किडा-ए-सुलेमानी

कीड़ा-ए-सुलेमानी : My quick take on Mamooty’s ‘Puzhu’ (पुळु)

It's a labored slow-paced arty movie that can give complexity to any snail in a marathon, I had to wake up three times to complete these two hours of a slow burn. Handsome hunk Mamooty was the sole reason I chose to watch this new movie on Sony liv. he plays a complex character of a retired police officer who is a strict disciplinarian, a micromanager, a stern parent, and a paranoid who lives with a fear in mind (किडा) that someone is out there to kill him. This paranoia then reflects on his father-son relationship where his son is under his strict vigilance. To add to the complexity of this character, Mamooty is shown as a single parent, his mother is bedridden and his sister has married a guy who belongs to a lower caste. (not sure if this caste divide has done any value addition to the plot)

Mamooty has played this complex and mean character with aplomb, however, as a huge fan of Mamooty, I found it difficult to accept him in this grey character (he is the too-good-looking guy for such roles). The plot is based on the mythological story of King Parikshit and snake king Takshaka. I am sure you would have read this story of how Takshaka turns into a ‘Puzhu’ (worm) to seek revenge on king parikshit.

Looks like this is a maiden venture of the director Ratheena, to direct a megastar in her first venture itself is a commendable effort. However I felt the movie was overstretched just to establish how the character of Mamooty is a stickler of discipline and has an OCD mentality, many shots were repeated five to six times eg. The toothbrushing scenes ( now you know why I slept off 3 times while watching the movie 😜)

There are many rave reviews of this movie touting it as a classic but somehow अपून के भेजे का दही हो गया. The movie is watchable in its last 15 minutes only but to reach here one will have to fight your slumber for nearly 90 minutes.

The movie is available in various language options (Hindi included), I watched it iI Malayalam with English subtitles for the simple reason that I did not want to miss out on the rich baritone voice of Mamooty. The movie will take your memory back to the Art movie era of the 80s, if you love such art movies then you will relish this worm (Puzhu) else stay away from this सुलेमानी कीड़ा😉.