Aashiq Abu’s ‘Neelavelicham’ (Tovino Thomas, Rima Kallingal) nails the retro look-and-feel, but lacks an emotional connect
- Trinity Auditorium
- Apr 20, 2023
- 1 min read
Spoilers ahead…
Aashiq Abu’s is based on the short story of the same name by Vaikom Muhammad Basheer, which was made into a blockbuster film version named in 1964. That’s the year the new film is set in, and if there is one image that sums up , it’s that of a romance being depicted by two flowers, with a butterfly flitting between them. This romance is told in a flashback, a time when the only way to show intimacy on screen was through suggestive nature imagery. But there’s another exquisite layer here, which comes from a song in the older film that is recreated here: ““. The dancer is Bhargavi (Rima Kallingal), and she’s outfitted like a butterfly. (The lyrics, too, refer to her as a butterfly: .) And flowers are an integral part of the film’s decor.
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