Tiyaan Review - Well Intentioned? Yes, Impactful? Not Really

PUBLISHED DATE : 07/Jul/2017

Tiyaan Review - Well Intentioned? Yes, Impactful? Not Really

Tiyaan Review: Well Intentioned? Yes, Impactful? Not Really

Sethumadhavan


 

Jiyen Krishnakumar’s Tiyaan struck a chord with the audience right from the time the project was announced. After all the title sounded unique and added to it the first look posters and later on the teaser left quite a good impression upon people who follow Malayalam cinema. By the time the trailer was unveiled one knew that the film was most certainly a Pan Indian film of sorts and that it wouldn’t perhaps be just sticking to one particular genre. Jiyen Krishnakumar is not a name that people may be really familiar with, after all he has only directed not so popular films like College Days (2010) and Kaanchi (2013) earlier (while going by the name G.N.Krishnakumar). But this time with a huge ensemble cast that’s top-lined by Prithviraj, Indrajith and Murali Gopy and being written by Murali Gopy as well, the scale of the film automatically shot up.

Originally intended to be an Eid attraction this year, Tiyaan’s release got slightly delayed and has eventually released in Kerala and all over India today. No wonder that this was my first movie of the weekend, being more than curious to see if the relatively unknown Jiyen Krishnakumar had managed to pull off a coup of sorts by delivering an unconventional entertainer as it promised. Not only that I was also curious to know if the popular star cast had been well utilised and whether there was enough meat to the onscreen proceedings. So let us take a look first at what Tiyaan (the above mentioned) is all about and then deliberate a bit on what works and what doesn’t before coming to the overall verdict.

The film is based in a small town in U.P where Pattabhiraman Giri (Indrajith Sukumaran) lives with his wife Amba (Ananya) and daughter Arya (Nakshatra Indrajith).  Pattabhiraman is a Malayalee Brahmin and a Vedic scholar who is revered by the people in the town which consists of a lot of migrant workers (giving scope for some Malayalee characters as wellJ) all thanks to a factory nearby. All hell breaks loose in the town due to the entry of Mahashay Bhagawan (Murali Gopy), an extremely powerful godman. With Mahashay wanting his ashram to come up in that area his henchmen start threatening the people to leave, even resorting to violence. But Pattabhiraman is determined to stay put and not move away from there despite facing a lot of trouble from Mahashay’s men.  In comes Aslan Muhammad (Prithviraj) who appears to be an enigma of sorts and we feel a shroud of mystery to the proceedings. So what happens to Pattabhiraman and his defiance of Mahashay, who is Aslan Muhammad and how is he connected to Pattabhiraman and Mahashay are all revealed as the tale moves forward.

Murali Gopy’s writing is strangely inconsistent in terms of maintaining tightness and leaving an impact. It’s nice to see “time” (in the wonderful voice of Mohanlal) as the narrator in the film and the first half is mostly devoted to Pattabhiraman, as we get to know him and his principles. Post interval the momentum changes as we are introduced to Aslam Muhammad’s past in the form of a flashback set in Mumbai/Bombay of the early 90’s. The basic premise is definitely laudable considering the socio-political scenario that we are witness to of late. So addressing the topic of beef consumption or references to religion intermingling with politics is all quite welcome and Murali Gopy does manage these well. But then showing off as an evil godman as an antagonist and the presence of land mafia which tries to usurp the land of the poor helpless people are tools that are nearly as old as the hills in Indian cinema.

At a run time of 168 minutes the film is a little too long for what it is trying to say, more so in the second half. Satheesh Kurup's cinematography works well as he brings alive the vast stretches of sandy terrain on screen, also the BGM by Gopi Sunder goes in flow with the narrative. In terms of the production design the quality strangely seems to be inconsistent, for example the small town in U.P clearly looks artificial. On the other hand the reconstruction of a Muslim dominated area of Mumbai in the early 1990’s looks a lot better.

Padmapriya in her comeback has hardly anything to do; unfortunate considering that she’s a terrific performer. Among the others Rahul Madhav, popular yesteryear Hindi villain Ranjeet and Shine Tom Chacko get noticed. Both Ananya and Suraj Venjaramoodu(happy once again to see him being utilised in a serious role) are effective while Murali Gopy plays the standard evil godman and doesn’t really manage to create enough impact. Both Indrajith and Prithviraj fit their characters pretty well, certainly their casting as well their output being one of the highlights of the film. Indrajith Sukumaran as Pattabhiraman Giri shows the vulnerability and conviction as required very well. Prithviraj in turn brings in a good contrast, remaining subtle and in control for most part of the film. There was scope in the flashback portions to go a little over the top, but he manages to remain restrained.

Tiyaan has a theme that is quite relevant to the times that we live in, some would agree with the culmination in particular while others might raise an eyebrow. Jiyen Krishnakumar does manage to leave us thinking, but not all the questions would be in line with his expectations.

Bottomline:


 

Tiyaan has a wonderful premise and has more than capable performances from both Prithviraj and Indrajith. However the end result could have been truly fantastic if it had the benefit of better writing from Murali Gopy and a little more care in execution from Jiyen Krishnakumar.

Rating: 3/5

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