Spoilers ahead…
Read the full review on Film Companion, here: http://www.filmcompanion.in/hey-jude-nivin-pauly-movie-review/
Jude (Nivin Pauly) is in Goa. A great-aunt has died, and his Kochi-based family – father Dominic (Siddique), mother Maria (Neena Kurup) – have come to pay their last respects. Endings sometimes lead to new beginnings, and Jude meets Crystal (Trisha Krishnan, in one of her most disarming performances). They do what high-wattage movie stars do: first, they fight; then, they become friends; and then, we get this scene on the beach, with Louis Armstrong’s What a Wonderful World mingling with the midnight air. The halting interplay between the characters (and the actors) is beautiful, and Jude tells Crystal he likes her. She replies, with a smile, “Do you like me or… love me?” This is exactly the kind of dreamy, romantic scene the posters have primed us for. Only, Hey Jude is not a romance.
The director, Shyamaprasad, has called the film a rom-com – but it isn’t that either. Hey Jude is one of those movies where a buttoned-up nerd, with very particular habits and interests, begins to loosen up under the influence of a free spirit. (And I mean this literally, for it isn’t until the final scenes that Jude stops fastening the topmost buttons on his shirts.) And yet… it isn’t quite that kind of movie either. For a while, Crystal does come across like a manic pixie put on this earth for the sole purpose of unbuttoning Jude. (We first meet her as she’s strumming a guitar and singing You fill up my senses beside her mother’s grave.) But it turns out, she isn’t that sorted after all.
Continued at the link above.
Copyright ©2018 Film Companion.
Baradwaj Rangan 
Anu Warrier
February 3, 2018
Why is it that I can never warm to Nivin Pauly? 😦
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Vivek narain
February 3, 2018
Whaddya mean by rom-com, de guy shyamaprasad is nuts, calling a rum dum, a rom-com is height of duplicity. I’m tellin’ ya….
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Rahul
February 4, 2018
“This is someone testing the boundaries of the mainstream and succeeding more often than not.” -agreed. Though his last film Richie was a bit frustrating for his fans . I just hoped it would be a little bit more mainstream.
Some actors , like Nivin Pauly and Paravathy in particular take special care about how they look in a given movie. For example, someone who has only seen Parvathy in Maryan may not even recognize her in Banglore days. Is this the directors vision only? I think it is probably more down to these actors themselves.
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Naveen
February 5, 2018
@Anu, didnt you like him in Om Shanthi Oshana, 1983, Thattathin Marayathu etc ?
i liked this movie very much. To take a sensitive, uncommon subject and to deal with it sincerely without drifting off, backed up by amazing music and performance is something the Malaylam Film industry sets bench mark in
i was literally transported to the Goan beach ( Calangute ? ) and churches. the film is filled with good music. the musically inclined folks will find more nuisances and references in the music.
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Anu Warrier
February 5, 2018
@Naveen – I must be a philistine – the only film I liked him in was 1983.
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Vivek narain
February 5, 2018
And i imagine myself on the beaches of Acapulco, reclining on the sands with a bottle of Tequila, lost in the thoughts of Juana, dreaming of Saint teasing a rhino instead of a bull to settle a silly bet.
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Vidya Ramesh
February 6, 2018
I want to watch this one. I saw premam recently and thought it was slightly overrated. I guess I like nivin Pauly but not necessarily in all his movies. Loved him in njandugalude nattil oridavela.
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Purple Sky
May 7, 2018
I finally got to watch this movie and I was mostly impatient (don’t know whether my husband’s impatience to the movie also rubbed off on me). But atleast manic pixie has a name here – manic depressive (alias bipolar)… One thing I appreciated about it is, atleast they didn’t show that he is “cured” but just that he has made certain alterations, unlike north 24 kaatham, where an OCD person is shown as “almost cured” of his eccentricities at the end of the movie. I found Siddique character and the sister annoying and found myself bristling every time someone was rude to Jude (came with the flow 😁). Probably my impatience towards the film was that, as soon as he was introduced I realised this is autism and I couldn’t buy into the plot line that in this day and age, nobody has been able to diagnose this condition before.
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