Papanasam

Edge of seat thriller! Super realistic film with awesome plot twist and eye catching scenery!

The title represents a small town where the story takes place. An opportunity to see the old Kamal Haasan. It was like been ages, seen him in this kind of attire, especially Tirunelveli accent was phenomenal. As usual, his performance and expressions stole the show and none others were matched his par in the movie. Nothing wrong to call it was his show. Kind of addicted to 'Yeya En Kottikkaara' song. A typical Tamil song, if you are, you might feel the deep.

It was a remake of the Malayalam movie 'Drishyam', which was inspired by the Japanese novel 'The Devotion of Suspect X'. I have not seen the original movie, but seen the Japanese version based on the same book. There are no major comparisons, except the crime, the rest was completely rewritten to suit the Indian audience. But the writer denies, by saying neither book adaptation nor inspired.

I have heard that the narration was very emotional and the characters were more guilt feel than the Malayalam. Initially Rajnikath was considered for the main role, but happy it went to Kamal Haasan. None other than him would have suited better to portray Suyambulingam. He would definitely bring the emotions out of you easily. After Sivaji, he's the king of those roles. At the plenty of the scenes I was amazed by his execution, especially in the end scene when he finally breakdown with guilt.

I don't believe when people say the original version is a must watch. Every film industry in India has fine actors, especially this film recruited their best as of I have heard. So I recommend your native version or the closest one to opt. The advantage in the remakes are, a chance to fix if there were any flaws in the original. Since it was directed by the same filmmaker, I strongly suggest the neural audience to pick between the original and this one, because of the naturalistic portrayal of the rural family. But if you prefer stylish, especially for the non- Indian, there's always Bollywood.

9/10

Chill thrilling experience. Waiting for Papanasam2.

Beginning on a serious note, I really feel sorry looking at the way our Indian regional cinema is ignored by the Hindi film viewing audience, considering it always something loud, over the top and action based fast moving drama to be eluded. In fact it really makes you feel the pain finding a film like DRISHYAM (Malayalam) not reaching a wider audience all over the country despite being capable of redefining 'Indian Cinema' breaking all the preset notions and assumptions about regional movies.

Anyway moving ahead of the film's original concept and its similarities with a foreign flick here are my honest views about the worthy, must watch remake given below.

Directed by Jeethu Joseph himself (the man behind DRISHYAM), PAPANASAM is a very loyal remake of its original since it even follows the lengthy first half as it is, that was pointed out to be 'a drawback' by many viewers and critics together. But looking at these initial 40 minutes of the film from a different viewpoint, it does help in building a solid base of individual friendships, rivalry and family-bonding having their own interconnected importance in the later crucial part of the film as required.

The biggest attraction of PAPANASAM (literally meaning 'Destruction of Sins') remains Kamal Hassan returning to his much adored portrayal of a simple, common man that was missing in most of his recent films featuring all 'heroic' or 'larger-than-life' characters away from reality. So here we have a loved maestro (Kamal) carrying the bright torch lit by another hugely respected maestro (Mohanlal) with the same dedication, sincerity and perfection that deserves to be experienced as a must.

Plus PAPANASAM also has Gauthami reappearing on screen after many years, once again proving her immense talent in the tough role superbly. In fact it was great watching them together as a couple making me recall those lighter days of APPU RAJA and many more. Just like the original the entire supporting cast here is again well chosen (a few retained from the original), contributing hugely in the overall impact of the film with many key sequences bringing you onto the edge of your seats repeatedly. Having a longer duration (3 hours) than the Malayalam film, PAPANASAM has a couple of catchy tracks and a powerful background score that successfully takes the film to the next level undoubtedly. And one of the major highlights of the film is its climax conversation scene between Ananth Mahadevan (better than the original) and Kamal Hassan that forces you to join your hands together praising their commendable job wholeheartedly.

No doubt, comparison between the two veterans is bound to become a matter of debate within film institutions & keen students of cinema in the coming months or years. But ideally instead of comparison, one should focus on the different approaches followed by the two in their individual portrayals on screen deserving a huge applause.

To give you the exact gist, where Mohanlal's solid act in DRISHYAM stressed more on intelligence, confidence, patience and ruthless expressions in his interpretation of a concerned father, there Kamal Hassan in PAPANASAM keeps emotions in front and stays an intelligent emotional father right till the finale sequence crying in front of Ananth Mahadevan. And this major difference in their respective visions can be studied in the police torture scene & the climax in particular, dealt distinctively.

However in my personal opinion since a super composed, intelligent and less emotional personality remains more close to the 'thinking' character of the father hiding the unintentional crime, therefore Mohanlal and his DRISHYAM stays 'one step ahead' venture for me putting it honestly. But at the same time that doesn't allow me to rate PAPANASAM any lower deserving an equal praise, successfully giving you the same pulsating, unpredictable, emotional and mind boggling experience in the theatre that needs to be cherished at the earliest without any slightest of doubt. Moreover it also becomes a must watch for the younger generation in particular since it raises a valid question on the use of all new age gadgets that can become both a boon as well as a curse if used with wrong intentions following an evil mind.

Coming back to the subject of regional films, if after reading and listening such strong positive views about the exceptional content of Malayalam DRISHYAM and now the Tamil PAPANASAM all over the media, if you still haven't seen any of these films due to some of your own (silly) language reservations………. then that's like a crime committed will-fully by a supposedly true lover of great cinema if I must say that.

Amir Khan once said about Kamal Haasan, "There are some things he can do that others can but there are many things Kamal can do that no other actor can." Once again, this film stands as a testament, particularly in witnessing that this same film is being remade in several Indian languages, showcasing the talents of several lead actors, since its conception as the Malayalam film; Drishyam, with Mohanlal.

I've heard many people say that they are partial to the original malayalam version - perhaps because they saw it first? But there is another side to this story. A filmmaker rarely gets the chance to do the same film twice, and if he is still as passionate about the story the second or third time, each time he makes it, he perfects the telling just a little more... I often hear stories about writers/directors lamenting about how they would look back at their work and notice mistakes they made that they would love to do-over had they been given the chance.

With Papanasam, what I see is the director, Jeethu Joseph, having improved upon himself. Of all the versions of the film I have seen, the tamil film comes across by far the most subtle - and that is in particular due to Kamal Haasan's sensibilities and energy permeating and influencing the cast, I feel.

So, personally, yes, the tamil version is the best! I understand that people who are sentimental towards 'originals' might not agree, but I think if you were willing to be impartial and unbiased, it is difficult to miss the perfection of this film in the tamil version.

Great thrills in the second half - a real roller-coaster ride!