Rich in its emotional appeal and humour crackling up the narrative, ‘Godha’ is a feel good fun movie. Interestingly, the movie digs up certain perspectives – those pertaining to women and sports – up for scrutiny and comes clean without being overtly preachy or sentimental. There are these host of characters including Aditi, Das and Captain who ace it up and bring on the inspirational tone without being gimmicky. Again, ‘changing for the better’ is presented flawlessly. That said, ‘Godha’ cannot be called a Tovino Thomas movie alone but he has chosen wisely. This is more of Aditi’s tale than Das’.
Like with Desam in Basil’s ‘Kunjiramayanam’ here we have the Kannadikkal village – once upon a time known for their love of wrestling. The older lot in the village has a passionate relationship with the sport while the younger ones have a different opinion about it. There are humourous conflicts arising out of this difference. Captain (Renji Panikar), as called by everyone, was a well known wrestler. His son Anjeyan Das (Tovino), though a former wrestler, is rather insipid and languid. The movie traverses various paths, with Das sent to Punjab for his studies, his encounter with Aditi (Wamiqa Gabbi), Aditi’s visit to Kannadikkal, and the changes that happen.
Without too much being said, the politics of the movie is presented well. Its more about Aditi overcoming her hurdles to achieve her dreams with Das’ help, who acts on Captian’s nudge in the right direction. One might feel resonances of ‘Dhangal’ or ‘Sulthan’ in the narrative, but the similarity ends there. The story and tone is different and the presentation is also one that bears Basil’s signature.
Wamiqa is a pleasure to watch. She has such an amazing screen presence and has handled her role well. She is convincing as a passionate Punjabi wrestler and does her moves admirably. Tovino after ‘Oru Mexican Aparatha’ has a hero role and does full justice to the role. After the languid phase, the change is brought out well in the second half. Renji Panikar packs a punch. It is great to see him mould himself as a wrestler both in body language and emotional quotient. The supporting cast of Aju Varghese, Sreejith Ravi, Dharmajan, Hareesh Perady, Parvathy and a lot of others blends in with the casting. Many of them ups the humour. Basil’s directorial is good and he has gotten the best out of his actors and technicians. The frames by Vishnu Sharma is pleasant and cuts by Abhinav is great. Songs are again gelled well and BGM adds to the drama.
‘Godha’ is a well executed movie which thrills and keeps you emotionally engaged with its tale of change and determination.
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