Papanasam - A no nonsense remake!

Director ‘Jayam’ Raja who goes by the monicker as RR or ‘remake’ Raja would have envied the efforts of Jeethu Joseph, who has directed ‘Papanasam’, the remake of the successful Malayalam blockbuster ‘Drishyam’, which was also directed by the same man. That brings to our mind a very pertinent question - what makes for a successful remake? There is a chance that a good number of Tamil audiences would have caught up with the original movie (like myself) due to the fact that it's a blockbuster. Also Mohanlal is quite a famous name in Tamil and is respected as a fine actor. Thus the onus on the director would have been much higher as he has to make the lighting strike twice.

For those who haven’t watched Drishyam: the story of Papanasam is about a self-made man Suyambulingam (Kamal), a local cable guy and a movie buff, who has come up in life the hard way. He lives happily with his family consisting of his wife (Gauthami) and two daughters (Nivetha and Esther). The familial bond is put to test due to some unfortunate turn of events. Suyambu ensures that his family comes out of it successfully with his sharp acumen and deception skills which he has developed over the years by watching films.

In my opinion the following are the factors that play a crucial role in making or breaking a successful remake. Also I’d like to benchmark Papanasam against these in order to ascertain on how it stands with the following points:

1. Were the actors chosen wisely?

1. Kamal - to mention that Kamal has “acted” well would be as good as saying that a Ferrari sped past with a brute force. For this question to hold water, there needs to be a comparison. Did he outperform Mohanlal who did the same role in Drishyam? According to me it's a blunt “no”. Mohanlal lived the role of ‘Georgekutty’, whereas Kamal as ‘Suyambulingam’ was keen to reproduce the southern Tamil accent which was more of an add on for that role. Nevertheless Kamal’s performance was riveting as well. Also I ought to thank Kamal for accepting the role as it is without improvising more than what was needed to suit his celebrity status.
2. Gouthami - a bit of a sore point in the movie. Disappointed with her inability to bring forth the local dialect. In fact she was struggling with it. Nevertheless her chemistry with Kamal was ravishing for obvious reasons.
3. Asha Sarath - she has replicated the same classy performance from the original but with a heavy Malayalam accent. Since the movie was more plot driven, the ‘ethnicity’ establishment has taken a back seat.
4. Other supporting case - good performances from Nivetha Thomas, MS Bhaskar, ‘Kalabhavan’ Mani and others.

2. Does the director attempt to tell the story in a different way with some subtle changes

to the narrative than from the original or does he try to leverage the strengths of an actor like Kamal?

No. It was a very faithful remake. Since I’ve watched Drishyam, it all seemed to play straight except for some occasional sparks in dialogs and some zingy characterization (as that of a contractor).

3. Does the movie gel well with the ethos?

It gels well. But overall I felt an offbeat appeal associated with the movie. The promotions were not vibrant enough nor was the buzz loud enough to create the stir for a star’s film. The songs in particular weren’t too impressive and per se the movie had only a limited window for music and songs.                                                                                           

Honestly the movie had everything going for it. The only question that lingered within me all throughout was whether it was a remake candidate in the first place? Since the movie was very much entrenched into the trademark malluwood offbeat genre, it should have found a more capable film director who could have made it much more appealing on a commercial scale. This movie is definitely worth a watch but I felt that the core aspect of ‘deception’ could have been put to greater effect for it to assume much more interesting forms, especially with a master actor like Kamal at the helm.

Verdict: Worth a watch!

Rating: For those who’ve seen Drishyam - 2.75 / 5; For others - 3 / 5