If you really think about it we should be seeing more
malayalam movies based in the middle east. Apart from the very
forgettable "Dubai" i
dont think there has been another movie that has significant percentage of it set in the "Gulf".
Arabikatha that way is the first mainstream movie set in the middle east which does a decent job of capturing the
life's of
malayalees in that area. (Well it seemed like it did , never lived there long enough for me to know for sure).
In
Arabikatha, the
directer brings together to very different
malayalee realities,Communism and the Gulf dream. These two are poles apart but we
malayalees embrace both and when they two meet there is ample scope for interesting incidents. In the movie you will mind many such incidents, all make you laugh , lot of them make you think.
Without giving much away,
Arabikatha is the
stoy of
Mukundan a
staunch communist and leader of the party in a small town/village in
kerala. He is a leader on the fringes of breaking through to the big time. He is shown as the kind of worker who blindly toes the party line and never questions the logic of the actions he is asked to take.
The drama begins when he is tricked by his political rival and his capitalistic friends into owning
up to a huge debt that he must pay back. He is forced to do what an average
malayali does first when faced with this problem, that is "Go to Gulf". He lands up in Dubai thinking that he can make
some quick
petro dollars and pay back his debts.
This is when the movie really picks up steam.The director has the luxuary of exploring two
different angles here. First is the "communism in
dubai" angle which results is some hilarious sequences.
Mukundan is slowly made to realize that his brand of communism has few takers in
dubai. Director makes fun of some of the archaic policies that the communist parties in
kerala are famous for.
Their fight against
computerisation and the cola
gaints are ridiculed in two
memorable sequences. This scenes which deal with this angle is what i enjoyed most.
The other angle is ofcource the life of the
malayali expatriate. Director exploits most gulf
malyalee stereotypes here.
The "back stabbing"
malayalee who snatches a good job from
mukundan , the dad who misses his daughters wedding, the guy who
struggling to build a house back in
kerala all show up in the movie. Though there are no
points for
originality here , all of these episodes touched me due to
some competent acting.
Mukundan meanwhile goes and falls in love with a
Chinese lady. That was bound to happen since he considers china a dream nation and all
Chinese to be
passionate Communists. But she breaks his heart when she
disappears along with a large amount of money.
Rest of the movie is nothing much to write home about. It mutates into a revenge drama with
Mukundan realizing that he has been tricked into
coming to Dubai. he
Finlay returns to his
home town, still a staunch communist but
definitely one who is better in tune with his times.
Though i found the movie quite
enjoyable i do have few bones to pick. First and foremost is the characterisation of
Mukundan itself. A person who is being considered a likely M.L.A candidate can be anything but dumb. He has to have a large
helping of smarts to get to that position. I cant believe
mukundan would be such a naive simpleton. I am thinking the writer was a bit lazy here. If he had made
Mukundan smarter he would have had to work harder to come up with scenarios that bash
Communism.
Overall an enjoyable picture. I enjoyed it more as a movie about the life in the middle-east rather than a
political satire. Also have to mention the revolutionary poem that is part fo the sound track. Just loved it..
That was my take on
Arabikatha. My first stab at a movie review (
don't worry i am not
quitting my day job) .
If you stumble across this post please tell me what you though about it and then go get a life!
