Kausthubham Malayalam Movie
First things first. I feel like just having emerged out of a cave. I am not sure precisely what has brought about this strange sensation in me, but I have a suspicion it might have something to do with a film that I got to see last night.
Kausthubham belongs to another century. Yamuna (Karthika) hasn't had an easy life what with her husband (Vijayaraghavan), falsely implicated for murder spending his life in jail. Her woes are multiplied when her five year old son disappears during the temple festival. Needless to say, Yamuna, a staunch devotee of Lord Krishna, spends her days praying to him, with the hope that the Lord will return her lost son to her some day.
No prizes for guessing that the Lord does interfere. It's here that Kausthubham becomes a Nandanam set up in a Kaakothi Kaavu. So we have the Lord performing his miracles and the devotees gaping in amazement. There are quite a few things that the Lord has to set right here and he goes about his job with the meticulousness that you expect of the Lord.
There used to be this genre of films in the 80's that revolved around Gods and Goddesses and if I remember right with Shalini who was a baby then, doing the lead role. The flood of such films came to a stop soon, and filmmakers left the Gods at peace for a while. It seems now that they are back with a vengeance.
It's not very easy to watch a film in a theatre all alone, especially if you are constantly nagging yourself for having been there in the first place. Okay, I admit it has got more to do with me than the film itself, but there is no way in which I am gonna take all that discredit to myself.
For the most part, Kausthubham resembles a tele serial that goes on and on about faith, God and devotion. There are very few occasions when it tries to move away from its focal point, and tries it hand at something different; like satire for instance. It doesn't do a good job here, and very soon returns to what it's more comfortable with.
The supporting cast in Kausthubham consists of a variety of actors, but there's sadly just one that catches our attention. Byju as the singer Jose with a constant craving for singing a song before the Lord is hilarious. There is no end to the agony that he goes through, for he is repeatedly denied an opportunity to sing the song, since he belongs to another religion. It's a side splitting act that the actor comes up with here.
I suspect even the staunchest of believers would identify with the story being told. The drama is a bit too overwhelming that very little of what is being told actually leaves a mark.
Kausthubham very rarely rises above the status of a mediocre faith installer, and is quite often dull and drab with a serious lack of imagination running through.
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