The first half of 2020s is the period of man-child movies in Malayalam. There is a profusion of young male directors in Malayalam these days, many of them are very talented. This is indeed a better situation than in the aughts (late 90s up to 2010), a period I consider the driest season for good movies in Malayalam cinema. The only problem we've now is while many of the creations directed by these young stallions are technically brilliant, my almost half a century old lenses notice the myopic and know-it-all worldview of the young first before I grudgingly appreciate the movie's technical finesse. I hope this stage will not last long for these talented filmmakers as they mature taking cue from the lessons they learn down their own life-paths.
The latest in the series of man child movies is Aavesham starring the versatile experimentalist Fahadh Faasil as the fun-loving man-child of a mafia don. Aavesham is one of the better man-child movies in the recent past, a trend I started noticing from Lijo Jose Pellissery's 2017 porcine classic overdosed on testosterone, Angamaly Diaries. Another more recent one of this 'genre', also from Lijo Jose Pellissery that I had the good fortune to watch was Churuli, my review here.
Aavesham starts at one of those numerous engineering college hostels that line the outskirts of Bangalore where three freshman are hazed by their seniors and want to take revenge.Their novel idea of revenge entails recruiting or finding a local don who could be their local support and protection. Enter the crowd-surfing, quirky and fabulous Mr. Ranga, a much emaciated Fafa (Fahadh Faasil), in an offbeat action role.
The three new kids were probably recruited from Instagram or through auditions and do well with the roles they are entrusted with. The transformations of their characters as the film progresses are captured well. The modern and endearing thug sidekick, Amban is also fleshed out well. Fafa brilliantly portrays Ranga, perfect to the last bit of Bangalore-Malayali accent. Vinayak Sasikumar's lyrics and Sushin Shyam's music is reminiscent of Tamil movie songs. Maybe that is the trend we've to live with in these days of pan-(S.)Indian movies. Directed by Jithu Madhavan, Aavesham is a decent entertainer worth a watch for its quirky performances and the interesting treatment of its 21st century cinematic don theme.
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