Android Kunjappan and human’s love for machines

summing up my favourite movie of last year

Android Kunjappan Ver. 5.25 is a really beautiful movie set in Kannur which tells you a story of Subramanyan, an Engineering graduate who got a job in Russia in a robot manufacturing company. The problem arises when he has to leave his father behind. He hires a nurse to look after his old father but his adamant father want his son back with him.

The film has so many layers and is written beautifully. The naivety and rural culture of people of the town in depicted beautifully. There is a scene where Saiju’s character thinks the robot is named “Robert”, a christian robot and a really funny sequence where they check out the Robot’s horoscope.

Each characters, be it the tailor guy who brings Dosa without curry everyday, be it the bunch of young and old men envying about Subramanyan’s job, or the old ladies of the town, the priest in the temple, the newspaper guy, the drama actor, the drunkard neighbor, the angry kid of the neighbor, Soudamini’s daughter character, each and every being on the frame has a definition and is justified beautifully.

And the character of Rajesh Madhavan, the guy who wants to kill Kunjappan was damn funny. The naiveity and all the dumb things he and the drunk neighbor does is performed well.

The actors did their jobs perfectly, giving their all in for the roles, even smaller ones. Suraj Venjaramood, played the father role beautifully, and his ever inspiring that half laugh — half cry in the climax, real goosebump feels. Soubin Shahir as Subramanyan was really beautiful. The trying to be a good son, taking care of his father and his wishes to go out and explore the world, from his father’s care, he did a good job. The real guy behind the Android Kunjappan, Suraj Thellekad, actually gave the Robot some “life”. The crew revealed the secret lately but it actually kept the question inside the viewers mind for a long time, “How the hell did they do it?”

Apart from the VFX and the body suit what added to the Robot was the sound. The mechanical movement sounds were perfectly blended to make people say, damn boiii, Kunjappan is real. Kudos to Jayadevan Chekkedath on that. Another notable element was the use of silence throughout the movie. The scene where Bhaskara Poduval and Subramanyan argue about Kunjappan was brilliant.

The cinematography is brilliant. Each frame is shot, framed and colored beautifully. The movements are elegant and smooth adding to the story telling.

It only goes to prove again and again that people in the Malayalam film industry can make really good movies in very low budget. This was a well made Sci-Fi, Comedy, Drama and a gem among the many movies and it should be given more attention. This is a milestone.

Why I feel this is the best film? The film begins with this frame right here.

The film is about how the Robot affects the life Bhaskara Poduval. A person who loved his son more than anything in the world, the son who should take care of his father leaves him alone and then returns with a Robot that is capable of taking care and helping humans and is as naive as a child. Their bond deepens as they live together. The robot learns to cook food, grate coconut and grind rice batter perfectly like any malayali (why do I sound like anto joseph suddenly?). Like any other human, Poduval also gets attached to Kunjappan, treating him like a son.

Well, whom else could’ve he trusted and loved when his only son left him? It gives an insight of how a machine affects a person’s life, how humans love anything so deeply, be it a non living thing.

There are people who go crazy over the first motorcycle they bought, or their first house. People can’t handle losing their things, and mainly the memories connected to them.

This film has the charm, the intimacy of the maker, in each bit and frames of the film. It is indeed the best and true to self work of Ratheesh Balakrishnan Poduval.

Kunjappan’s last dialogues are that he is programmed to help humans, not love them. He cannot be loved. But Poduvaal loved Kunjappan like a child. He only wanted to take him away from his son, and keep him safe, from the company that will dismantle and erase the Robot’s memories. Poduvaal trusted the machine, and was damn sure that it won’t kill him. He trusted the robot like a human child. But the robot was no human. What defines humans then? Maybe this love and care is what makes a human, human.