Moothon

Moothon (transl.  The Elder One),[1] also known internationally as The Elder One,[2] is a 2019 Indian action thriller film[3][4] written and directed by Geetu Mohandas, and jointly produced by S. Vinod Kumar, Anurag Kashyap, Ajay G. Rai and Alan McAlex. Featuring a bilingual narrative in Jeseri dialect of Malayalam and Hindi, the film stars Nivin Pauly, Shashank Arora, Sobhita Dhulipala, Melissa Raju Thomas, Sanjana Dipu and Roshan Mathew. Hindi-language dialogues were written by Anurag Kashyap. The film premiered at the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival and received a positive critical response.

Moothon
First look poster
Directed byGeetu Mohandas
Produced byAnurag Kashyap
S. Vinod Kumar
Ajay G. Rai
Alan McAlex
Screenplay byGeetu Mohandas
Anurag Kashyap
StarringNivin Pauly
Shashank Arora
Sanjana Dipu
Sobhita Dhulipala
Melissa Raju Thomas
Roshan Mathew
Music bySagar Desai
CinematographyRajeev Ravi
Edited byB. Ajithkumar
Production
company
Release date
  • September 2019 (2019-09) (Toronto)
  • 8 November 2019 (2019-11-08) (India)
CountryIndia
LanguageMalayalam
Hindi
Jeseri

Plot

The story is about a 14-year-old child, Mulla from Lakshadweep who travels to Mumbai in search of Moothon (elder brother), Akbar who left the island for Mumbai many years ago. Mulla is a child living in Lakshadweep islands under the care of Moosa, a fisherman. He is seen to be wearing baggy clothes and doesn't go to school due to bullying. The bullies make him wear lipstick and a veil, and he hates girly clothes. He laments his brother who disappeared from the island and tries to search for him. Moosa tells him to drop the issue and to stop imitating his brother's mannerisms and tells that Mulla can't become like Moothon by wearing his clothes.

He suspects that Moothon left due to an affair with Aamina (or having been cursed by her) and tries to get her number. Moosa responds that the only Aamina he knows is a fish. However, he manages to get her number. One day, while getting bullied, his friends help him strike back. However, Mulla gets slapped by Moosa for this and he leaves the island by taking a boat under the cover of darkness and proceeds to get hit by a large wave in the ocean, capsizing the boat. He hallucinates a mermaid rescuing him, but in fact, gets rescued by a ship.

The ship authorities send him to a police station and there is a communication barrier as he doesn't know Hindi. From there, he is sent to a govt-funded orphanage. He is hesitant in taking a bath together with the boys and from there he befriends Raju. The warden tries to rape him, but he manages to escape from him due to Raju's intervention. Raju tells Mulla about his mother Rosi and where he could find her. Mulla escapes from the orphanage the next day in search of Raju's mother. Mulla finds Raju's mother to be a prostitute, who helps him when he mentioned Raju. She provides him shelter and introduces him to a tea seller, who gives him a livelihood selling tea. The neighborhood boys bully him and steal his money, which he had been saving for calling Aamina.

One day, when Mulla was resting on the street after work he gets kidnapped by a local goon known as "Bhai", a druggie, who is involved in child trafficking and drug dealing. He tries to escape, but is caught by the street boys. Bhai plans on 'taming' Mulla for subsequent sale. Bhai's sidekick, Salim sets up the deal. However, Bhai himself is from the islands and understands Mulla, who says he came looking for his brother. Bhai tells him that he had once killed an islander who tried to survive, but couldn't and came to Bhai for death. Later, Bhai sets up Mulla to deliver a package (seemingly drugs). However, on seeing a cop, Mulla flees, dropping the package. However, smartphones drop out of the package. Mulla comes back to Bhai's haunt and tries to steal cash to take his phone. Bhai however, comes back saying thta his sidekick, Salim had warned him not to trust Mulla. Seeing this, Bhai is enraged which makes him slap Mulla. He asks who Mulla was trying to call and Mulla reveals that he is trying to find his Moothon, Akbar and that he is in fact his sister. Bhai is shocked hearing the revelation, and understands that Mulla is in fact his sister, although Bhai does not reveal this to Mulla. Bhai warns Mulla to stay inside until he comes back. One of boys from the street enters the house looking for Mulla while she was bathing and finds out that Mulla is, in fact, a girl and falls in love with her afterwards.

The story backdrops to Bhai's life in the islands as Akbar. He lives in Lakshwadweep and is a performer of the Muslim ritual Kuthu Ratheeb, along with Moosa. They are professional ritual dancers, and the dance uses daggers to cause self harm, seemingly for healing purposes. During a performance, he makes eye contact with a young man named Ameer, who had just returned from Bombay. It is revealed that Ameer is Aamina's brother. Aamina's family is close with Akbar's as its seen that she helps prepare ointment for Akbar. Ameer is a mute and he had learnt sign language from Bombay, though incidentally, Akbar too knows it apart from his family. Ameer is romantically interested in Akbar, however, Akbar doesn't return his feelings at first. Ameer invites Akbar to his home when Aamina and her mother had gone for Kochi. However, Akbar is reluctant. Later he confronts Ameer and the two start a relationship. But this upsets Akbar's relatives and Moosa, who warns Ameer to stay away from Akbar. Ameer tells Akbar that he doesn't want to get married and Akbar says that he wants to visit Mumbai and see pigeons. Ameer gets married but he wants to leave the island with Akbar and settle in Mumbai. But Akbar refuses to leave with Ameer and he commits suicide.

The film returns to the present with that and Akbar, knowing that his boss is looking for her, approaches their sister Aamina. She is a cabaret dancer working in her husband's cabaret bar in Mumbai. Akbar asks her to take care of Mulla, but she refuses. So he leaves Mulla to his transgender friend Lateef. The don threatens to kill Akbar and his assistant Salim, if he did not receive the money lost for the dropped package. But Akbar claims a bigger assignment to pay the debt. He is assigned with 20 other thugs to transfer a huge amount of money to a middleman, but fails to do so as he is ambushed by another gang in a vehicle chase, due to backstabbing by a gang member. Mulla runs away from Lateef, who tells her to dress as society wants, and goes back to Bhai's shelter only to realise that Bhai has been caught by the police.

Salim uses this opportunity to sell the girl as promised. Lateef gets Akbar out of jail and upon release, he beats up Salim asking about Mulla's whereabouts. Salim takes Akbar to the place where he sold the girl and Akbar is shocked on seeing something (may be Mulla) and gets shot at the same instance (probably arranged by Salim, who is seen comfortably smoking in the car). Later the boy from the street who fell in love with Mulla knocks on the door of a brothel, and Mulla opens the door. He is shocked by seeing her with long hair and girly clothes and smiles. She smiles in return.

Cast

Production

The screenplay was written by Geetu Mohandas originally under the title Insha' Allah: In Pursuit of Akbar. The story was about a teenager who is in search of his elder brother Akbar. For the script, Geetu won the Global Filmmaking Award at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival, along with four other filmmakers. In January 2016, she announced that it would be made into a feature film in Malayalam and Hindi languages, and filming would commence post monsoon that year.[5]

In January 2017, cast and crew were revealed along with a poster. The title was changed to Moothon (meaning: elder brother, in Malayalam). Produced jointly by Aanand L. Rai for Colour Yellow Productions and Ajay G. Rai and Alan McAlex for JAR Pictures, the film will be distributed by Eros International. Anurag Kashyap wrote the Hindi dialogues. Nivin Pauly plays the leading role along with Shashank Arora as the negative lead. Geetu has mentioned in her interviews that Nivin was not the first person to come to her mind to play the protagonist, after completing the screenplay. She toggled with many names and eventually, the role fell into Nivin's lap. Geetu has reiterated that in this movie, she was not looking for actors but wanted to cast the person in the actor. Her husband Rajeev Ravi handles the cinematography. The film marks Geetu's feature directorial debut in Malayalam.[1] Geetu call the film an "adventure drama", even though she does not believe in confining it into a clear-cut genre, saying "it can always turn into something else".[6]

Filming in Mumbai was concluded by second week of May 2017.[7] Filming resumed in Lakshadweep in May 2018.[8] It was completed on 14 May 2018.[9]

Release

The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2019, with the cast and crew in attendance. It was screened at the Mumbai Film Festival on October 18, 2019. Pauly has stated during an interview that the filmmakers planned for Moothon released theatrically on 8 November 2019.[10]

Critical reception

Moothon generally received positive reviews from the critics. Sify rated the movie 4 on 5 stars and said,"Moothon treads on an unconventional terrain for Malayalam and opens a fascinating world for the viewer. Don’t miss this one!"[11] The News Minute rated the movie 4 on 5 stars and said, "Geetu Mohandas-Nivin Pauly deliver a brilliant film"[12] The Times of India rated the movie 4 on 5 stars and said, "Moothon is what happens when a powerful story meets a competent director who ropes in some of the best artists and technicians, knowing exactly what to get from them, and how. Moothon is a brave film."[13]

The New Indian Express reviewed, "A welcome change for Malayalam film industry overdosed by feel-good films"[14] The Indian Express rated the movie 3 on 5 stars and said, "Nivin Pauly delivers in this dark existential drama."[15] Behindwood rated the movie 3.25 stars on 5 and reviewed, "Moothon is packed with top-notch performances. Nivin Pauly beautifully straddles the contrasting sides of Akbar's character while Roshan Matthew memorably plays the sensitivity of Aamir. Shashank Arora deserves a special mention as Sameer. Moothon is a visceral, grim yet optimistic exploration of human nature."[16]

Dennis Harvey from Variety wrote that "The film benefits from strong performances, particularly by the male leads in the flashback. It also sports flavorful cinematography (Rajeev Ravi) and production design (Abid T.P.). But a story with this much woe on its plate needs to slow down more often to let us fully absorb the cruel turns of fate, and “The Elder One” is often in a confounding rush".[2] The Hindu wrote about the movie as, "Although it does not play out smoothly all through, Moothon has enough depth in it for us to dive deep, and come back with material to ponder. Geetu Mohandas makes a brave statement with her first film in Malayalam."[17] HuffPost wrote, "Nivin Pauly Is Spot On, But Let Down By Inconsistent Writing."[18] Baradwaj Rangan of Film Companion South wrote "One part of me wished this ambitious film had stuck to one story in one timeline, but in a strange way, this in-between mood is what makes the events stand out".[19]

Awards and nominations
Date of Ceremony Award Category Recipient Result Ref.
3 August 2020 New York Indian Film Festival Best Actor Nivin Pauly Won [20]
Best Child Actor Sanjana Dipu Won
Best Director Geetu Mohandas Nominated
Best Film Moothon Won
gollark: I don't think that's true for *everyone*. I generally prefer it, but other people aren't me.
gollark: Some people work in teams. Probably programmers, actually.
gollark: Apparently some schools use(d) similar things, which is very æÆæææÆÆÆÆæææææÆÆÆÆÆÆÆÆææææÆÆÆAAÆÆÆAAÆÆÆÆÆÆÆÆAAÆÆÆAAÆæaaaÆÆAAÆÆAAÆÆAa.
gollark: There are probably some jobs which work significantly better if you can physically talk to people. Although this is just a communication software problem, in many ways.
gollark: Presumably, if this was actually as productive (for normal people doing moderately boring jobs), offices would just work that way to mildly improve morale.

References
  1. "In conversation with Geetu Mohandas". The Hindu. Retrieved 26 January 2017.
  2. Harvey, Dennis (9 September 2019). "Toronto Film Review: 'The Elder One'". Variety. Retrieved 13 May 2018.
  3. "Geetu Mohandas' action thriller 'Moothon' to open MAMI Mumbai film festival 2019". Times of India. 13 August 2019.
  4. "Moothon, Geetu Mohandas' Malayalam action thriller, will open 21st edition of MAMI Mumbai Film Festival". Firstpost. 13 August 2019.
  5. "Geetu Mohandas wins Global Filmmaking award at Sundance Film Festival 2016". The Indian Express. 31 January 2017. Retrieved 31 January 2017.
  6. Sudhish, Navamy. "An all-new outing". The New Indian Express. Retrieved 13 May 2018.
  7. "Moothon's Mumbai schedule over; next is Lakshadweep". The New Indian Express. 15 May 2017. Retrieved 16 May 2018.
  8. Prakash, Asha (13 May 2018). "Nivin and Geethu Mohandas at Moothon location". The Times of India. Retrieved 16 May 2018.
  9. "Geetu Mohandas' Moothon wrapped up". The New Indian Express. 14 May 2018. Retrieved 16 May 2018.
  10. "Nivin Pauly's Moothon gets a release date". 1 November 2019.
  11. "Moothon review: A brilliant film not to be missed". Sify.
  12. https://www.thenewsminute.com/article/moothon-review-geetu-mohandas-nivin-pauly-deliver-brilliant-film-111973
  13. "Moothon Movie Review {4.0/5}: Critic Review of Moothon by Times of India" – via timesofindia.indiatimes.com.
  14. "'Moothon' review: A welcome change for Malayalam film industry overdosed by feel-good films". The New Indian Express.
  15. "Moothon movie review: Nivin Pauly delivers in this dark existential drama". 9 November 2019.
  16. "Moothon (aka) Moothoon review". Behindwoods. 8 November 2019.
  17. Praveen, S. r (8 November 2019). "'Moothon' review: a brave statement from Geetu Mohandas" – via www.thehindu.com.
  18. "'Moothon' Review: Nivin Pauly Is Spot On, But Let Down By Inconsistent Writing". HuffPost India. 8 November 2019.
  19. "Moothon Movie Review: Geetu Mohandas' Drama Is Bumpy And Overstuffed, But With Passages Of Great Beauty And A Superb Nivin Pauly". FilmCompanion.
  20. "Malayalam Star Nivin Pauly Wins Best Actor Award for Moothon at New York Indian Film Festival". news18.com.
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