Life of Josutty Malayalam Movie
Josutty and his autobiographical narration commences after the camera lands on a church, where the devil and the angel (Aqsa Bhatt) await in hushed anticipation, if the boy who has knelt down before the altar would be swayed by the presence of the pretty girl who walks in. The boy grows up to be Josutty (Dileep) who does fall in love with the girl Jessymol (Rachana Narayanankutty), and who feebly watches as she gets married off to someone else.
Jeethu Joseph has a tremendous task of living up to the expectations that had been raised post-'Drishyam', and he is let down by a frail script that works no wonders in 'Life of Josutty'. Granted that there isn't really a need for a twist or suspense for a film to be a winner, but Josutty and his tale is triteness personified.
The former half of the film has some light moments thanks to Josutty's friends, and at least a couple of scenes bring the house down with their hilarity. Josutty's sly smile on first having seen Rose (Jyothi Krishna) and his horror on discovering that his bosom pal Geevarghese (Noby) has noticed a thing or two about his prospective wife, and the sheer chaos that results at the wedding scene out of a scarcity of seats, are downright amusing.
Post-interval, 'Life of Josutty'goes on a crash ride from which it never actually recuperates. No scores for guessing that Josutty's marriage is a wreckage in construction, and when it eventually happens he tries his hand at setting up a business of his own. Those who have been paying enough attention would probably notice that the seeds of these have been sown much earlier, with an NRI friend commenting on Josutty's cooking, that's nothing short of magical.
The attempts to make Josutty appear as a simpleton who is a bit too simple, at times backfires on the characterisation itself. Josutty's mother advises him not to stick out his hands and head out of the air plane, and on landing in New Zealand, Josutty himself expresses astonishment at seeing a woman who has worn shorts!
Ridden with cliches, the latter half of 'Life of Josutty', flows down the banal stream, without much of an effort. The humour goes on a decline, and so does the outcome of the story that is being narrated. Those snide comments on the sexual minorities, purely intended to rake in some laughter, could have been avoided as well.
Dileep does a neat job of playing Josutty, while of the three women actors, Ranjini Rupesh does a commendable job of playing Priya, who befriends Josutty in New Zealand. Jyothi Krishna is strictly adequate while Rachana Narayanankutty goes totally over the top with a screeching melodramatic performance.
Supporting performances by actors as Hareesh Peradi and Nobi have to be acknowledged. Ravichandran's camera captures the stunning spectacles of both Kerala and New Zealand with equal ease. Anil Johnson comes up with a delightful musical score.
'Life of Josutty' is a non-toxic film that in no way spoils. But with a nonchalant story and script that gets progressively run of the mill as it goes, the film qualifies at best for an apathetic watch.
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