Blessy Movies - A Different Class

When I walked out of the theatre after watching Palunku , I felt as if I had just completed reading an Aeosope story with good morals and invariably I started comparing it with the previous movies by the same director.

One thing that is unique about the three Blessy movies are that they give sensible cinema through middle class stories to which all Keralites can identify .It is about families and family members who are united in their love but had to suffer from the brunt of external forces which they could not control. If Kazcha was about an innocent film maker, Madhavan in Kuttanad and Thanmatra was about a middle class Govt.Employee , Rameshan Nair in Trivandrum then Palunku is the story of a farmer in Idukki District , Monichan who loses his values and principles when the movie reaches the end. Government , Disease and a Rape , the villian in each of these movies.

There is a certian unique pattern about the movies by Blessy Ipe Thomas triggering those nostalgic memories in the minds of all Keralites . It is not a pattern of hero winning heroine in the end or a police officer thrashing villians at the end or killing them in a bomb explosion . This Pattern evokes the memories of middle class values , of back waters , of warm moments in the villages in interior Kerala , of al those farmers and who toiled hard in their fields day in and day out(Palunku) , of so many parents who wanted their offsprings to study and excel (Thanmatra) and of simple people in inetrior Kerala (Kazcha) who has still not lost out there innocence in this big wild world and so on.


Monichan played by Mammootty and his idyllic village in first half is nothing but he old Kerala and the town to which they shift for the education of their children is nothing but New Kerala . Somewhere in the middle in his race for money when he is trying to embrace consumersim like so many of us Monichan loses his way and slowly his values and then control and at the end he has to pay the price . A story told and re told so many times in many Malayalam , Hindi , tamil and I am sure a lot of other languages . What matters here is that Blessy does it with effortless ease , with such simplicity and spicing it up with humour.

The movie shows everything from farmer suicides to American Achayans and anyone who is aware about the social relalities and the dividing gulf between the rich and poor in Consumerist Kerala will appreciate what Blessy is trying to say.Monichan , somehow reminded me of the character he played in Raapakal sometime last year.
When Mamootty plays characters like Monichan , there is a difference and somehow we sympathise with him when he goes with the prostitute and tries to convert black money instead of hating him , like a normal villain.Jagathy , the female lead and the kids have also done commendable jobs.

Already waiting for the next film from Blessy to see what he wants to tell the audience and whether he will be able to carry the torch of meaningful movies forward.