end up being the road block, for petty reasons.

Story wise its simple, its the entertaining scrip that works big time for PA. The film is a total rocking entertainer, in the first half with plenty of humor. In the second half, especially towards the end, where the movie gets serious a tone & try to tell too many things, it dags a bit.

Jayasurya has given one of his best performance till date
 and got the 'Thrissur slang' to a 'T', a major highlight of the movie. Most of his one liners brought the house down. Another name worth mentioning is Sreejith Ravi who also got tremendous reaction from the crowd in his debut comic role. Rest of the cast did what was required of them, but wish Nyla had got a substantial role, after a superb debut in Kunjananthante Kada.

Have liked all his previous works, but Ranjith Shankar the writer has finally got the perfect blending of Commercial entertainer and social message drama in PA, which was lacking in his previous attempts preventing them from becoming HUGE box office successes. His direction was good too, presenting the cultural capital of Kerala as an important part of narration. Cinematography by Sujith Vasudev was good, presenting Thrissur in all its glory. Editing by Lijo Paul was efficient, may be a bit of trimming towards the end could have been nice. Music & BG by Bijibal were good too.

 Punyalan Agarbathis is a clean, perfect commercial treat for the entire section of audience - mass or class, family or youth - this season. A well made entertainer.

Rating 3.5/5

Verdict - Good

Last Word - Greene, veedu povoolanna tta thonae.......