My review: ABCD: American-Born Confused Desi
"ABCD: American-Born Confused Desi", the title says it all. Yup, Martin Prakkat's Dulquer Salaam's movie is a slice of life of two such ABCDs who get their lives stuck in Kochi and it explores how they get out of the quagmire. Written by Sooraj-Neeraj, Martin Prakkat and Naveen Bhaskar, movie is directed in a breezy manner by Martin Prakkat.
Though the movie starts of in a predictable mould similar to many movies of similar themes, there is shift in the course halfway through after which it remains mostly unpredictable and naturalistic till the end. There is no fairy-tale or heroic ending that involve change in the characteristics or personalities of the protagonists all of a sudden following a heart-rending incident or a moralistic sermon by heroine which is what we see in movies of this nature. The writers have ensured that the movie ends in as much realistic manner as possible with the protagonists carrying on with their lives. And it is this honesty with which the makers have gone about things that makes this movie noteworthy.
Dalquer Salman and his cousin Jacob Gregory fritter away their time in chasing girls or engaging in gang fights. Concerned by this behaviour of their's Dalquer's father packs them off to Kochi and get them enrolled in a college there, leaving them to plan and manage their stay with meager amour he sends them every month. How they face the situation, how the city, media, and localites react to it and what changes they bring in others and in themselves through this experience forms the main subject matter of this flick.
Movie moves at a leisurely pace which is in itself becomes a positive for the movie because one begins to travel along with the protagonist, starts empathizing with them and at times feel for their predicament. Though movie touches a lot of serious issues like selfishness of politics, senseless media frenzy, brain drain, insensitivities of the ruling class for the lives the downtrodden, egotistic attitude of youth of today, etc, they have been touched upon in a light-hearted manner.
Dalquer Salmaan is once again cool and savvy as a NRI who finds it difficult to adjust to the new environment, country, culture and people. He is so good in these type of roles that he can enact these kind of roles even in his sleep. But risk of him getting typecast is evident as this role has lots in common with what he did in "Ustad Hotel". Jacob Gregory is brilliant as Korah, Dulquer's cousin. His body language, dialogue delivery and his demeanor are all apt for the role he plays. Whenever he appears on screen it is a laugh riot. Aparna Gopinath seems to have loads of talent. She is so confident as the idealistic Madhumitha that it is hard to believe that it is her debut.
Movie is shot excellently by Jomon T.John. Both New York and Kochi is presented with such flamboyance and flair with riot of colours, concrete structures and nature's bounty. His lighting especially in the house in which the protagonist's stay in Kochi is superb. Technically movie is top-class. Slowly Malayalam cinema is also catching with other big film industries of the country in the technical aspects too.
Gopi Sunder's background score is trendy and groovy. "Johnny mone Johnny " is a foot-tapping number rendered by Dulquer while the remixed version of the "Nayapaisayille" is apt to the situation in which it appears.
On the whole, "ABCD" is a fun-filled jolly ride where you enjoy, empathize, cheer, cry, discover a thing or two about oneself along with the two confused American-born protagonists.
Bottomline: Genuine...!
3.5/5
Though the movie starts of in a predictable mould similar to many movies of similar themes, there is shift in the course halfway through after which it remains mostly unpredictable and naturalistic till the end. There is no fairy-tale or heroic ending that involve change in the characteristics or personalities of the protagonists all of a sudden following a heart-rending incident or a moralistic sermon by heroine which is what we see in movies of this nature. The writers have ensured that the movie ends in as much realistic manner as possible with the protagonists carrying on with their lives. And it is this honesty with which the makers have gone about things that makes this movie noteworthy.
Dalquer Salman and his cousin Jacob Gregory fritter away their time in chasing girls or engaging in gang fights. Concerned by this behaviour of their's Dalquer's father packs them off to Kochi and get them enrolled in a college there, leaving them to plan and manage their stay with meager amour he sends them every month. How they face the situation, how the city, media, and localites react to it and what changes they bring in others and in themselves through this experience forms the main subject matter of this flick.
Movie moves at a leisurely pace which is in itself becomes a positive for the movie because one begins to travel along with the protagonist, starts empathizing with them and at times feel for their predicament. Though movie touches a lot of serious issues like selfishness of politics, senseless media frenzy, brain drain, insensitivities of the ruling class for the lives the downtrodden, egotistic attitude of youth of today, etc, they have been touched upon in a light-hearted manner.
Dalquer Salmaan is once again cool and savvy as a NRI who finds it difficult to adjust to the new environment, country, culture and people. He is so good in these type of roles that he can enact these kind of roles even in his sleep. But risk of him getting typecast is evident as this role has lots in common with what he did in "Ustad Hotel". Jacob Gregory is brilliant as Korah, Dulquer's cousin. His body language, dialogue delivery and his demeanor are all apt for the role he plays. Whenever he appears on screen it is a laugh riot. Aparna Gopinath seems to have loads of talent. She is so confident as the idealistic Madhumitha that it is hard to believe that it is her debut.
Movie is shot excellently by Jomon T.John. Both New York and Kochi is presented with such flamboyance and flair with riot of colours, concrete structures and nature's bounty. His lighting especially in the house in which the protagonist's stay in Kochi is superb. Technically movie is top-class. Slowly Malayalam cinema is also catching with other big film industries of the country in the technical aspects too.
Gopi Sunder's background score is trendy and groovy. "Johnny mone Johnny " is a foot-tapping number rendered by Dulquer while the remixed version of the "Nayapaisayille" is apt to the situation in which it appears.
On the whole, "ABCD" is a fun-filled jolly ride where you enjoy, empathize, cheer, cry, discover a thing or two about oneself along with the two confused American-born protagonists.
Bottomline: Genuine...!
3.5/5
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