‘Vellaripattanam’ movie review: Manju Warrier, Soubin Shahir in stale political satire

Manju Warrier and Soubin Shahir in a picture from ‘Vellaripatnam’ | Photo Credit: Manorama Music Songs/YouTube

in a hurry VellaripattanamKP Suresh (Soubin Shahir), a local politician who is yet to find any success in his profession, tells his colleague (Krishna Shankar) about his past experiences. “Should we go to flashback?” the assistant asks him. “It might be a bit trite, but we can still go for it,” Suresh replies. For the next few minutes, we get a quick flashback to his campus politics days and a twist of fate that led to his sister KP Sunanda (Manju Warrier) becoming a successful politician at the panchayat level. During this, the classmate who has been with him since childhood listens carefully to the whole story, so that the audience can also get this information.

The self-awareness of the makers, that they are proudly marching ahead in working clichés and showering the same on us, is the most striking aspect of this Vellaripattanam, Mahesh Vettiar’s directorial debut. It never deviates from the template it has set over the years for political satire – perhaps one of the most exploited genres in Malayalam cinema. There is a surface-level understanding of politics in Kerala shining through the entire film, which is later overshadowed by the kind of political conservatism one finds in WhatsApp forwards.

The events are taking place in the fictional Chakkarkudam panchayat – which the makers have seen as a stand-in for a typical panchayat in Kerala – with the usual mix of competing political fronts. Siblings Suresh and Sunanda, part of rival groups within the same political party, share a love-hate relationship. Suresh is frustrated by his repeated failures to get a seat in the panchayat elections. He is also jealous of his sister’s rise. Sunanda has endeared herself by actively working on the ground and using her own tactics to gain the upper hand within the party. Suresh’s burning desire to get a seat for himself makes him think of drastic measures, but not too drastic as this is not that kind of film.

The screenwriter makes sure the sibling rivalry doesn’t become too antagonistic, sneaking in one scene to show how they look after each other every time things start to get tough between them. Yet, no such care is taken in depicting the various sections, especially the workers of the Employment Guarantee Scheme, who are shown sleeping on the land where they are supposed to work. As far as the way political parties are portrayed, some of the things they are shown indulging in seem far-fetched even for a political satire. Not to forget, Suresh also gets a love interest and a song sequence, only to almost forget about her existence till the climax.

Vellaripattanam A stale political satire that doesn’t try anything new, ends up as a pale imitation of some of the past hits.

Vellaripattanam is currently running in theaters