Pranaamam : Director Bharathan (10/22/86) When it comes to entertainment, very seasons would stand a match for the latter half of 1986. We will restrict this to cricket and cinema alone, conveniently waiving aside the Maradona-dominated World Cup in Mexico that made a complete mess of our sleep routines. By the time the Cup started, Kamal's Vikram had Madras alight.

Wimbledon and India's historic tour of England added to the strain on our eyeballs in the coming weeks. Mind you, we're not bringing into the picture, Jane Eyre or Ek Do Teen Char on DD, which were approaching their climactic stages in June.

The non-stop party continued for movie-goers, with Kadalora Kavithaigal and Samsaram Adhu Minsaram grabbing their share of the limelight in July. It was barely a month before Mouna Ragam and Oomai Vizhigal hit the screens for Independence Day. And even as our radios blared Raja's haunting hits, Australia arrived for a tour, duly welcomed by Mella Thirandhadhu Kadhavu, released a week before the Tied Test at Chennai. Hardly had the excitement over the Chepauk result died down, when PT Usha sizzled at Seoul wresting four golds! Surely that must have been a dream season for the pensioner Thathas who now had a plethora of news to talk about.

But meanwhile, quietly across the border, Pranaamam(directed by Bharathan) saw the light of day just before Diwali. The movie featured Mammooty, Suhasini, Nedumudi Venu, Asokan and a youthful Vineeth.

That the famed director made no other foray into Tamil apart from Devar Magan and Avarampoo(remake) is surprising. Anyway back to the movie, Suha is a journalist whose younger brother tripped on drugs and took his own life. For her news article on the prevalence of the habit, she clicks pictures of college youth having a dope party - temporarily, ignore the fact that a bunch of youngsters choose a public park in broad daylight of all places for their binge. The piece causes a sensation once it goes into print.



Left: Standard start for a mallu movie - doting dad and daughters :)



Heh, here we go again :-)) Oh Kerala!



Left: Suha is kidnapped by the chaps and held hostage when a suspended student was admitted in hospital after poisoning himself. Middle: Unable to find his daily dose, one of the lads slashes his wrist. Ultimately Suha bonds with her captors.



Mammooty plays the cop who heads Suha's search party. He knows the students of the college very well especially the notorious ones. The part where he enlightens the captors about the three methods used by cops to extract a confession is cleverly done. Suha resolves the issue and takes the lads and Mammooty home for Onam. The story ends with an unexpected twist - slight shade of Punnagai Mannan there!

Ousepachan has tuned three memorable songs which can be listened here. Overall I expected to see some good eye-candy but the movie seems to have been shot within the city with very few natural sights of God's own country. But all in all, the pace is steady, is not loud and is worth a second watch(if you can excuse the obvious annoyance in hearing words like criddicism, pope-ularity). Why it was given an A rating is completely baffling. Felt really nice to watch Mammooty as his natural self, the murderous pronunciation in Thalapathi and Kilipechu Ketkava having left a jarring effect on the ears.  ¶  22 comments