Category – Movie Review
Review of the Malayalam Feature Film Sara's
Feature Film released exclusively on Amazon Prime on the 5th of July 2021
Review written and edited by Dr. Anoop Prathapan on the 6th of July 2021
Movie Running Time 119.28 minutes
Jude Anthany Joseph’s third directorial turns out to be a satisfactory one-time-watch where the lead protagonist, a woman named Sara Vincent pursues her dream of becoming a filmmaker struggling with the societal pressures of parenthood. The basic story is a modest one which could be narrated in less than a couple of minutes, but the highlight is that the one, penned by Dr. Akshay Harish was lucky enough to have been singled out from among a thousand which stormed in after the director’s Facebook appeal for stories during the early lockdown last year.
The movie portrays the typical Keralite societal push for parenthood, as early as possible after the couple enters wedlock. The society does not (normally) wait for the couple to be emotionally or financially ready to be parents and then take up the tremendous responsibility. The movie is sure to kick-start a few debates on when a couple should decide to be parents. In one of the scenes, the gynecologist, played by Siddique, advises the lead couple - “better not be a parent than be a bad parent”.
It is anyhow surprising that Malayalam filmdom, which once denigrated women who did not wish to mother a child, has come a long way up to making movies with such a modern thought-process. However, Sara is portrayed as fighting cultural pre-sets with a supportive father and a stable financial background. That might not be the circumstances around every woman on our premises. The senior lady actor whom Sara pursues to enact an important role in her film also had a non-supportive husband as is portrayed subtly. Similar were the circumstances of Lissy (played by Srinda) who had no guts to tell her husband that she cannot deliver anymore. Ultimately, it is the support from the family and a stable background that will let a woman pursue any dream, especially one that seems culturally out-of-the-box as developing into a filmmaker.
Anna Ben puts in a commendable performance as the protagonist in her fourth outing as an actor in a leading role– much as expected out of her when she was roped in to play Sara. It was quite surprising to see her own dad as her dad on screen. Ace screenwriter of Malayalam Cinema, Benny P. Nayaralambalam who created my all-time favourite movie character - Mallayya - in the 2009 Shafi movie "Chattambinaadu" - puts in a respectable performance as her dad. Sunny Wayne has tried to the best of his potential to behave as cheerful as he can, playing her husband. Veteran actor Mallika Sukumaran played her part to perfection, but, she was made to mouth a few ever repetitive and predictable dialogues by mothers in Malayalam cinema, that stood out like a fly in the ointment. It must have been a cinch for veteran actor Siddique to play the Gynaecologist to perfection.
Almost all the supporting cast were good. Songs by Shan Rahman disappoint yet another time, and the two songs are easily forgettable. Vineeth Srinivasan played a cameo in the film as himself singing one of those two mishaps.
The technical side did not appear to have many flaws – the cinematography looked appropriate for the setting, re-recording was okay and so was the editing of the less-than-120-minute family drama which did not lag at any stage. Subtitles, even though slightly overboard in some scenes, were good considering the entire movie.
It is high time that Malayalam cinema serves an actual cup of tea to actors in a scene where they are shown as drinking tea, rather than just empty cups.
Overall, a good one-time watch
My Rating 6.5/10
© 2021, Dr. Anoop Prathapan
anoop.prathapan@gmail.com
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