I’m really choosy when it comes to the movies I watch or the books I read. They get stuck in my mind for a long time and influence my thinking to an extent. So I try to be really careful before choosing a movie/ book or even new songs. Many a time I end up re-watching or re-reading the movies and the books I love.
How do I choose the movies or books? To be honest, I can’t really predict if a book’s going to be good because I’ve not read many books, so, my data is often not enough to make a good prediction. I ask people to suggest me good ones. But movies and songs, I can predict. I have a set of actors, directors, singers, music directors whose work I really love and always look forward to.
Why did I want to watch Koode?
When I watched ‘Bangalore Days’ (a Malayalam movie) for the first time, I could not get over the movie for a long time. The music, the characters, the songs, the dialogues- everything kept running in the back of my mind. I love the story and the portrayal of the relationships in the movie. I watched it several times later that I’ve lost the count.
I saw Nazriya in a music album’s song ‘Nenjodu Cherthu‘ (also the first Malayalam song I heard in my life) prior to this film and I cannot tell you how much I love her or how amazing she is. Such a bubbly, cute and natural actress she is.
Parvathy had an important role in the movie and I found her really fascinating. She sports a pixie cut kinda look in the film which I wanted for me, too. 😛
That’s the movie that introduced me to Anjali Menon, the director. I love the movie for all the reasons I mentioned above and she directed it, need I say more about her? Oh, I should. I request you to watch the film.
Also, that’s the first movie I watched of Dulquer. And I fell in love with him. I watched almost all of his movies after that. One of my absolute favorites among them is ‘Ustad Hotel’. I love it. I mentioned this movie also because I found a person in the film so good. He is part of a music band in the film and has just a dialogue to say. But he has a peculiar accent and that caught my attention. He was not an easy find back then because there was no Wikipedia page about him. I got to know his name with difficulty and that was it. I followed him on Facebook and Instagram and that is when I got to know how talented he is. He has an eye for little but amazing things and portrays even the ordinary extraordinarily. Such a phenomenal photographer he is. He is Littil Swayamp. The cinematographer of this film.
The music director of the film, Raghu Dixit, is an independent musician and also a renowned playback singer and a composer. He has a peculiar voice which is totally amazing. Koode is his debut Malayalam film.
Anjali Menon directed the film. Littil Swayamp is the cinematographer. Nazriya’s come-back film after her marriage. Raghu Dixit is the music director. Given that the people whose work I find amazing and absolutely love, worked together on a film, I couldn’t contain my excitement to watch the film.
It released a week later in non-Kerala states and by that time the reviews thronged the net. I consciously avoided reading them until I watched the film.
I won’t write anything about the story of the movie because I’m against spoilers. Also, for me a movie is more than just the story. It’s an experience. And I must say that after a long time, I’ve really experienced a cinema.
The movie begins with a loooong list of credits. Then with the music. A music that will instantly teleport you to the place and set the mood of the film. It’s ethereal. The cinematography: just wow. The locations, the angles, the mist, the rain, the dew, the greens and the browns, the smiles and the tears, and love- everything is captured so beautifully, it’s a feast to the eyes and heart. The movie is set in a village backdrop so there are not many characters. The story also revolves around just two people- a brother and a sister. It’s a normal story which is portrayed beautifully. There is nothing extravagant about anything in the film. The movie is all about the subtlety of relations. The dialogues are natural day-to-day conversations. But they are so sweet. They just intensified my desire to learn Malayalam. The songs are astounding. I’ve been playing each and every song on loop ever since I heard them. Be it Minnaminni or Paranne or Aarorum or Vaanaville, every single song is beautiful. They make your heart weep out of ecstasy. The song that gets played during the end credits (Minnaminni) would not let you leave the cinema hall. The music haunts you. The singer’s voice too. Abhay Jodhpurkar– you are amazing! The screenplay is extraordinary. You get the feel of reading a book. You are taken into the lives of the ones in the film and are made to travel along with them- smile, laugh, weep, cry, get annoyed, get surprised- all along with the characters of the film.
All the actors were extraordinary. Especially, Prithviraj Sukumaran. He did not even require dialogues to convey the feeling or the meaning of the scene, his eyes were enough. Such an amazing actor he is. The boy who played the younger version of Prithviraj acted so well. He was so natural. Nazriya is amazing as usual. She is too cute and beautiful. She sets a cheerful mood in every frame unless it’s an emotional scene, of course. Parvathy is natural and does justice to her role. Ranjith Balakrishnan who plays the father’s role and Atul Kulkarni require special mention as well. Siddharth Menon, a playback singer, Roshan Mathew, Darshana Rajendran- college friends of a lead role deserve praise too. Each and every actor-small and big, acted pretty well. They made the movie come out so naturally that you don’t feel as if you are watching a film. You live it. That is what I call experiencing a cinema. This experience was so good that I wanted to share it with everyone.
Do watch the film and let me know how you felt.
Sumeraki 