Pinneyum has almost all the traits of an Adoor Gopalakrishnan film. It happens in the past, is set in a traditional Nair patriarchal house, unrolls in a linear narrative, has characters caught in perplexity and melancholy, formulaic order of shots and minimal use of music. Yet, what differentiates the film from the master craftsman's earlier works is its plot which hardly anyone would expect in an Adoor film.
This time, Adoor's search for a thread ended up in a crime mystery in the recent history of Kerala. Taking a cue from an infamous man missing case, the mystery of which is yet to unravel, the writer-director tries to explore one of the prominent traits of human life — greed.
Individuals encircled in the lost glory of the past and wondering about unattainable heights are a repeated elements in Adoor's films. Pinneyum also has similar elements, including the protagonist Purushothaman Nair (Dileep). The noble "hero" who loses everything, including his self-esteem, soul and identity in pursuit of wealth and fortunes, is an archetype in the history of creativity. Pinneyum, in short, is a modern version of that fallen hero. The film also inquires what happens to those surrounding him in the process of his rise and fall.
The story takes place, let's assume, sometime in the late 90's from the limited on-screen references. The director seems to have taken special care not to reveal any date. The first half details Purushothaman Nair's pursuit of a job that ends with the arrival of a visa. Adoor tries to portray the agonies of a young man whose identity as a family man is in question because of his unemployment. The sequences narrating his dilemmas and helplessness are repetitive and seem to be a shadow of the masterpieces of the filmmaker. The unexpected twist comes in the second half wherein the film's tone and texture changes into that of a crime drama for sometime. By the end of it, the film shifts its focus to the unknown realms of human relationships, and the narrative culminates with the question on the age-old dilemma of one's existential crisis. What's an individual's identity, his face or his integrity? Can happiness be bought at the cost of fellow beings? The film leaves many questions, some answered and some unanswered.
Stock characters and sequences seem to be the blocks in the narrative. Though the film tries to communicate with the audience bringing in the ethical and existential questions, its setting seems to be a limitation. The script doesn't seem to have the tightness that classic works of Adoor's was known to possess. It lacks the subtle, yet celebrated humor in his films.
On the performance side, Kavya Madhavan does a mature act playing various sides of Devi, a school teacher and Purushothaman Nair's wife. Pinneyum is as much about Devi as it is about Purushothaman. Devi is yet another powerful woman in Adoor films, and Kavya succeeds in playing the character in a convincing manner. Purushothaman Nair's character seems to be safe in Dileep's hands. However, the only actor who seems to have been able to unshackle the strictures of method acting in the film is Indrans. In looks, dialogue delivery and gestures, Indrans lives as Kuttan, an innocent man who knows only the route to a hospital and falls prey to the crimes of others. Adoor ropes in Bollywood actor Subodh Bhave to play a crucial role as well
MJ Radhakrishnan's visuals, B. Ajith Kumar's editing and Bijibal's music add to the realistic nature of the film.
Pinneyum does not fall among the best works of Adoor, but it definitely has the Adoor touch in the treatment of its subject and characters.
Onmanorama Rating: 3/5
