While it remains that there is little wrong with blatantly brandishing a view point through a film, to remain blind to the manifold complexities and fine nuances that do not let the real world be easily partitioned into clear cut cubicles of extremities, could prove to be fatal. This takes a toll on the believability of the film, without doubt, and strips it of the possibilities of reflection, if any.
Samuthirakani’s directorial debut in Malayalam, ‘Akasha Mittayi’, that has been co-directed by M Padmakumar, is a film that chronically suffers from B&W thinking. It wholly fails to see the grey and vigorously compartmentalises everything around – the characters, the events in their lives and the repercussions of their actions – into rigid black and white zones, from which there is no escape.
The world of Jayashankar (Jayaram) and his wife Radhika (Iniya) revolves around their son Akash, and the couple leaves no stones unturned to ensure that Akash emerges a righteous human, perhaps more than anything else. In sharp contrast is the couple-next-door, Peethambaran (Kalabhavan Shajon) and his wife Radha (Sarayu), who would stop at nothing until their son Vidya finds his future in the dreamland that is the US.
‘Akasha Mittayi’ has got some messages to deliver, and makes no bones about revealing as to how badly it wants to push those notes across. There are multiple points when these efforts seem desperate to the point of frustratingly insistent which clearly pushes the film into the sententious class.
While it remains that there is little wrong with blatantly brandishing a view point through a film, to remain blind to the manifold complexities and fine nuances that do not let the real world be easily partitioned into clear cut cubicles of extremities, could prove to be fatal. This takes a toll on the believability of the film, without doubt, and strips it of the possibilities of reflection, if any.
The world that ‘Akasha Mittayi’ thrives in almost appears inert, and expects its characters to cater to the preordained set of notions that it has set up by itself. Anyone who makes a slip-up is made to pay for it, and this is what makes it stand so far away from a film as ‘Udaan’ (2010, Vikramaditya Motwane), which so benignly agrees that errors are committed, regrets exist, life does not end with a wrong move or perhaps two or even more, and that we live, learn and live again.
Structurally, ‘Akasha Mittayi’ offers a parallel study, wherein it draws comparisons and contrasts between two couples who have adhered to palpably different rulebooks in parenting. We do get the point, and while it’s very obvious that Peethambaran and his strategies are headed for inevitable doom, Jayashankar revels in the world of rights that he has so painstakingly set up for his child. And neither of them, not even once, cross over.
There is hardly anything inadequate when it comes to the performances, and all of them, be it Jayaram, Shajon, Iniya or Sarayu, along with the promising child performers have given it their very best. However, ‘Akasha Mittayi’ garners no spectacular points on the technicalities and its musical score leaves a lot to be desired.
The dialogues that at times sound like a horrendously written exercise in translation, and the drama that soars up like a hydrogen balloon and shows no signs of returning back to earth, add to the film’s woes. ‘Akasha Mittayi’ strives a bit too hard to be a canon volume on parenting, but its aspirations are mitigated by its refusal to move beyond the stringent border lines that it has set for itself.
Verdict: Average