Praana Movie Review

Story: Tara Anuradha’s book Music of Freedom has courted controversy for her views on freedom. The writer, who faces threats from fundamentalists, decides to stay in a haunted house to challenge the concept of souls and ghosts. Will she find an answer?

Review: Is one really free in this current society? Tara Anuradha, a successful writer and an independent woman is in a solo journey to find the meaning of freedom. The writer, who challenges fundamentalists and hesitates to take police protection after publishing her controversial book Music of Freedom, accidentally reads a news about a haunted house in the highlands. Brave and adventurous, Tara (enacted by Nithya Menen), who has been craving for a break, chooses to live in that house. She begins her stay by fixing three cameras in the drawing room to record the happenings in the house and also to find out if ghosts really exist. The single-character movie progresses as she starts questioning the idea of freedom and intolerance in the society.

The concept of a movie with one character immediately triggers curiosity as it is always interesting to figure out how one person can effectively manage to hold the attention of the audience for the duration of the film. For that, the movie will have to depend entirely on the shoulders of that one actor. Nithya as Tara does it. Her character interestingly communicates with the world using different properties such as toys, telephone, television, thoughts, words, books and sometimes even lights.

The combination of well-crafted visuals of PC Sreeram, moving sound design by Resul Pookutty, a well-established, claustrophobic and isolated setting, and VK Prakash’s direction has worked together to create a right atmosphere. Above all, it is the performance of Nithya Menen, as the solo human character in the film that elevates the movie’s standard.

She magnificently fills the screen and takes the audience along with for the entire 120-minute duration, shouldering the responsibility of raising and reducing the anxiety as necessary.

However, Praana can be a good example on how a movie that has the best technical crew can disappoint with a weak script. The dialogues and script are so feeble that the entire effort of the team goes in vain. The below standard Malayalam used by the visual media in the movie, which is a prominent character, is disheartening. Also, Tara, an Indian-English writer is being forced to speak literal Malayalam, which makes it awkward for both the character and the audience.

It is obvious that a movie like Praana is not easy to achieve. Hence, the story must have been constructed in such a way as to hold the attention, and to keep the audience who have invested in the character, their situation, and its outcome. The film, though initially, explains the idea of the character living alone, amplifies the aspects of tension, drama and isolation eventually but then fails to maintain the needed momentum.

As the movie ends, we would be forced to think whether it is right to interpret freedom the way Tara did. Can her definition of freedom be accepted? Well, everybody has the freedom to express. So, does VKP.