Briefly Reviewed – Vinesh Viswanath’s ‘Sthanarthi Sreekkuttan’

Director Vinesh Viswanath makes a delightful debut with Sthanarthi Sreekuttan, where he sails through one of the toughest jobs in the film business: making a movie with kids and about kids, but also treating these kids the way you’d treat adults. They are not “cute-ified”. He has a remarkable cast of youngsters, and every one of them has been directed beautifully. In this story centered around a classroom election in a government school, Vinesh wants to imbibe the spirit of a “mass movie”, and his shot division (rather, the way he and his editor have reimagined the screenplay, with slightly exaggerated cutaways and brilliantly timed reaction shots) is extraordinary. I kept smiling throughout, and when I wasn’t smiling, I was laughing out loud at, say, the couple that’s supposed to bring bad luck. And yet, the last shot before the end credits brings a lump in the throat. The messaging is beautiful, and it’s done with just one visual. Even the life lessons (“you must not be a coward, you must face up to tough situations) are delivered casually.

The big names in the cast include Aju Varghese and Saiju Kurup – both are terrific. Aju plays the nominal villain, though it might have helped if the film had humanised him a little. For all the “build-up”, his character doesn’t quite deliver what we expect. But Aju never strays from the character’s meter, always maintaining a mild air of mystery. We want to know who this man is and what has made him so bitter. As for Saiju, he plays a broad, crowd-pleasing character almost like a grown-up cartoon. As the screenplay moves from episode to episode, the audience is sure to have their favourites. But I think almost everyone will agree that the cricket match with the spectacular commentary brings the house down. Yes, some of the subplots don’t work as well as the others, but I really didn’t care because Sthanarthi Sreekuttan is the rare political film (the frontbenchers in class versus the back-benchers, and the “oppressor” teacher) that delivers its message of equality and hope with a ton of good spirit.