The title triggered great expectations of Innichan style humour , ‘Kanjirappallikkaran Christiani’variety of dialogue or at least a large joint family of achayans with an old world ammachi replete with kavuni & kunukku. So , we ,the couple took time off one Saturday evening and landed at Arora Theatre ,one of the last surviving old world cinemas in Mumbai , at King circle, Matunga where Malayalis watch Malayalam movies. Good we came here and not to one of the multiplexes which were also showing ‘ Christian Brothers’ . One look at the poster with Mohanlal holding a gun and Vijayaraghavan scowling fore told the whole story. ‘Abandon all hope , ye who enter here ’ I remembered this famous line written on the Gates of Hell in the great 14th century Italian poet Dante’s magnificent poem, ‘The Divine Comedy ’. No point in going back after making the journey and buying the tickets for Rs.200. So we entered the hall , hoping against hope !
And discovered that it is another gangster-police- minister-mafia –mahila tangle with the routine paraphernalia of Malayali muscles & brains trained in Mumbai’s underworld imported to Cochin/kerala to sort out the tangle there.The Mumbai- Cochin underworld link has become a staple of our films. Even writer Salman Rushdie could not resist its allure.
Christian Brothers has an impressive star cast . But it doesn’t have either a riveting plot or even a single memorable character. Frankly, I have forgotten the names of the characters already. I recall a few strands of the plot. They are : Strand 1. The conflict over a beautiful bit of unused church property in Munnar between the land mafia , the Thampi family headed by Vijayaraghavan and the Christian Brothers/ family headed by Sai Kumar. Big relief for Sai . Of late , he has been granted Moksha & allowed to be a
good man on screen. Strand 2. The feud between Christie – Mohanlal, Christian Brother 1 and his brother-in-law , Suresh Krishna who is a pimp in Mumbai using even his own wife ( Christi’s sister, the beautiful Lakshmi Gopalaswami ) in his trade. Strand 3. The kidnapping of the Home Minister’s( Devan’s i.e) daughter , Meenakshi - Kavya whose main jobs are a) deflecting Dileep from his pursuit of the Holy orders b) inadvertently making him commit homicide & c) helping the convergence of characters and plots by being kidnapped . Another detail connected to the kidnapping is the Home Minister taking money from Thampi Senior to get the daughter released. Strand 4. Christie’s efforts on behalf of his younger brother, at proving his innocence to his Appachi , at generally throwing his weight behind everyone who needs it.
Now to the other villains and heroes. Biju Menon, a Thampi son is the bad police officer. Jagathi Sreekumar , a Christian brother – more uncle than brother, methinks -is the honest village officer who refuses to destroy the documents on Thampi’s orders .My hopes rose as JS’s face lit the scene but were put out immediately as the poor guy was shot dead soon after he had passed on the documents to Sai K for safe keeping . To offset the bad Christian brother-in-law ( Suresh Krishna) there is Suresh Gopi alias Vadakkan, the good Christian brother-in-law & honest police officer. There is one more Christian brother , adopted from Mumbai – karim Lala aka Andrews , Sarath Kumar ( Kunkan of Pazhassi Raja) being the flavour of the season.
In all this macho, dishum-dishum desert , there are oases, some sweet moments. There is that wonderful Kaithapuram – Deepak dev song sequence where all the mohinis come and their beaus too shine. The cats drink milk . There is the subtle , underplayed romance acted out quite befittingly by the perky, pouting Kaniha and the Gentle giant , Suresh Gopi. Flashes of humour from Dileep and Venjaranmood . As for Mohanlal, all my sympathies. 1/1000 th of him is not required for the role of Christie. But you watch it only because he is playing it. My dear Mallu directors, for heaven’s sake , don’t insult this Thampuran by making him a mere gun-totter & muscleman. Don’t trap him in a repetitive rut ! Don’t rob him of his rhythm, his music, his Mohini !
From the perennial classics , socially relevant , avant- garde triumphs and sheer rib-tickling entertainers ( Thulabharam, Chemmeen, Swayamvaram, Yakshi, all the 80’s& 90s movies,Devasuram, Dasaradham , kamaladalm, Bharatham, Aaram thampuran et al of the iconic Mohanlal, Desadanam, Chintavishtayaya Shyamala and just a few of the recent hits , one Classmates, one Veruthe oru Bharya , one Udayanaanu Tharam, to name a few of a humongous list of greats ) to Christian Brothers , Malayalam cinema’s descent into banality is tragic.
Published in City Journal, March 28, 2011
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