"Pathemari" is a very studied thorough effort to portray the lives of those keralite
men who leave their families away and move to the middle east to work and save their brethren
from the clutches of poverty. Presented against thorough research with consistent content throughout
the movie, it was a very satisfying movie watching experience.
Movie starts with a fable like depiction of how Dubai came up followed by it's
city sights. The movie then makes nice smooth transitions in time between past and present,
telling the story of Narayanankutty ( played by Mammootty ) who, motivated by the abject poverty
at home, takes the challenging and long journey across the seas on the pathemari( big boat)
to find work in the middle east. The movie details out the specifics of the challenges of the journey,
making some insincere attempts at using special effects to depict the sea storms
which was probably the only thing that did not fall in place in the movie.
Thereafter, the movie portrays how he wants to push the family out of poverty and
get back home himself as soon as he can and how his family continues to push in more and
more demands on him and he is essentially forced into fifty years of gulf life. The subtle
family situations that he gets put into have been chosen out of real experiences of many many
such gulf malayalees through all the detailed research that has clearly gone into making the movie.
I would contend that each and every situation in the movie has been drawn out of
real life, unaltered from multiple real people. There needs to be some conscious thought to understand someone who you do not see everyday. This movie is to push those thoughts into the minds of people who are not making the heart for them.
Mammooty has acted really well and becomes Narayanankutty. His subtle acting stands
out beautifully. Narayanankutty has almost found a place in my memories now. I really hope that this movie serves as an eye-opener and allows at-least a few 'Narayanankutty's a fairer go at life.
The review would be incomplete without the mention of the songs penned by 'Rafeeq Ahamed' and music directed by 'Bijibal'. The lyrics capture the pain of the story so nicely that it can serve
as a concentrate for the script. The music does great justice to the movie and adds another feather
to my rising respect for Bijibal.
Read further to know more about the story of the movie.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Death away from home
Mammootty who so longs to go back to his home is unable to do so for years on
and finally meets his death away from home as well.
Poverty
The why of the exodus. Why did Narayanakutty have to leave his family into the
far away land of middle east?
He gets dinner from his friend's religious ceremony and packs it and brings it
straight to him family without having any before for him. And his father slurps the
food down without letting him take any saying that he must have had it already, apparently
aware that he has not.
Due to abject poverty, the family is under heavy debt and the hapless father threatens
suicide to keep his lendors away. Under these circumstances, the two young friends are
ready to take up the hardships of the sea with the sole intention of helping their families.
Pathemari
The big boat that takes such aspiring youngsters into the middle east and brings goods back.
Siddique plays the Pathemari owner who takes this as his mission to help these young men over.
Death in the sea
Not everyone is able to take the challenges of the sea and some die en-route, sick.
Proper religious rituals are done in honor of the deceased. However, the body cannot be kept
any more in the crowded boat and is tied to a heavy stone and pushed into the sea.
Crowded boat
There is a big number of people who are forced into making the decision of the journey
for the sake of their families. The journey is far far from pleasant and they need to sleep
over each other for lack of space.
Pathemari portion of the movie is the most challenging facet of the movie.
Sets the movie off to a really strong start and the rest of the movie nicely uses the momentum
thus set forth and introduces many touching/ heart warming situations into the mix
---------------------------
Phone at the shop
In early days, very few homes had telephone. Mammootty waits in queueu at a booth in gulf
while his wife waits at the shop of his friend.
Letter box
Common letter box for the gulf laborers. Demands / Requests for money in various forms in these
letters and the observation that only the names are different in these letters. The contents are
same in all the letters.
Bunkers in rooms
They don't even have a room for themselves. They live in bunkers in rooms.
Visit home
Letters and stuff to be delivered to relatives/friends of room mates.
Vacation time having to be spent in making these trips.Everyone back home needing one gift or the other and the complaints about not receiving/ receiving less than someone else.
Cassette
Voice recorded cassette from a wife to an inmate. Again, the cassette tends to be about needs from the wife/ the kids.
Losing mother
His dear mother who loves him most dearly and wholeheartedly passes away while he is away from home. He just has to stand near the ocean and look towards his home.
Losing ancestral home
First, elder brother offers to give the house to him in return for 25K Ruppees.
What that entails is quite a few months of work and exile to repay that sum of money back.
Later, another sister’s daughter’s marriage does not work out as they don’t have a home. Due to emotional demands from his brother/sister’s complaints and due to his own kind heart, he decides to give the house in the name of the sister. Next, after the daughter’s marriage, to pay the rent in a different city, mammootty is asked to pay rent for his own home to the sister and this amount is used for his sister’s daughter’s rent in trivandrum.
Making own home
Given that he has lost his ancestral home, he dreams of building his own small home.
While that work is in progress, he dies in his sleep from his workplace in middle east. His close friend who had travelled with him in Pathemari fifty years back(played by Sreenivasan) suggests that his dead body be placed in the new home for a while as that home was his deepest desire. His son interjects and does not allow this as starting off at a new home with a dead body is not auspicious. Even death does not let him earn his place.
Neice's marriage
For his neice's marriage, the groom's family implies that they expect good amount of dowry as her uncle is a 'gulfukaaran'.However, for the same marriage, the groom's father does not allow the date to the preponed by a couple of days for Mammooty to be able to attend. His heart is completely back in his hometown in the marriage house. However, the people back home have already
adjusted to him going back and does not relate to his longing for the home. His telephone call is brushed off by the wife after having him wait for long saying that she is busy with the hurries of marriage. Essentially, his role stops at providing money.
Insolent children
His own children being disrespectful of his longing to know about the details back home. A lack of understanding that deepens simply because there is no thinking beyond what you see everyday. You don't see your father every day so you don't really think or understand him.
men who leave their families away and move to the middle east to work and save their brethren
from the clutches of poverty. Presented against thorough research with consistent content throughout
the movie, it was a very satisfying movie watching experience.
Movie starts with a fable like depiction of how Dubai came up followed by it's
city sights. The movie then makes nice smooth transitions in time between past and present,
telling the story of Narayanankutty ( played by Mammootty ) who, motivated by the abject poverty
at home, takes the challenging and long journey across the seas on the pathemari( big boat)
to find work in the middle east. The movie details out the specifics of the challenges of the journey,
making some insincere attempts at using special effects to depict the sea storms
which was probably the only thing that did not fall in place in the movie.
Thereafter, the movie portrays how he wants to push the family out of poverty and
get back home himself as soon as he can and how his family continues to push in more and
more demands on him and he is essentially forced into fifty years of gulf life. The subtle
family situations that he gets put into have been chosen out of real experiences of many many
such gulf malayalees through all the detailed research that has clearly gone into making the movie.
I would contend that each and every situation in the movie has been drawn out of
real life, unaltered from multiple real people. There needs to be some conscious thought to understand someone who you do not see everyday. This movie is to push those thoughts into the minds of people who are not making the heart for them.
Mammooty has acted really well and becomes Narayanankutty. His subtle acting stands
out beautifully. Narayanankutty has almost found a place in my memories now. I really hope that this movie serves as an eye-opener and allows at-least a few 'Narayanankutty's a fairer go at life.
The review would be incomplete without the mention of the songs penned by 'Rafeeq Ahamed' and music directed by 'Bijibal'. The lyrics capture the pain of the story so nicely that it can serve
as a concentrate for the script. The music does great justice to the movie and adds another feather
to my rising respect for Bijibal.
Read further to know more about the story of the movie.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Death away from home
Mammootty who so longs to go back to his home is unable to do so for years on
and finally meets his death away from home as well.
Poverty
The why of the exodus. Why did Narayanakutty have to leave his family into the
far away land of middle east?
He gets dinner from his friend's religious ceremony and packs it and brings it
straight to him family without having any before for him. And his father slurps the
food down without letting him take any saying that he must have had it already, apparently
aware that he has not.
Due to abject poverty, the family is under heavy debt and the hapless father threatens
suicide to keep his lendors away. Under these circumstances, the two young friends are
ready to take up the hardships of the sea with the sole intention of helping their families.
Pathemari
The big boat that takes such aspiring youngsters into the middle east and brings goods back.
Siddique plays the Pathemari owner who takes this as his mission to help these young men over.
Death in the sea
Not everyone is able to take the challenges of the sea and some die en-route, sick.
Proper religious rituals are done in honor of the deceased. However, the body cannot be kept
any more in the crowded boat and is tied to a heavy stone and pushed into the sea.
Crowded boat
There is a big number of people who are forced into making the decision of the journey
for the sake of their families. The journey is far far from pleasant and they need to sleep
over each other for lack of space.
Pathemari portion of the movie is the most challenging facet of the movie.
Sets the movie off to a really strong start and the rest of the movie nicely uses the momentum
thus set forth and introduces many touching/ heart warming situations into the mix
---------------------------
Phone at the shop
In early days, very few homes had telephone. Mammootty waits in queueu at a booth in gulf
while his wife waits at the shop of his friend.
Letter box
Common letter box for the gulf laborers. Demands / Requests for money in various forms in these
letters and the observation that only the names are different in these letters. The contents are
same in all the letters.
Bunkers in rooms
They don't even have a room for themselves. They live in bunkers in rooms.
Visit home
Letters and stuff to be delivered to relatives/friends of room mates.
Vacation time having to be spent in making these trips.Everyone back home needing one gift or the other and the complaints about not receiving/ receiving less than someone else.
Cassette
Voice recorded cassette from a wife to an inmate. Again, the cassette tends to be about needs from the wife/ the kids.
Losing mother
His dear mother who loves him most dearly and wholeheartedly passes away while he is away from home. He just has to stand near the ocean and look towards his home.
Losing ancestral home
First, elder brother offers to give the house to him in return for 25K Ruppees.
What that entails is quite a few months of work and exile to repay that sum of money back.
Later, another sister’s daughter’s marriage does not work out as they don’t have a home. Due to emotional demands from his brother/sister’s complaints and due to his own kind heart, he decides to give the house in the name of the sister. Next, after the daughter’s marriage, to pay the rent in a different city, mammootty is asked to pay rent for his own home to the sister and this amount is used for his sister’s daughter’s rent in trivandrum.
Making own home
Given that he has lost his ancestral home, he dreams of building his own small home.
While that work is in progress, he dies in his sleep from his workplace in middle east. His close friend who had travelled with him in Pathemari fifty years back(played by Sreenivasan) suggests that his dead body be placed in the new home for a while as that home was his deepest desire. His son interjects and does not allow this as starting off at a new home with a dead body is not auspicious. Even death does not let him earn his place.
Neice's marriage
For his neice's marriage, the groom's family implies that they expect good amount of dowry as her uncle is a 'gulfukaaran'.However, for the same marriage, the groom's father does not allow the date to the preponed by a couple of days for Mammooty to be able to attend. His heart is completely back in his hometown in the marriage house. However, the people back home have already
adjusted to him going back and does not relate to his longing for the home. His telephone call is brushed off by the wife after having him wait for long saying that she is busy with the hurries of marriage. Essentially, his role stops at providing money.
Insolent children
His own children being disrespectful of his longing to know about the details back home. A lack of understanding that deepens simply because there is no thinking beyond what you see everyday. You don't see your father every day so you don't really think or understand him.
No comments:
Post a Comment