I think this is one of the movies that was recommended to me just because I was looking for another actress as good as Nazriya Nazim, and Namitha Pramod is so good.  And it’s true!  She is just so good!  Even in this, when she was only 17.  Kunchacko Boban was good too, and they made a nice pair, just like in Law Point.

This was just a nice light movie about the old rice growing districts and how they have been turned into tourist traps.  At least, I think that’s what it was about.  There was this big narration at the beginning setting the stage, but the subtitles were kind of oddly worded so I wasn’t sure I was getting all the details right.  But I am pretty sure that the point was, the whole economy of the region has shifted.

If I was understanding all the details correctly, the opening narration explains that this used to be a rice growing region, and the boats on the river would bring the rice back and forth to market.  But then the rice market ended, and now the boats have been turned into houseboats for wealthy tourists, and the locals who have learned a little English are the most valuable, because they can bring in the tourists.  Fascinating, right?  How the economy has shifted from an independent and productive process, to a complete reliance on outsiders, even to the point of the boats that used to be transportation for products turned into tools for pleasure.

This also shifts the kind of hero who is a “hero”.  When we first meet Kunchacko, he seems like kind of a coward and a weakling.  He is running from a crowd who want to beat him up, he is wearing sunglasses and cool western clothing, and he makes them wait while he puts his sunglasses in his pocket so they won’t be broken while he is beaten.  It’s the kind of introduction you usually see in the comic relief, or the hero who needs a complete personality transplant before the end (like Kaalia).

But this is a new Kerala, and he is our new kind of hero.  He has adapted to the needs of the time, that is why he is heroic.  The needs of the time are tourism and fast-talk and charm, not toughness and silence and wearing a munda.

The “traditional” hero type is now his brothers.  We have a whole introduction to the new Kerala and how our hero fits within it.  And then way at the end we learn about his older brothers, who have no place in this new Kerala, besides living off of others.

It’s not just an overturning of the traditional hero type, it’s an overturning of the traditional brother types.  Or not an overturning?  I mean, the older brother(s) is always strong and brave and so on, and the younger brother is always smart and fast-talking and charming.  But in this case, the smart young brother is the one who fits best in this world.  So he is the one who has to go out and make a living and support the rest of the household.  While the strong older brothers just sit around and cause trouble.

The question is, is it the times, that these characters would have been heroic if they had just been giving real work to do?  Or is it that the kind of person who feels a responsibility for his family will adjust to whatever times he finds himself in?  If Kunchacko had been born during the rice-growing era, would he have learned how to be strong and to do physical labor, the best way to grow rice instead of to fleece tourists?  And would his brothers have sat around charming the neighbors and talking to visitors instead of working in the fields?

I think the film is ultimately landing on the “the best kind of person will change with the needs of his time, and those who can’t change should find something that they can do even in these times.”  So, kind of half of one and half the other.  In the end, our “cowardly” hero has no other choice but to fight, and so he does.  And his fighting brothers find a local goal they can still achieve today with their old-fashioned skills of physical strength, winning the boat race.

But a bunch of other stuff happens too, and before I get into that, SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER

Kunchacko runs a tourism business out of his houseboat.  His business supports not only his family, but a bunch of other locals, from the cook he hired to the local girl who greets the visitors with garlands, to the local internet cafe.  He isn’t just a trickster, he hustles hard and really wants his guests to have a good time, whatever they want.

To entertain his guests, he hears about Namitha, a local girl with advanced dance training who is waiting for a Visa to send her abroad to teach dance in Dubai.  While she waits, she is willing to dance for his guests, but only if he pays her and her mother comes to chaperon.  She drives a hard bargain and actually manages to get the best of him.  And, I think, it is her smart mouth and self-confidence that attract him as much as her beauty and her dancing.  Just like in Law Point!

It’s also another interesting change with the times message.  Here is a classically trained dancer who in the past might have been in a temple, or had a wealthy patron, or even taught in a school in Kerala.  But now she is dancing for tourists, and waiting for a Visa to send her to abroad to teach.  Only, there is no shame in the dancing for tourists.  It is never treated as an insult to her dancing abilities, or something shameful.  She is well-payed for it, her audience enjoys her and treats her with respect, why not?

At the same time that Kunchacko is falling in love with Namitha, he gets in trouble with a local rival when he tips the police off that he is in his houseboat with his mistress.  His rival becomes his enemy, constantly sending goons after him.  And, of course, our hero’s older brothers are useless in the one situation when their fighting abilities might be appreciated.  It all comes to a head when Namitha has to dance without her mother as chaperone for the first time, since her mother is in the hospital.  Kunchacko takes her back, they are caught by the goons, and he fights long enough for her to get away.  Naturally, this makes her like him.  Well, like him more, the fact that she was willing to go dance while her mother was in the hospital says, to me, that she already liked him.

And I think it is sometime around here when she finds out that the performance he was arranging was for a group of visitors who were important to the town, and he was making no profit on it.  Again, such an interesting statement on the new economy!  Back in the day, the noble thing he would be doing for the village would be fighting off bandits, or building a better irrigation canal, or finding a faster route to bring their rice to market.  But today, the same noble spirit of community service is going to creating a wonderful tourist experience for visiting VIPs.  But Namitha doesn’t see the details, she just sees the sacrifice and hard work for the good of the community, and again it makes her fall for him.

And this is where the dance thing starts to change.  She no longer wants to just dance for money, she feels a certain loyalty to Kunchacko, and when his rival tries to hire her away, she calls him and works behind her mother’s back to make sure she only works for Kunchacko.  Part of it is just regularly loyalty, I think, that he is a nice guy and she wants him to have the advantage of her exclusive abilities.  But it also feels like there is a slight touch of the old school concern with only dancing for love or God, and not wanting to do it “just” for money.

And, love song!  It comes kind of fast and kind of slow at the same time.  He has been standing back and starring at her for ages, but then the move from “we kind of like each other” to “we’re singing love songs on a boat” is really fast!  But, I can still buy it, because they kind of had an unspoken thing going all along.  And what I really love is how the song ends, they are all in their own little world, and suddenly a bunch of other boats show up and everyone is yelling and making fun of them, because they weren’t in their own little world, they just felt like it.  I also really love the visual of all the boats suddenly showing up.

But then police show up at the houseboat, where I guess she is because she is pretending to perform for him so her mother won’t make her perform for the other guy.  But they are alone on the houseboat, so it looks bad, and the police arrest them.  And then on the police boat, the realize the evil rival paid off the cops and they are definitely going to have a case filed against them and their reputations ruined.  So Namitha jumps off the side and swims away!  She is so cool.  And then Kunchacko follows her, and they spend the night together on an island.  Which, in another movie, would be cause for a huge scandal, or else would never be mentioned again (Kaho Naa Pyar Hai, Yaadein.  Boy, never get on a boat with Hrithik!  You WILL end up spending the night with him on an island).  But in this movie, it is kind of down the middle.  She isn’t exactly ruined, she still has that job in Dubai, but her mother is worried.  And Kunchacko is worried about marrying her ASAP.

Which is what finally inspires him to “fix” his brothers.  This is one of those times when I think we are supposed to see that he isn’t just one thing or the other, but someone who can adapt to the needs of the situation.  He never really had a big reason to “fix” the brothers before, so he never did.  But now that it is urgent, now that he needs to get them married and settled before he can bring his own bride home, he immediately puts a plan in place.

It starts off with a touch of fate.  One of the brothers has an attack which turns out to be nothing, but Kunchacko convinces the doctor to tell them it was a heart attack and he will die if he doesn’t stop drinking.  Without alcohol, the oldest brother is able to appreciate the local girl he saw earlier and refused to marry, and their marriage is set.  Once they are married, the follow and trap the next oldest into marrying his long-time lover.  And finally, the youngest, is married to the girl next door who has loved him for a long time and vice-versa when they lie to her parents that she is already pregnant.

And the marriage solve everything!  First, because all 3 wives follow Kunchacko’s suggestion and make their husband’s swear on them that they will give up fighting before they agree to consummate the marriage.  But there is also a general personality change, in a way I find believable, it’s not just a “love of a good woman will save him” kind of thing, because these aren’t necessarily “good woman”, but that they finally have an interest and responsibility in life beyond fighting and drinking.  And once they are primed for a new interest, Kunchacko finds one for them with the local boat race team.

Only, since they are now so “respectable”, that means at the end when the evil rival destroys their boat for the race, prevents Namitha from traveling abroad, and as a result drives her mother to a final heart attack and death, it is left to Kunchacko to fight him for the honor of his family and the community.  This is what I find so very very interesting! He was a coward in his first fight, he took the blows and ran away.  When he was with Namitha, he fought just hard enough to help her get away.  But now, with the whole community counting on him, and the woman he loves needing revenge, he has no problem standing up and fighting for himself.