Basheerinte Premalekhanam movie review: Full of old-world charm

Cast: Farhan Faasil, Sana Althaf, Joy Mathew, Sheela, Madhu
Director: Aneesh Anwar
Rating: 3 stars

Oodles of romance, anecdotes from the legendary novelist Vaikom Muhammad Basheer, despair, separation, anticipation and reunion, Basheerinte Premalekhanam comes wrapped in everything you can guess from the film’s title. You watch it, you feel it! In the end you realise, there’s more to it. When it is raining period films in Malayalam cinema, this one stands out for telling a romantic tale from another point in time laced in feel-good comedy.

In a sentence, Basheer (Farhan), the young engineer, is enamoured by the village belle Suhara (Sana) and the feeling turns mutual. It all happens out of the era’s biggest wonder — the television. A black and white Onida TV replaces the position enjoyed by an age-old radio in Suhara’s home, fondly caressed by Ummumma (Sheela), her granny. Thanks to ‘Kuttichathan TV’, the home ruled by the young girl’s authoritarian dad Hajiyar (Joy Mathew) immediately witnesses a unique bonhomie among the people of the village. Basheer first comes into the picture as the only person with the technical know-how of the new arrival from Dubai.

The early signs of love from Basheer are ignored by Suhara, until she finally relents. The hush-hush affair breaks open one day when the pair disappears from the village as the girl’s to-be husband Usman, the one who gifted the TV, is about to return. It becomes the collective responsibility of the village folk to find Suhara before his arrival, not due to loyalty or love for the family, because they can’t imagine losing the TV.

This is the dead end of all imagination. The well thought-out script, from here on, takes a different route to drive into a perfect climax, leaving very little space to assume the road ahead. There’s no excessive make-up or over-the-top drama. The movie cuts a perfect picture of a bygone era.

P.S.: This is not a filmy take on the famous Malayalam novel.