Joji: Dileesh Pothan’s Macbeth Portrays Frailties
in Family Relations!
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| Image Courtesy Fahadh Faasil Official FB Page |
“There’s no art to find the mind’s construction in
the face.” - - William Shakespeare, Macbeth Act 1, Scene 4
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The above-mentioned lines are spoken by King Duncan admitting that he failed to see the duplicity of the Thane of Cawdor who was executed for treason. He says that it is so difficult to know what a man is actually thinking and feeling simply by looking at his face.
Dileesh Pothan’s third directorial outing ‘Joji’ takes us through similar instances of treachery and deceit in the Panachel family where the septuagenarian father PK Kuttappan (PN Sunny) is at the helm of affairs. Kuttappan’s family comprises three sons, a daughter in law and a grandson. His eldest son Jomon (Baburaj) is a divorcee, alcoholic and temperamental and holds a command on his siblings and lives with his son Popy (Alex Alister) along with others. In many ways, Jomon is close to his father and is like him. Popy is in his teens who is tech-savvy like any other new-generation kid and he has his secrets to keep. Interestingly Popy’s one such secret holds an important role in the happenings of the Panachel mansion.
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Jaison (Joji Mundakayum) the second son is seemingly obedient and dutiful. He very well knows his limits and doesn’t want to upset the applecart by questioning the authority. When I called him, Joji said he is overwhelmed by the positive response he received for his character Jaison. He said it was a blessing to get to share screen space with such a powerhouse of talent like Fahadh Faasil. Moreover, he feels blessed to be directed by Dileesh Pothan one of the best directors of our country in recent times.
Bincy (Unnimaya Prasad) his wife, the only woman busy with the household chores on this men’s turf. Like many women, she is voiceless, a silent spectator and can see through faces and read them. Is she like lady Macbeth? At a very crucial juncture, Bincy reminds me of the original Macbeth and the lines Lady Macbeth tells him: “Your face, my thane, is as a book where men may read strange matters. To beguile the time, look like the time; bear welcome in your eye, your hand, your tongue: look like the innocent flower, but be the serpent under it” because for her it is too easy to see what Macbeth is planning from looking at his face. Similarly, the dialogue of Bincy is so metaphorical here when she reminds the Macbeth of Panachel family to wear a mask because here she makes the opposite point to the one that occurs to King Duncan.
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| Image Courtesy: xooon.in |
The youngest and the last one among the siblings is Joji. He is slothful and unproductive; at the same time nurses within him, ambitions mired with contempt for control and power his father exercise on everyone, particularly on him. Slowly as the film progress to its climax, we come to know that there is only one among the Panachels who can upset the applecart. Fahadh Faasil as Joji the anti-hero fits into the character so well that Dileesh Pothan in one of his interviews with media recently says that there was nobody else but Fahadh in his mind.
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| Image Courtesy: newsloft.in |
Fahadh’s Joji is like a serpent – venomous, sometimes coiled doing nothing and the next moment observant and making quick moves to dart towards its goals and vanish without living a trail of its existence, and at the moment of danger with its hood up.
The characters in the film are so well etched that each one of them and the situations that emerge become relatable for the audience. For instance, characters like Dr Felix (Shammi Tilakan) and the Church Priest Father Kevin (Basil Joseph) are those people whom you see every day. And therefore, the viewer stays back in the courtyard of the Panachel Mansion even when the movie is over. The impact is so much that one starts thinking whether all the characters were flawed, or was it the silence before the storm that they saw in the beginning in the mansion, was Pothan’s Macbeth a victim of circumstances or he was driven by the desire of power and greed and did everyone in the Panachel Mansion wanted this to happen or were stuck in their incapability of challenging the status co. For this, you need to watch the film whether the Macbeth in Joji heeds Lady Macbeth convincing him saying – “But screw your courage to the sticking place. And we’ll not fail.”
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| Image Courtesy: newsloft.in |
Joji is now streaming on Amazon Prime Video.
PEN Movie Rating: 4/5
Cast: Fahadh Faasil (Joji), Baburaj (Jomon), Joji Mundakayam (Jaison), Sunny PN (Kuttappan), Unnimaya Prasad (Bincy), Shammi Thilakan (Dr Felix), Alister Alex (popy), Basil Joseph (Fr. Kevin)
Genre: Black Comedy Crime Drama (inspired by Shakespeare’s Macbeth)
Director: Dileesh Pothan
Executive Producer: Unnimaya Prasad
Director of Photography: Shyju Khalid
Editor: Kiran Das
Production Design: Gokuldas
Sound Design: Ganesh Marar
Writer: Syam Pushkaran
Music: Justin Varghese
Produced by: Bhavana Studios
Presented by: Working Class Hero, Fahadh Faasil & Friends
OTT Platform: Amazon Prime Video
Release Date: 07 April 2021
Duration: 113 Minutes
Language: Malayalam
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