Pranayam

About the film

Pranayam (transl. Love) is a 2011 Indian Malayalam-language romantic drama film written and directed by Blessy. The film stars Mohanlal, Jaya Prada, and Anupam Kher. The plot revolves around the love bond between the characters of Mathews (Mohanlal), Grace (Jaya Prada), and Achutha Menon (Kher). The music for the film was composed by M. Jayachandran. The film opened to positive reviews from critics and was also average at the box office.

Plot

The film begins with Achutha Menon, a man in his late sixties, arriving in the city to stay with his daughter-in-law and granddaughter after suffering a heart attack. He was a football player who had been selected to be on the State team but could never play for the team. He moulded his life and career to accommodate the romance in his life.

One day, Menon sees his former wife, Grace, in the elevator and collapses. Grace, who is staying in the same building with her husband, daughter, and son-in-law, arranges for him to be taken to the hospital and even pays the deposit for the emergency treatment. Slowly their relationship is revealed as she is very anxious about his condition.

Grace's husband, Mathews, is a retired philosophy professor who has his own philosophy of life. He is now bedridden and requires his wife's help to accomplish the most basic day-to-day tasks. Their physical intimacy is an indication that they may have led a fulfilling life as a couple before the tragedy struck.

Production

Blessy claims that he has gone through almost 25 years of hibernation for Pranayam. He says, "For so many years I have been carrying the subject in me as a writer, journeying with it as visuals and words. I have now transferred that to the characters. It's like letting go of something that was your own until now. And that is painful." Blessy had discussed the storyline with writer-director Lohithadas, during the making of his Joker, in which he was the associate director. Lohithadas had told Blessy about how he had envisaged Mathews. After Bhramaram, Blessy had started writing a story based on a few youngsters but didn't feel excited about it after a while as many similar stories were flooding theatres. Suddenly the story of Pranayam came back into his mind. About the scripting, Blessy says, "The interesting thing about this script is that even before I started writing it, what I had in my mind was its last frame. So I started developing the journey back from the last frame and completed it."

P. K. Sajeev and Anne Sajeev are the producers under the banner of Fragrant Nature Film Creations. Aneesh Jacob is the executive producer. The first schedule of shooting started on 16 February 2011 at Cheranallur in Kerala. Mohanlal joined the set on 23 February. The second schedule started on June first week in Kochi. Pranayam was shot on locations, including Ernakulam, Fort Kochi, Valinokkam, Kullu Manali, and Rewari. Satheesh Kurup wielded the camera for the film. "There is an invisible spark that flashes just seeing the look or a smile of a person and when the beauty within him is revealed to you. You don't need to see a bio-data or wade through his past work. You just connect with him," explains Blessy on his decision to hand over the camera to a novice like Satheesh Kurup.

The film was released on a credit as Mohanlal's 300th. It is the third time Blessy and Mohanlal signed a bond together after Thanmathra and Bhramaram. The film will have the credit for reuniting Mohanlal and Jayaprada as a couple after Devadoothan. Mohanlal and Anupam Kher are on the screens again after Praja and Indrajaalam. Asked about his experience and challenges that he faced while working in an unfamiliar language, Anupam Kher said "Acting in a different language film is like being thrown into a swimming pool without knowing how to swim. Blessy being a good trainer, acting in Pranayam didn't pose a challenge."

Music

The music launch of the film was held on 9 August in Kochi. The function was attended by the film's cast and also by the music director, M. Jayachandran. Manorama Music has released a Music Special Website which welcomes reviews from the audience.

Reception

The film was released coinciding with the festival of Onam on 31 August 2011.

A critic from Sify.com said, "Pranayam is in an entirely different league, far above most films that we come across in Malayalam, but still it falls short of being a brilliant one. It has some fine moments, but you will need some patience to find those, in between!".

Paresh C. Palicha of Rediff.com who published an overall negative review concluded it by writing: "Pranayam, that claimed to be an unusual love story, has to depend on its protagonists to work as it lacks depth and is much below expectations from a director of Blessy's calibre."

Controversy

The film's plot is similar to Paul Cox's Australian film Innocence (2000). However, Blessy hasn't accepted that his movie is based on a foreign film. A controversy arose when actor Salim Kumar raised plagiarism charges against Blessy and criticized the Kerala State Film Awards jury for awarding him with the Best Director title. Noted film critic Vijayakrishnan says, "Pranayam is not only inspired by Innocence but most of the shots are also similar. The jury selected was not competent enough and the panel should be able to spot the difference between an original and a copy." Jury chairman Bhagyaraj clarifies: "I watched the Hollywood movie after Salim's criticism because I was in a dilemma whether my judgment was wrong. But now I am confident that it was correct. After watching it, I was happy that we gave the award to Blessy whose movie was clearly not based on that movie. In fact, the love triangle has been happening ever since love came into this universe. There are many movies that have this triangular formula. In fact, if Blessy had taken it from that movie, it would have given him a bad name. But now I can say that he has not taken it from that movie. In fact, the characterisation of Mohanlal has been done so well."

Key details