Ashakal Aayiram Review: Watch It For Jayaram!

Ashakal Aayiram can be celebrated for the return to form for Jayaram, who owns every scene he is in, but the film around him drags and drags, with no end in sight, notes Arjun Menon.

The mention of Jayaram and his son Kalidas Jayaram on screen together brings back fond memories for a certain demographic of audiences in Kerala. Long before the words 'Nepo Kid' became the topic of the day, Jayaram quietly introduced his son as a child performer in the memorable 2000 drama, Kochu Kochu Santhoshangal, directed by Sathyan Anthikad.

The reunion of the father-son duo

The real-life father-son duo played the same roles in their first onscreen partnership to great acclaim, and the film became a classic in Malayalam cinema. After collaborating again as father and son (wildly different, sad setting and characters) with Siby Malayil's wrenching domestic drama Ente Veedu Appuvinteyum, Jayaram and his son took their easy-going camaraderie on screen to more testing grounds, playing a father and son railing against a personal tragedy.

After almost a 23 year gap, the father-son duo is back together on screen with Ashakal Aayiram.

The film, directed by Prajeeth of Oru Vadakkan Selfie fame, sees them pick up right where they left off from the previous two films.

It's as though the cute banter in Kochu Kochu Santhoshangal and the edgy, melodramatic weight of their conflicted relationship in Ente Veedu Appuvinteyum, slowly but assuredly morphed into the next obvious stage in their bond: A conflicted friendship. As any parent of an entitled millennial would tell you, bringing up children in the dynamically changing world of the social media ecosystem, where the ground realities and bitterness of everyday life are in a direct tryst with the need for quick fame and unearned social media cred, is fodder enough for multitudes of films.

What is Ashakal Aayiram about?

Executive produced and co-written by Jude Anthony Joseph, Ashakal Aayiram is a rehash of familiar inter-generational dramas built around fathers and sons, sharing a shared sense of contempt for each other's line of thought and ways of getting around it.

The film centres on this conflict between an ambitious son and a simpleton father, who doesn't understand the shortcuts his son deems necessary for success.

It's a realistic update on the kind of relationship featuring the open, straightforward conversations in Kochu Kochu Santhoshangal would have morphed into over the years, with the pragmatic father looking out for his family, in an ever-changing world that he doesn't quite understand.

The film does not break new ground and is satisfied regurgitating storytelling tropes that have worked in the past.

Ashakal Aayiram takes the tone of earnest emotions and light, breezy humour.

The familiar yet prescient conflict at the heart of Ashakal Aayiram

Ashakal Aayiram follows Ajeesh (Kalidas Jayaram), a slightly irreverent young man whose life's aim is to become a matinee idol. His middle-class, medical representative father, Hariharan (Jayaram), could not be any more different from his son.

He leads a fairly grounded life, hustling away at a competitive job, learning the new ways of his children and their expectations, and being the most wholesome dad and husband on the block with a self-imposed glass ceiling to what he aspires to achieve in life.

Early on, he tells his wife that he is tired and not able to cope with the demanding physical requirements of his work. His son's wayward ways are a cause of some familiar tension in the family.

However, Ajeesh's dream of being a film star is upended one fine day, when the attention and fame come in search of his unsuspecting dad. It's an interesting logline for a timely examination of the volatility of the modern family unit and the ironic ways things pan out with devastating personal consequences.

Ashakal Aayiram is a light movie that does not take itself too seriously and keeps up the levity in its examination of a serious predicament.

The performances in Ashakal Aayiram

Jayaram is in form, playing the part that made him a superstar in the 1990s. You can see him transcending the one-note writing in certain stretches to sublime 'dad jokes', a new facet of his onscreen persona.

Jayaram is comfortable letting his son and the young brigade take charge. His presence is an incidental detail, often called upon to question the callout life choices of his son and the ones around him.

It's fascinating to see Jayaram go from being the clueless, entitled son ousted by his father from 1999's Veendum Chila Veetukarynagal to ageing gracefully into fatherhood all these years later and taking on the role of a father plagued by his son's directionless existence.

Kalidas tries his best with the material that is presented to him and pulls off the easy banter with Jayaram. But he is clearly not up to the gravitas and emotional roundedness his character needs. His Malayalam sounds a bit rusty, and you can see him struggling through the flimsy material.

Their performances elevate the tropes in the screenwriting and keep the drama ticking.

Sharafudheen gets an interesting supporting performance as a schemer who contributes to the rift between the father and son.

Asha Sarath is not given much scope, and uses her familiarity with such archetypal casting to her advantage.

Ishaani Krishna is also sidelined in the bigger narrative in her first major role as a leading lady.

What does not work in Ashakal Aayiram

The energy in Ashakal Aayiram is largely monosyllabic in the sense that scenes end as they pick up some agency and end on broad proclamations. It's old school to almost a fault and slightly patronising its treatment of its critique of dreams.

The dialogues feel under-written and you don't get the sense of emotional connection being lost and recaptured between the family, as the irreconcilable differences between the father and son feel schematic and riddled with cliches.

Every development in the latter half of Ashakal Aayiram feels weightless and hurried. The fertile idea of the father getting what the son wants, only to be driven to a collapse of the family unit, is treated with a sense of distance. You don't feel the emotional core of the monologues about life and the fleeting temptations of modern life.

Everything becomes a side note and a throwaway punchline, over confident of its own shallow observations.

Sanal Dev's music is another downer as nothing in the music department seems to be working with the material. Ashakal Aayiram can be celebrated for the return to form for Jayaram, who owns every scene he is in, but the film around him drags and drags, with no end in sight.

Ashakal Aayiram Review Rediff Rating: