HEY JUDE (2018)

Critic - No.156

Director: Shyamprasad
Casts: Nivin Pauly, Trisha Kirshnan, Siddique, Vijay Menon, Neena Kurup
Language: Malayalam
Genre: Drama / Romance
Music: Gopi Sundar, Rahul Raj, Ouseppachan, M.Jayachandran

SYNOPSIS:
Life takes a beautiful turn when a socially awkward, mathematic genius Jude (Nivin Pauly) and an extroverted talented singer Crystal (Trisha) become friends.

REVIEW:
The film starts off by a narration of how Jude explains that happiness is expressed by a smile. He conveys it like a theory and calculation. After the opening credits, we are pulled into the world of Jude, his fascination of oceanology, his rigid timetable routine and his OCD behaviours of how he wants his things to be. We get to see how socially awkward Jude is but also witness his tenderness through his passion towards mathematics.

With a neat progressive sequences, we get to understand Jude’s family and each of their character very quickly. Shyamprasad’s writing brilliance lies on how seamlessly he makes the characters grow in us throughout the film.

The comedic moments between Vijay Menon and Siddique, play out well. Both of these veterans are amazingly competitive on screen with their seasoned performances. Especially, during the revelation scene between Jude parents and Vijay Menon, the film’s emotional peak can be felt without even the lead in it. The character arc of all the roles are well built and complete. The dialogues are very well structured and nothing looks very blatant for a film with a life message like this.

The bond between Jude and Crystal is done in a tasteful manner with nothing being so directly expressed as romance. The bond between them is established as more like a companionship where they untangle each of their weaknesses. The message that every human being is unique with their own form of abnormality is wholeheartedly expressed in the film.

On the flip side, it’s quite unsettling to see money minded Dominic (Jude’s father) leaving his business to his young daughter who is clearly shown as quite irresponsible from the start. Despite the beautiful bond displayed, one might feel that we could have seen more interesting situations between Jude and Crystal that could have made their chemistry stronger. Even the last trip they take to play in the wedding, seems a little too fast. This minimizes the impact that it could have given at the ending. 

Nivin Pauly lives as Jude with his detailed performance without overdoing at any parts. Trisha who debuts in Malayalam, stamps her experience with an intense performance. For an actress who is in the industry for 16 years, we barely saw her get a meaty role in Tamil and Telugu since Vinnaithaandi Varuvaya (2009) which was released decade ago. She acts in one Malayalam movie and she gets one of her best roles in her career. This seriously shows how Telugu and Tamil cinema has failed to use her for a long time.

Technically, the film looks breezy and charming. Cinematographer Girish Gangadharan captures the surreal locales of Goa beautifully while the four music composers (Gopi Sundar, Rahul Raj, Ouseppachan, M.Jayachandran) add on to the flavour of the film perfectly with their fun sounds.

VERDICT: 
Elevated by earnest performances by the lead pair, ‘Hey Jude’ is a charmingly weaved coming of age film that celebrates the innate beauty of each individual human beings.

CELLULOID METER- 3.25/5: