Review: Neelakasham Pachakkadal Chuvanna Bhoomi is impressive

Paresh C Palicha says Neelakasham Pachakkadal Chuvanna Bhoomi may prove to be another turning point in the recent new wave Malayalam cinema.

In the last decade or so, Malayalam movies have become dialogue oriented in an effort to curtail costs. We see actors describing an event or narrating a happening without actually showing it. Rarely do see people moving from one place to another or actually travelling.

But Sameer Thahir's latest directorial venture Neelakasham Pachakkadal Chuvanna Bhoomi (Blue sky, green sea, red earth) is a pleasant surprise. It is a real 'road movie' with the protagonists taking a road trip from Kerala to Nagaland in the north-east. The visuals are enchanting.

The two youngsters Kasi (Dulquar Salmaan) and his friend Suni (Sunny Wayne) are travelling on their bikes but we don’t know their destination or the purpose of the journey.

Kasi's voice-over gives us information about the depth of their friendship and lets us know that there is something mysterious in their mission. With these details in the back of our mind, we become a part of the mission and get to know more about these two characters.

There’s the mandatory action sequence where the two friends are saved by a group of bikers from getting robbed and killed. They are in Puri in Odisha next, where they learn the basics of sea surfing.

They

meet a woman surfer played by Paloma Monappa but Kasi is prevented from getting into a romantic relationship with her because he is nursing a heartache for some one else.

From Puri they move to a village in West Bengal and stay with a group of erstwhile revolutionaries headed by an ageing Dhritiman Chatterjee.

It is here that the story starts acquiring more meaning. We see the struggles of the tribals just to survive and the experiences the old man shares with the youngsters.

In between we also get a glimpse of Kasi's life back home with his rich but orthodox parents and his love affair with a college mate Assi (Surja Bala) from the north-east, who is the reason for his embarking on this journey.

Hashir Mohamed's script is multi-lingual with the actors talking in Malayalam, Tamil, Hindi, English and Bangla.

The camera work by Gireesh Gangadharan is scintillating.

Though Dulquar Salmaan is the star attraction, other members of the cast have important roles to play too.

Neelakasham Pachakkadal Chuvanna Bhoomi may prove to be another turning point in the recent new wave Malayalam cinema.

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