Lucifer: Forgive them not for they knew exactly what they were doing

We all dream of doing something in life which is extraordinary, which sometimes is beyond us.

Sachin Tendulkar grew up dreaming of batting like Vivian Richards, Sehwag dreamt of batting like Tendulkar, I dream of writing like M P Narayana Pillai, quite a few of us dream of becoming a chowkidar.

Superstar Prithviraj Sukumaran dreamt of becoming a filmmaker like Shaji Kailas.

And he does that by imitating Amal Neerad.

Before going for the film I wondered why would the film be 3 hours long. Now I know why. Much of Lucifer is Stephen Nedumpally (Mohanlal) in slow motion. He walks in slow motion, he fights in slow motion, he smiles in slow motion, he gets angry in slow motion, luckily he hadn't any chance to romance. A few steamy kiss scenes in slow motion may have been some relief though.

Now Prithviraj has to realise that to make a film like Shaji Kailas, you need a script writer like Ranjith. May be he didn't get him, so he settled for Murali Gopi, who probably dreams of writing a script like Ranjith.

After Odiyan, a lot of film buffs were describing Manju Warrier as an ageless beauty. Lucifer dispels that myth. She is aging like we all do.

The film is about dynasty politics. And it comes in the middle of elections. It also pokes the CPM for its violent politics. These are the two pressing issues Kerala faces, and probably India. The film makes a passing reference to a so called horde of religious fundamentalists knocking on the doors of Kerala, which is being used as an excuse for money making by the villainous politicians of the state.

You know where the writer's sympathies lay, no issues with that.

My request to Mohanlal and Prithviraj fans: forgive them not for they knew exactly what they were doing.

If any Mohanlal or Prithviraj fanatic is upset with this review, all I say is "Po mone Dinesha" for want of a better dialogue to borrow from Stephen Nedumpally.

Should Mohanlal fight Shashi Tharoor?

Dear Laletta,

You have legions of fans across India. They come from all walks of life; they come from several religions - yes they include Muslims too; most of them are Mammootty ‘haters’ -- they hate him just because they are your fans; many of them are converts from Mammootty fans -- for instance, I am one of them. So if and when you join politics, it as an event of earth shattering magnitude.

Imagine the kind of headlines Malayalam newspapers would carry. Just the thought is mouth watering.

‘Rashtreeyathil Lalettante Savari Giri Giri’  (രാഷ്ട്രീയത്തിൽ ലാലേട്ടന്റെ സവാരിഗിരിഗിരി )

‘Pulimurugan vettakkorungi’(പുലിമുരുഗൻ വേട്ടക്കൊരുങ്ങി)

‘Narasimahavatharam’ (നരസിംഹാവതാരം )

‘Kireedam thedi Araan Thamburan’  (കിരീടം തേടി ആറാം തമ്പുരാൻ)

‘Assembliyil mondoori thallaaan Aadu Thoma’  (അസ്സെംബിയിൽ മുണ്ടൂരി തല്ലാൻ ആട് തോമ)

‘Saffron Salaam’ (സാഫ്രൺ സലാം)

The list could go on and on. 

Your meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given new life to rumours, which were already doing rounds in Thiruvananthapuram, that you would fight on BJP ticket against Shashi Tharoor. 

It’s been more than 24 hours since some national television channels, one of them you were associated with as a jury member for their award events, and some newspapers ran the story. And all that has come as reaction from you is a terse comment to Malayala Manorama: “I didn’t know I was contesting from Thiruvananthapuram, so I won’t react.”

A clever response which is not an outright denial. What do we make of it? For one, it is clear the thought struck you and you are probably weighing the scales.

But then why would you do that?

After 30 years in public life, it is quite natural to want to do more. As a citizen of the country, you may not be happy with whatever is happening around you. You might feel you can do more and do it better. You may be thinking, as many of us are, the floods probably could have been avoided. You may be thinking, I certainly do believe, that right to food must include right to one bottle rum at least every month.

Important things first. To join politics, you need a party. Your choice of party will reveal more about you than a hundred films you did in the 30 years.

For instance if you join the BJP, you stand for everything that party and its members stand for. For instance they have no problems with lynchings, they promote hate for Muslims, they promote hate for Christians, they promote hate for beef eaters, they promote hate for Kashmiris…. Of course it is your choice.

Till now we don’t know your views about any of the issues listed above. But we do know you have strong feelings about freedom of expression. You had famously said, during the JNU controversy, “People are debating free speech when soldiers are dying on the border.” The statement pretty much proved you don’t believe in free speech.

Do you have any idea how suffocating a world without right to speak your mind would be? Imagine you didn’t like the sambaar your wife cooked but you are barred from telling her that. That is how bad it will be. I could have written more, but you can read my views on this very serious issue in this blog on sedition.

A few months ago a former cricketer tweeted his views about a Hindu-Muslim issue. It was a disgusting tweet. He himself doesn’t tweet those hate mongering stuff, but his PR professionals do. A journalist asked him if he would say the same to the Muslim teammates he shared dressing room with in his playing days. It needed a shove but the cricketer deleted that tweet.  But the tweet left a bitter aftertaste, we fans got to know our idol for what he is worth.

Lalettaa, please don’t do that to us.

ലാലേട്ടൻ എന്ന് വിളിച്ച നാവു കൊണ്ട് സംഘി എന്ന് വിളിപ്പിക്കല്ലേ പ്ളീസ്

With best wishes
Jasoos Narayanan Kutty