Attention Please

It's political, it's realistic, it's entertaining, and thought-provoking. It's one of those films that prove content is king. This movie keeps the audience engaged throughout. After the inciting incident, the story takes the route of a thriller. And it thrills a lot.

The performance of Vishnu Govindan is one of the best in Malayalam cinema in recent times. I'm sure he will receive lots of acclaim once the movie gets released on Netflix.

This setting of the movie is so realistic to how Indian twenty-somethings live in bachelor homes. One of the best things about Attention Please is that it starts with a very normal setting and progresses to narrate a brilliant thriller.

Another strong point is the dialogue. I'm not sure whether it's improvised or pre-written. It finds the perfect balance between being realistic and dramatic at the same time.

In my opinion, there should be more independent movies like Attention Please which can hold an audience engaged throughout. It's good for cinema.

I also like the fact that the caste commentry rarely becomes preachy in this film. The upper caste are portrayed in a realistic way where the caste notions are buried within them two layers under their psyche.

Indie experiments have always shaken up the status quo in Malayalam, be it Lijo Jose Pellissery's "Angamaly Diaries (2017)" or more recently, Senna Hegde's "Thinkalazcha Nischayam (2021)" and Krishand's "Avasa Vyooham (2022)". After having impressed all with his devastating short titled "Pra. Thoo. Mu" in the anthology "Freedom Fight (2022)", director Jithin Issac Thomas delivers a stunningly original atmospheric thriller in "Attention Please", which is easily one of the most eye-catching experimental Malayalam films of 2022.

Vishnu Govindhan stars as "Hari", a disgruntled, down-on-his-luck aspiring screenwriter whose twisted scripts are never taken seriously by his flatmates, played by Jithin and Anand Manmadhan. One fine evening, when the friends set out to enjoy a night of drinks, Hari starts narrating his most ingenious script so far, only for things to take a gruesome turn as the ensuing arguments amongst the gang reach a breaking point. The director builds up the tension with consummate ease, immersing the audience into the predicaments of our lead character and making us empathize with his sensibilities and insecurities.

Vishnu Govindhan is devastating as the bitter, under-appreciated writer and instantly hooks you into his engaging way of narrating tales and his expressive eyes give a hypnotic effect to proceedings. The entire supporting cast play their part in matching their talented lead, with Anand Manmadhan standing out with his prickly, irascible mannerisms and body language. The moody atmosphere built up by the director and the unexpected twists hold your attention for the entire crisply edited run time of just under two hours.

"Attention Please" is a terrifically enacted, painstakingly built psychological thriller that provided much-needed innovation to the genre that has been plagued by boilerplate projects off late in Malayalam like "Heaven (2022)" and "John Luther (2022)". Vishnu Govindhan has proved himself to be a bankable character actor and one wishes that he gets meatier roles in mainstream projects going forward. "Attention Please" is now streaming on Netflix and is a definite must-watch!

There's a lot of unfiltered energy in Attention Please, a social thriller which takes place entirely in an apartment and adjoining terrace where five cinema-loving bachelors live while trying to make ends meet doing menial jobs. One of them is an aspiring and luckless screenwriter (Vishnu Govind) who one evening decides to narrate few of his original stories to his mates so that they can finally see his talent (which they claim does not exist through their frequent jibes). Things take a wild turn as the evening passes, thereby highlighting an array of social causes prevalent in modern-day Kerala and elsewhere in India. Attention Please thus uses an ordinary setting to throw arrows at you and show how systemic caste prejudice and politics are. And yet some of us do not realize it. A very good and arresting watch. Grade B.

(Watched at the 25th International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK).)

You have to be a little patient to appreciate this film because it's presented in an unorthodox manner. There are only 6 characters and the entire narrative is situated in a house over the course of a few hours; the movie heavily relies on sound effects in order to vivify Hari's stories

THE SET: The majority of the scenes take place at the terrace during nighttime when we could barely see faces due to the electricity going on and off. At first, it was a bit distracting as we wanted to clearly see facial expressions but then we came to understand that the dark setting changed into a court area where attention was directed on Hari (rather than his friends) acting like a judge who spotlighted the rights and wrongs of society and tried people's conduct

ACTING: The entire cast truly crowned the movie with a formidable performance. Vishnu Govindhan took charge as the captain of the ship carrying us along the narrative. Hari was passionate about his work, yet also creepy, pitiful, and entertaining. We loved Anand Manmadhan, he was the man of the day 😊

TAKEAWAY LESSON: Hari's stories were uniquely bizarre inspired by the world around; but to his friends, the tales appeared copied making it an excuse to taunt him. If we can defend Hari for a moment, all scriptwriters draw inspiration from their surroundings, thus, there'll always be a little similarity to other stories. That being said, Hari had his share of responsibility; yes, you're a cinephile but concurrently, find a job to support and respect yourself

SIDE NOTE: The cinematography in the living room and kitchen locations was quite torturing with the great number of still shots. We wanted to see so much but the camera was withholding a lot of details.

Jithin Thomas penned a terrific screenplay again after Freedom Fight and with a whole new plot that mollywoood has never tested. At many junctures I could feel Darren Arnofosky touch but in a totally good way. The storyline is lit. It underscores a lot of social issues. Well I have never been convinced and never wanted to watch Gishnu Govindhan because of his uncinematic looks and acting, but he just storms the audience with the exact same traits. Excellent script, story telling, scene development, no over the top scores or unnecessary camera show offs, perfect casting are the take aways.......