Fun-game chasers and lolly-pop revellers, please move aside and make way for the unstoppable march of life! Left Right Left opens with a philosophical note: what form a person are the genetic codes in the DNA, some unknown elements and what one sees around him or her as a child. The rest is a story which moots this dictum.
The saga is spread in three different eras beginning from 1969 till the present times and all the different ages have been meticulously reproduced. The story is set in the spirited battleground of leftist politics where ardent activists who hang on to their ideals are pitted against whip smart veterans who apply logic for their survival and success.
The film depicts the story of mainly three different persons who come into existence in more or less on the same stretch of time and get linked to each other. One is Roy Joseph (Murali Gopi), a communist firebrand, who was left partially crippled in a clash during his collage politics. Living with his wife Anitha (Lena), who was his partner in party politics, Roy still holds the same political values but lands in the middle of a tussle between poor and powerless cronies of leftist ideals and the all-powerful and merciless authority of the establishment.
The second is an ordinary police personnel, Jayan (Indrajith), who has his own justification to break rules in his strife to live happily. What drives him to pursuing a dream of making Jennifer (Remya Nambeesan), a nurse, his wife was her resemblance with a nurse, who had attended his dying sister in his childhood. The third is Sahadevan (Hareesh Peradi), the ever-formidable political leader who lets no one come in his way towards his personal and political achievements.
Though politics is predominantly the subject the movie takes a neutral side and reinvents a typical political situation whereby two senior leaders find themselves at loggerheads against each other. Within no time the audience gets to identify each and every character and the masters of the realpolitik they are aping.
It seems Indrajith doesn't have to act much, he simply lives a character. And, Harish Peradi, just stand aback and take a bow to the accolades for your awesome performance. Actress Sethulakshmi, as Jayan's Mother, too thrills the audience with a brilliant piece of acting. While Remya Nambeesan carries ahead the character of Jennifer Lena adds one more feather to her cap. None else would have been close to the role. Almost every actor has performed exceedingly well in the film. Though Murali Gopi displays only a mediocre level of acting compared to his earlier flicks, he emerges well above the mark in the department of script and dialogues.
Left Right Left is essentially an absorbing portrayal of the present day socio-political milieu in the state and therefore to some extent a political satire. There is story, drama, evolution, suspense and twists. Dialogues are mostly good except that they fizzle out at some points. The thought-provoking maxims in the film reach its peak when Sahadevan delivers a comment on the life of news saying a piece of news and its effect survives only until a bigger news breaks.
Shehnad Jalal definitely deserves a special mention for the commendable way his camera follows the drama without losing a bit of its mood and ambiance. So does the costumes by S.B.Satheesan, which has been remarkably perfect. Make-up by Raheem Kodungaloor too stands a class apart.
If one tries to find out pitfalls there can be some; like mimicking of real politicians, stinginess of happy moments, the movie's inexorable length, and so on. Inter-cuts from the middle of scenes are also irritating interruption to the flow. And when Roy asks Anitha to play the guitar and sing, it looks like an awkward and unmatchable appendage initially. But when the song spreads its wings and takes the flight the sequence becomes a wonderful experience. All the songs and the background score by Gopi Sunder are outstanding, though the BGM was bit of a nuisance in the beginning.
Director Arun Kumar has been into the habit of picking up multiple strands of plots and riding on them. However, it's really tough to carry them forward and finally channel them into a common conclusion. It requires an exceptional streak of craftsmanship. Arun Kumar simply proves to have grown into a seasoned director of that distinction. He is one notch up in his march towards perfection and is getting better with every outing.
The crowd scenes are excellent and the way some emotional nuances are made deeply moving through simple playact is something worth mentioning. One obvious instance is the moment when Jayan's mother, in her rustic manner, describes the character of her son.
We find that the film is all about life in its sundry dimensions and is, quintessentially, a feast for the discerning film connoisseurs. The movie ends with a note that no matter what ideals one holds to himself, life is something that moves on its own with its deafening treads and considering no theories whatsoever - left...right...left..
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