Ayyappanum Koshiyum
Director:
Sachi
Cast:
Prithviraj Sukumaran as Ex-Havildar Koshy Kurien
Biju Menon as Sub-Inspector Ayyappan Nair / Mundoor Maadan
Ranjith as Kurien John, Koshy’s father
Gowri Nandha as Kannamma Ayyappan, Ayyappan’s wife
Anna Rajan as Ruby, Koshiy’s wife
Anil Nedumangad as C.I. Satheesh
Sabumon Abdusamad as Kuttamani
Genere:
Rivalry, Leading men
Ayyappanum Koshiyum
“Sachi”
Finally, my first movie review in the category of Indian Cinema. Since I am a Keralite I am so excited to review a Malayalam movie. I selected the movie Ayyappanum Koshiyum since I have watched it recently and enjoyed it very well.
The movie stars Prithviraj Sukumaran as Koshy Kurien and Biju Menon as Ayyappan Nair as the leading men. Koshi Kurien is a retired Havildar from the Indian army who is enjoying his retired life and Ayyappan Nair is Sub Inspector of police. Ayyappan Nair is someone who respects his profession and follows strict policing as per rules and regulations.
Story:
One night Koshy was on his way to Ooty via Attapadi. He was carrying alcohol and was drunk too. On the way the police and excise department caught him for possession of alcohol since Attapadi is a prohibited zone. Koshi ends up in a fight with the police and excise officers. Koshi boasts that he is not afraid of anyone as he has a huge influence with politicians and VVIP personals. Ayyappan Nair arrests Koshi, brings him to the police station and registers a case against him. This really pisses off Koshi and he plans to avenge Ayyappan Nair. All this results in a never-ending rivalry between the two. The story then progresses with various incidents that occurs due to the ego clash between Ayyappan Nair and Koshy finally ending in a very beautiful climax.
Review:
The very first thing that came to my mind about this movie is about another Prithviraj movie name “Driving License”. Both the movies have different stories but both use the concept of “Ego between two persons” as a thread to convey the story. (Director Sachi wrote the screenplay for driving license also)
For me what makes Ayyappanum Koshiyum special is that it has been many years since I have seen a Malayalam movie that potrays toxic male masculinity in its finest form with two leading men outperforming each other in a spectacular manner. I am a huge fan of these kind of movies (Mohan Lal’s Aaram Thamburan and Mammootty’s Inspector Balram came to my mind when I thought of toxic male masculinity; both of these legendry actors have done many other movies of similar nature)
Now let us dive further into the leading men.
Koshi Kurien
During the initial scenes of the movie I never expected Koshi to be retired Havildar. I thought he was a spoilt rich kid who shows off with family status and money. Koshi is deeply influenced by his father who is highly egoistic and considers violence as a solution in anything. We can see scenes where he instructs Koshi to go to any extend to maintain their family status and pride when dealing Ayyappan Nair. However, deep inside Koshy has a good heart and he tries to stay away from his father’s grip to build his own path. It is because of Koshi’s love towards his wife and kid. However, in every family, kids share some personal traits of their father in their blood and for Koshy he inherited some of the egoistic behavior of his father.
Ayyappan Nair
The director portrays two versions of Ayyappan Nair in this movie. One is the “Police officer” version of Ayyappan Nair and other is the “Mundoor Madan” version of Ayyappan Nair. Mundoor Madan is the title earned by Ayyappan Nair in his youth days when he killed local goons brought by upper caste people who targeted political party workers representing lower caste people. Later on when he joined police force, he left behind his identity as Mundoor Madan and continued his life as a strict police officer. In the first half of the movie we can see the police Ayyappan Nair. In the second half of the movie Biju Menon slowly transforms to Mundoor Madan when loses his job and his wife is framed as maoist and is arrested. Now since he lost his job, Mundoor Madan hidden deep inside Ayyappan Nair comes out like a raging bull whose sole intention is to destroy Koshi. The performance given by Biju Menon as Mundoor Madan is breath taking. As audience, even we feel fear in our mind. The variation in dialogue delivery, the sharp looks in the eyes, his overall behavioral pattern and even change in appearance creates a new mood to the movie.
In the below scenes from the movie you can observe some intense performances given by Biju Menon as Mundoor Madan.
“Beating Kuttamani”
“Ayyappan destroying Koshis Car”
Other Strong Characters
Kanakamma Ayyappan
Played by Gauri Nanda, this character reminds me that the movie not only shows the ego clash between two male leads but also show a little of the lives of tribal people and their problems. Kanakamma is a tribal activist and can see her as a fearless lady who will not bow down her head to anyone and any threats. Gauri Nanda’s portrayal as Kanakamma with strong dialogue delivery and intense acting is worth mentioning.
“Kanakamma’s harsh talk to Koshi”
Kurian John
Played by Renjith, I never felt there was this much of an actor inside Renjith. His performance as Kurian was very natural and lively. Once known to us a one of the most famous scriptwriters of Malayalam cinema, with this movie I would really love to see Renjith getting into more acting roles.
Also Anil Nedumangad as C.I. Satheesh & Sabumon Abdusamad as Kuttamani also played their respective roles very well.
“Kurian John Mafia boss like show off in police station”
Cinematography
Below are some camera frames from the movie that i found beautiful
Conclusion
Ayyappanum Koshiyum is a well-crafted movie by the director Sachu. Sachu has maintained a perfect balance between Prithviraj and Biju Menon by giving them equal screen space. For a 3-hour lengthy movie, I never felt any lag anywhere in the movie. The climax stunt sequence between Ayyappan and Koshy was so realistic. In an interview I heard Prithviraj and Biju menon said most of those jumping and falling down scenes where taken real. Sachu had insisted that the actors should do the stunts of their own and the camera to follow as per the actor movements in stunt to make the scenes look real.
For me everyone did their best in this movie, but without a strong vision of the director, this movie would never have been perfect in the way we saw it. At the end all I can say is “Hats off to the director”.
Author: Aromal Anil
