She packes the suitcase, carresses the white saree with love remembering that it was her saviour to ward off the alliances she was not interested in... the rain starts outside and she walks towards the window and sees the falling drops with love.. there was a serene peace in her face, smile and she was looking forward for the impending new life with her lover for close to 25 years. Ideally this scene would have given happiness to any viewer of a love story but for me it was the most pathetic, heart wrenching scene considering that as a viewer I know that her world is going to crumble in minutes. Especially when we have a solid performer like Parvathy enacting the role of the lover, our sadness just multifolds. This is in the climax of the malayalam blockbuster - Ennu Ninde Moideen
I had too much of expectations from this blockbuster which was based on the real life star crossed lovers Kanchana and Moideen from the Mukkom village in the Malabar distrcit of Kerala. The expectations were higher because of the hype over the performances by Parvathy and Prithviraj. The controversies involving the real life Kanchana and the film director R.S Vimal also made me curious about the movie. Yet I kept procrastinating watching this because of the tragic ending. As a policy I don't watch movies involving rape scenes or negative endings that cast aspersions on the positivity of lives. That's the reason why even Parvathy couldn't lure me watching this movie till now.
When I watched this movie, I felt it was a perfect "commercial" movie and had all the ingredients for the same. Leading protagonists from different religions, a silent lover forming the third angle of a love triangle, dramatic scenes involving the "hero - heroine" meeting and attempts of murders. Especially the scenes where Moideen tries to reach out to Kanchana through the dialogues of street drama and in the cinema hall. Had there been no word about the source of the movie, anybody would have written off the movie as yet another love story. But I was surprised that life is more interesting than fiction when I watched the documentary of Kanchana, directed by R.S Vimal - Jalam Kondu Murivettaval (Woman who was hurt by water). Most of the incidents were told by real life Kanchanamala herself.
The movie was quite cardboardish in the way of story telling and the characters were purely one-dimensional and if not for the sincere performance from the lead players, the movie would have fallen flat. There was a gimmick in the way the movie starts - Moideen's father surrenders himself to the police for killing his son. R.S Vimal had taken few cinematic liberties to show the parental tortures from Kanchana's side, which didn't go well with the real life Kanchana that she dissociated herself from the movie once released.
Prithviraj is at his elements.. earnest to play Moideen and it shows. But I personally feel that his performance is pretty much normal, which was limitted by the character as such. He ends up building a larger than life persona for the late Moideen. The football match sequence, the interval block fight and the climax where he drowns in the water after saving so many children somewhat gives an image that elevates him to a celluloid hero rather than a human being who lived years ago.
Parvathy saves the movie with her sincere performance especially the scenes involving her mother after her father beats her black and blue. Parvathy had undergone a physical transformation to look mostly like Kanchana in her growing years and I believe that this sincerity is what moved real life Kanchana atlast that she chose to put rest the controversies by watching the movie along with Parvathy in Mukkom.
We can say that this movie is an ensemble cast one. The supporting cast is apt with Lena Prakash as Moideen's mother, leading the pack. Salimkumar is as usual boisterours whereas Kalaranjini as Kanchana's mother is adequate. This is a movie where the crew also aides the cast perfectly. The cinematography by Jomon T John deserves a special mention with partly lit scenes accentuating the gloominess of the situation along with the dark rainy clouds.
However the movie made the character of Moideen look larger but in reality it is the Kanchana's love and devotion towards her lover that deserves mention. Despite being living as his widow without getting married, she is carrying out the social activities which she and her communist lover Moideen wanted to do for the society.
On the whole, a heart touching love story that was purely saved by the lead players' performances.
