Ente Mezhuthiri Athazhangal

Malayalam cinema, has accredited itself well as a distinct genre in Indian cinemas. The movie “My candlelight dinners” just proved that point. Though the Movie was all about one man seeking is love, I found it is a powerful message against many things that is disturbing the contemporary society. I Must admit that I almost fell in love with the strong liberal director who though subtle in his ways sends out loud and strong messages against the way we practice religion. I was particularly impressed with the way he handled ideas of premarital sex, seamless homes and the distinction between love and marriage. I loved the way the protagonists differentiate between love and lust. Kudos to the director for subtly bringing out the need to respect LGBT community. In Most movies where there are such characters they are normally depicted as vulgar, cheap and as a target of ridicule. What a welcome bold departure from the routine. A Diehard romantic myself and happily married for just 32 years, what continues to resonate in my inner being is that one sentence spoken by the protagonist’s friend, one falls in love by chance and stay in love by choice. It just reinforced my belief that behind imposing structures of brick and mortar and the facades of human beings who reside within, there are often human souls craving for love, affection attention appreciation and recognition. It is interesting to see how beautifully the director portrayed Malayalee hypocrisy. I was also pleasantly surprised by the manner in which the lead actor accepts self-depreciating comments about him from the leading lady. A great departure from the normal Indian cinema practice of making reel heroes real gods for whatever purpose. I cannot stop but admire the director who happens to be the lead actor taking that self-depreciating swipe at himself. Beautifully done. Tastefully done. The female lead actor has been chosen with care and comes about as extremely fragile, sensuous and desirable but at the same time portraying her steely resolve in carrying on with their life the way she wants. It was beautiful to see her, kiss the hero impressed with his kindness. It was again a departure from the normal Indian movie practise. If you have something against the movie, it was only that it stretched beyond what was required. I feel in the intensity of the narration, the scriptwriter and director slipped up on the age-old wisdom, Brevity is the soul of wit. If the aim of taking the lead pair to the lonely house on the hills was to prove that they can sleep without having sex, there could have been many other ways of doing it, for throughout the movie, both before and after that scene, Anjali is depicted as a fearless strong-willed person. That, according to me, was a flaw in narration. The end could have been made a bit differently for it is there that the director fell into the age-old trap of trying to create suspense where it was not required. On the whole, a beautiful movie that stirs something soft somewhere deep down within the heart.