Puthiya Niyamam Review

Puthiya Niyamam Review

Movie: Puthiya Niyamam

Director: A K Saajan

Cast: Mammootty, Nayantara,

First things first. Writer-director A K Saajan’s gritty thriller Puthiya Niyamam is an engaging fare for sure, with some fine moments and competent performances from the lead cast.

  Louis Pothen (Mammootty) is an affectionate husband, who is a lawyer specializing in divorce cases and is also a popular TV anchor. His wife Vasuki Iyer (Nayanatara) is a well-known Kathakali artiste.

 The entire first half of the film is a series of incidents, which reveals that Vasuki is a troubled woman, under pressure and is really upset of late.

 The episodes with an anchor named Kani (Rachana Narayanankutty), who is smitten by the hero’s ample charms and some clients who approaches Louis with their divorce cases makes the going a bit lackadaisical during the first half and we wait for something interesting to happen.

 In fact, the dramatic turnarounds are all taking place during the final moments of the film. There are too many loose ends and surprising coincidences in the plot. The messages given by the film are mostly questionable, to say the least.

  There are evident inspirations that come to our mind as we sit through this one. There is also a deliberate effort to package it in the same mould as Drishyam, but with mediocre writing this one falls way short in that attempt.

 We can go on and on about the highs and lows in the story, but that could take away the fun for the future viewers.

 This one could evoke certain strong feelings for a not so discerning viewer and the plot could appeal to a large section. A K Saajan has packaged the film almost in the same pattern as Chintamani Kolacase, which was scripted by him. Roby Varghese Raj’s visuals and Gopi Sundar’s background score are good.

 Among the performances, Mammootty can give a run for money to any youngster with his drop-dead good looks and here he is cool and relaxed, well, mostly. Much credit goes to Nayanthara as Vasuki, who is in terrific form. Investing the role with a great panache and emotional courage, she gives us a character that’s hard not to root for. She not only carries the role well, but looks a million buck.

 Puthiya Niyamam is not a perfect film but it ends up as a fine experience at around 2 hours and 14 minutes which tries to say something serious. The viewer may leave the theatre with several unanswered questions but even then, this thriller can provide some edge of the seat moments. Enjoy this one!