Spoilers ahead…
The filmmaking is solid, but the writing does not match up. The excessive focus on the protagonist leaves the other characters stranded.
In an early scene in Ratheena’s Puzhu, a young boy reads aloud pages from a textbook. These pages are about the “toilet-cleaning community” and how Gandhiji opposed this. Many decades later, little seems to have changed. Some people from these communities may not be actually cleaning toilets anymore, but in the minds of the dominant castes, they might as well be. Mammootty’s sister, Parvathy, has married one such man and Mammootty’s every body cell screams in disgust that his Brahmin house, his Brahmin family, has been polluted by a “toilet-cleaner”. Can you see body cells scream on screen? This great, great actor proves that you can. Internalised emotion is the most difficult to externalise in front of a camera, and Mammootty does this consistently in this film, and extraordinarily. His eyes, his clenched jaw, his posture – everything recoils from the “pollution” his sister brought into the family.
You can read the rest of the review here:
https://www.galatta.com/malayalam/movie/review/puzhu/
And you can watch the video review here:
Copyright ©2022 GALATTA.
Baradwaj Rangan 
Rajesh
May 19, 2022
I am sorry, for any spoilers.
Kuttappan, the brother in law, is not just any oppressed caste who has married a girl from oppressor caste.. He is actually kind of an activist and he has seen it all.. Nothing Kuttan speaks or does in front of him or to him shocks or surprise him. And through Kuttappan his wife too is facing first hand the experiences of a dalit, the early scenes in the movie), she is kind of having a living experience of being an oppressed. So I guess nothing shocks or surprises her anymore nor does she expects any considerable change from her brother. I guess, this is good enough reason for me as to why Kuttappan and his wife behave the way they are.. so may I disagree with your final comments about these 2 characters
Puzhu is highly highly political. Look at the violent action of Kuttan towards Kuttappan at the end.. Notice that it happens when Kuttappan says he wish to name their girl – NANGELI.. This alone substantiate the politics of this movie. Nangeli was an oppressed girl from Cherthala,about 30 kms south of Kochi . The King imposed a tax on any oppressed woman, who dared to cover her breasts, called MULAKKARAM.. When they approached Nangeli for this tax, she cut off her breasts.. Nangeli is now a huge huge icon for dalit activists and most feminists in Kerala who do not support Brahmnism.. It is a brilliant moment in the movie that Mammooty gets violent at the mention of Nangeli.. I know of many Brahmins and Nairs around me for whom the mention of Nangeli is quite irritating.
So for me, I find the ending more than fine.. May be may be, they could have made it a bit longer by another 3-4 minutes..
I dont know why you say this is the first caste film from India? even after movies like Pariyerum Perumal, Manusangadha, Jai Bhim, Court and so on??
For me, it is definitely the first full fledged caste politics movie from Main stream Malayalam, a clear sign of getting inspired by Tamil cinema may be. After support for aboriginals with Pada , now this.. I feel so happy.. Never thought Malayalam would do this.
Finally, yes I feel so happy and lucky to have seen nearly the full career of Mammookka. What an actor and a person too.. Thaniyavarthanam, Mrigaya, Amaram, Vidheyan, Ambedkar, Bhoothakannady, Paleri Manikyam, Munnariyippu, Peranpu and now Puzhu.. and so on.. dont know of any other Indian actor, who has completely transformed into the character, with no shades of the real life actor persona, in so many roles, with such a variety too..
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Alex John
May 19, 2022
In contrast with this review, Mammootty’s role in this film is considered downright negative in Kerala, especially in the political circles. My eyebrow literally raised when I read BR write he is the victim. May be this is an instance of cognitive conditioning where my brain is tuned to believe what I constantly hear, but I don’t see a victim when I look at this character. Amazing performance from the actor though.
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Rohit Sathish Nair
May 19, 2022
You know for someone whose comic performances are rather under-discussed (not just something like a “Shylock” or an “Annan Thambi”, but even something like a “Kottayam Kunjachan”), his performances in those movies feel a lot more (for lack of a more apt word) “transparent” than ones like his in “Puzhu”, where at his lowest we even see him doing “stock Mammootty things” like clenching his teeth and wincing in pain
(“Stock” might sound dismissive when considering his abilities and body of work, but somehow the public’s ‘collective memory’ does see some tics of his as closer to his actual persona – for example, him acting all high-strung and disinterested in that “Thuthuruthumbi” music video)
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brangan
May 19, 2022
Alex John: I said, “At least, he considers himself a victim”. I did not say he is the victim.
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brangan
May 19, 2022
Rajesh: I dont know why you say this is the first caste film from India?
I did not say that. I said, “This may be the first film about caste in India, where a man from a dominant caste is depicted as a victim. At least, he considers himself a victim…” All the films you mention are from the POV of the oppressed.
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Ranjan
May 20, 2022
Nangeli was a totally fabricated imaginary story cooked up by few evil minded vested interests in 20th century. The story has already been absolutely debunked by authoritative historians. This imaginary incident is supposed to have happened in early 19th century Kerala. But till about late 19th century in Kerala, even the highest caste women (Brahmins, Namboodiris, etc) including the royal queens themselves were not used to covering their upper body parts (including breasts, ofcourse). Only later due to increasing influence of Victorian morality did it become a matter of shame to expose female upper body.
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Anon
May 20, 2022
Its good to have more movies explore the realities of caste. But I’d be more supportive if it came from Dalit filmmakers who can add more earnestness to it, where we can empathize with their worldview and intentions. This movie is from a Muslim filmmaker and Muslim writers, so it is very fishy that they are more keen on throwing light on problems in other communities, when their own religion has a veritable closet full of worse horrors. Living in glass houses and stone-pelting at others and such.
Come at me all you like for bringing in the communal angle and stuff that too in secular utopia Kerala, but we can’t be naive enough to look past it. I mean, one could have the same story, but with the brother and sister being Muslims, and the sister having married a Hindu boy. But then, that would be a short film, since the kafir boy would have been murdered brutally in the prologue flashback itself. And the film would be dismissed as Islamophobic, especially if made by non-Muslims.
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MANK
May 20, 2022
Glad to see Mammooka (at the age of 70) still rocking as an actor. it’s also a great thing that he’s not averse to taking risks by working on these small, indie movies with new directors; of course, he has always done that throughout his career, and continued to grow as an actor despite facing several ups and downs in his career
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KayKay
May 20, 2022
“it’s also a great thing that he’s not averse to taking risks by working on these small, indie movies with new directors;”
Agree Brother MANK!
Now…if only, at this stage in their careers, Mammooty can resist the temptation of dumping crap like Shylock and Lal, train wrecks like Aarattu on the audience.
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Rishikesh
May 22, 2022
Let’s not be soft on these films just because it is trying to draw attention to important things. The screenplay was wayward too damn wayward. No focus whatsoever. Even the portions depicting toxic parenting don’t come out convincingly. A very much draining film. Would have worked more if the focus had squarely been on a casteist police officer’s sense of paranoia. Appreciate Mammoottt for taking up the role, but there is nothing else to write home about.
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vijay
September 25, 2023
Watched this and was disappointed at the end..I dont watch too many mallu films anyway but where is this film placed amongst Mammooty’s recent films as per critics? was it rated highly? The screenplay felt repetetive showing the almost Groundhog-day like routine of father and son doing the same things and the victimhood feeling that was hinted as being entirely conjured up inside Mammooty’s head is suddenly sort of vindicated at the end with a needless character and his revenge. Props to Mammooty though for doing this kind of audience-unfriendly role. Parvathy was wasted in this.
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mvky
September 25, 2023
This film was ok upto a point. Father son equation had shades of Udaan. The cool presence of the sister and her husband made the otherwise dull film better. Unfortunately the brother did not suffer much in the end while he gave pain to everyone and also must have given trouble to his wife. The caste angle did not make any difference as this story is about a control freak and a paranoid person who did not spare his own son and his own mother. What if he himself tried all those things against himself and tried to blame others? That angle could have been explored.
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