tomkariath-0

I am glad that I didn't know that Karnan was helmed by the director of Pariyerun Perumal. Looking back at the movie with that in mind, there suddenly arises certain shots that are similar in both movies. The use of animals as a metaphor for the character's emotion is also a common theme in both movies. The landscape and the unabashed portrayal of endangered cultures also seems to be Mari's signature.

I have always been a fan of Dhanush. I never had a proper reasoning as to why, but now I realize that it's because of the way he balances both meaningless masala flicks and outliers that tread a different path in his career. In all honesty he tends to repeat the angry young man formula again and again, so much so that if you interlace scenes from Asuran and Karnan, you may not realize it.

As a malayalee, it was a joy to see Lal and Rajisha Vijayan in full swing in this movie. Lal seemed to tune into his inner Prakash Raj for this role.

Karnan was a blow to my privileged lifestyle as much as Pariyerum Perumal. Interesting to see that Karnan was literally a Pariyerum Perumal.

Ironically, like all movies inspired from real life, the story is exaggerated and idealised into something far removed from real life.

The movie is the story about the story of Jacob, a wealthy businessman of high repute, being cheated by one of his most trusted dealers and thereby ending up in debt with his investors. Now its upto his son Jerry, who Jacob had been mentoring, and his wife to bring up his "ideal" family back to their previous status. I believe that if not for the direction of Vineeth and outstanding score by Shaan Rahman the movie might not have been as good as it is.

All the cast deliver apt performances. Ranji Panicker does what he does best, be the ideal cool father-figure that Malayalee youth expects their dads to be like. All other cast does what is asked of them. Nothing extraordinary from anyone, except maybe the mother whose attitude was a pleasant surprise. I was probably disappointed at the sister character having the least screen time, and contributes zero to the plot.

Rewatching the movie, especially right after watching "The Great Indian Kitchen", I noticed that Jacob's "ideal" family was a celebration of patriarchy. I had a major gripe at how Jerry is irritated and is protective when his sister is seen talking to group of boys while Jerry himself has a girlfriend and even youngest kid being always with girls is a funny gag around the family. I am not saying that every movies need to be progressive. This attitude is/was expected from a "reputed" family. But it suddenly became weird, when you start to notice that.