Spoilers ahead…
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Posted in: Cinema: Malayalam
Priyadarshan’s ‘Marakkar: Arabikadalinte Simham’ (Mohanlal, Manju Warrier) is a historical that needed far better writing
Posted on December 18, 2021
Baradwaj Rangan 
MANK
December 19, 2021
Not just better writing, but also better direction and better acting. Direction is pathetic, which is why nothing in the film engages the audience. All that political intrigue in Zamorin’s court, and all the conflicts with Portuguese, and Marakkar’s revenge, everything falls flat and fails to register with the impact they are intended. The staging and editing of these scenes are so colorless and lifeless. And i didn’t feel a thing when Kunjali Marakkar was decapitated at the end. The performances of the actors are also very inconsistent- for the period and from one another. While a few actors (like harish pisharody) gets into the theatrical mode of the film’s historical setting, priyan regulars like Mukesh, Innocent and so on acts like they are starring in a typical priyan comedy film. That’s the film’s real problem: Apart from the VFX and some of the production design, neither Priyan nor the actors did any ‘work’ required for a major project of this scale and ambition, and just winged it , as they do with their regular movies. All in all, even if Marakkar was the only film made in 2020 it didn’t deserve the national award. Then again, the national awards have long lost their value.
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Anu Warrier
December 19, 2021
@MANK – This won the National Award? Gosh, the NAs are really becoming a joke, aren’t they?
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KayKay
December 19, 2021
That’s quite unfortunate, brother MANK. Was actually looking forward to seeing this especially since it’s coming to OTT.
Funny, but 25 years ago I thought Priyan really nailed a historical epic with Kala Pani, which had the feel of an authentic milieu to it, not to mention well written characters. Except of course, the fact that while most of the cast looked like emaciated prisoners of war, Mohanlal and Prabhu looked liked they had a special buffet spread delivered to their cells daily.
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Satya
December 20, 2021
BR, did you feel that the film (and its making) were similar to Sye Raa Narasimha Reddy? Or am I just looking at a template that gave two similar films?
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MANK
December 20, 2021
Anu it did win the National award fro best picture for 2020. That was long before anybody else had seen it, as it was released only now, so they were saved from too much embarrassment.
Except of course, the fact that while most of the cast looked like emaciated prisoners of war, Mohanlal and Prabhu looked liked they had a special buffet spread delivered to their cells daily.
That’s funny KayKay. Prabhu and Mohanlal are here also, and at twice the size they were in kala Pani. It’s on OTT, so do give it a try. you will at least have fun comparing scenes with “Braveheart”, “Troy” etc.
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Thupparivaalan
December 20, 2021
Kaykay: your comment on Prabhu and Mohanlal had me spitting my coffee. Good one.
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krishikari
December 20, 2021
Sad to hear this film was not more interestingly made, as it should have been fascinating. Echoing with feeling: we need better writing!
When I was very young, I remember there was a trader/shopkeeper/friend of my father’s named Marrakar. Absolutely anything you wanted you could get from him, and this was in Munnar. The name Marrakar was a household term in my house in those days. I think that trader definitely had a family connection with this legendary Marrakar.
Currently I am reading Gun Island by Amitav Ghosh which is about a legendary Bengali merchant and his adventures. There was an angry goddess whose rained misfortunes on the merchant until he made her a shrine, and there are so many parallels with this Marrakar tale. There is apparently a shrine in TN as he was active on both Malabar and Coromandel coasts.
https://www.thehindu.com/society/history-and-culture/kunjali-maraikkayars-bold-adventurers/article26078569.ece
“…Serma Sundari’s narrative places the Kunjalis as rulers of nearby Kizhakkarai, and the battle as one between an angry God and the Kunjalis.”
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Vikram s
December 25, 2021
Hi BR, apologies for posting something unrelated.
Nobody gets Aanand L Rai like you do. Atrangi Re is out yesterday, as soon as I saw it I wanted to read your thoughts on it. A request from me to please please write about Atrangi Re. Thank you in advance
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Nithin
January 18, 2022
Priyadarsan has really taken a huge vertical fall in the standards of his movies from around 2000 onwards, much like most of other directors and actors in Malayalam cinema. During his best in 80s-90s he has hardly made a bad film, even if some of them may have been adapted from other language films or inspired from them.
Some truly brilliant commercial movies (and mostly original) like Adwaitham, Chitram, Kilukkam, Thenmavin Kombathu, Mithunam, Thalavattom, etc. Some evergreen epics like Kalapani. Many cult comedies like Minnaram, Chandralekha, Akkare Akkare, etc that have so much repeat value even today.
Even his misfires during that period like Megham (towards end of 90s) has a lot of fanbase today.
Maybe a bit hard to believe today, but during that period (late 80s to late 90s), he was comparable in capabilities to the likes of stalwarts like Maniratnam or RGV of other regional film industries of that era.
But from Kakkakuyil (2001) (which was a stupid movie) onwards, his fall was very obvious, from where there was no recovery.
He did show some spark in his previous mal movie Oppam released in 2016, which gave a bit of hope in Marakkar, but sadly it was not to be.
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