‘Thrissivaperoor Kliptham’ is a zigzagging account of petty gang warfare at Thrissur, which despite a distinguished ensemble of actors at its helm doesn’t get its act right. There is far too much going on here and yet far too little that actually matters, that makes it a film that often gets muffled by its own ambition.
‘Thrissivaperoor Kliptham’ is a botched attempt at crafting a ‘Thrissur Diaries’ with lavish dollops of some acclaimed Lijo Jose Pellissery films dropped all over it. The pork plate that does the rounds in the initial sequence almost looks like a tribute to Lijo, as does the gift box for the groom that arrives all wrapped up.
‘Thrissivaperoor Kliptham’ has Davies (Chemban Vinod Jose) and Chembadan Joy (Baburaj), two money bags based at Thrissur who have managed to preserve their rivalry intact, even a few decades after they had moved out of school, where they had battled it out over a girl. Neither of them waste an opportunity to jab the other in the back, and aided by their respective, faithful bunch of cronies, they settle a score, as and when an opportunity comes along.
A young man by the name of Girijavallabhadasan (Asif Ali) is enamoured by the valour and intrepidness that Davies and his gang mates so flamboyantly flaunt, and tags along to be a part of this extraordinary experience. Giri has a not so impressive history at performing heroic feats, and has had the fireforce coming to his rescue, when he had got stuck halfway up a coconut tree.
Comparisons with the LJP films would not be fair for sure, and yet since ‘Thrissivaperoor Kliptham’ has a major hangover that is so palpably apparent, it would be worthy to point out the one thing that is missing out in it that makes LJP films out-and-out winners – an unadulterated take on life as we know it!
‘Thrissivaperoor Kliptham’ has more shots of the two gangs advancing towards one another than anything else, and even as they are at it ruthlessly, throwing black tar at each other, thrashing the guts out at market places, holding rival gang members at ransom and what not, one keeps asking oneself if they will have a story to tell as well.
Around midway, Nilina Mehndi (Shilpi Sharma), an actress lands up at Thrissur to inaugurate Joy’s new jewellery and Davies hatches a plan to thwart the event, even as his buddies dream of bedding the actress. It’s here that the film slams on its brakes and realizes that it has none whatsoever, and hence resignedly reclines and lets it crash wherever it hurtles down to.
There is a scene that almost comes across as a spoof, set in Cheru’s (TG Ravi) Casino, where a man sits in wait, speaking gibberish. All that you can do is to tell yourself that you have been with the Kalakeya tribe and that this too shall pass. The latter half of the film, is replete with scenes as this, with its focus distractedly falling all over the place.
Amidst all this distinctively male mayhem, there is Bhagya (Aparna Balamurali), an auto rickshaw driver with an eternal frown on her face, who leads a combat of her own to keep her head bobbing up the high waters. There are times when her role flies way over the top, and yet Aparna with a very believable performance lends Bhagya much more life than most of her male screen companions.
Vinod Jose and Baburaj live it out as Davies and Joy, and a huge set of actors as Asif Ali, Irshad, Rony David, Vijayakumar, Balaji Sharma and Sreejith Ravi lend ample support. There is Zarina Wahab too in a cameo of sorts, where the veteran actor looks a wee bit out-of-place.
‘Thrissivaperoor Kliptham’ is a zigzagging account of petty gang warfare at Thrissur, which despite a distinguished ensemble of actors at its helm doesn’t get its act right. There is far too much going on here and yet far too little that actually matters, that makes it a film that often gets muffled by its own ambition.
Verdict: Laborious