How does the sweeping changes affected by war radically alter economic relations of people and, thereby, themselves. Adoor Gopalakrishnan’s oru pennum randanum (A woman and two men) is all about this. But, when one knows that the film maker has relied on Thakazhi Sivasankara Pillai’s short stories, one hastens to read them. The reason: Adoor’s adaptation is an aesthetical failure.
The very first movie in the collection titled ‘kallante makan’ puts a damper on our lively interest what with its ‘dramatic’ dialogue and melodramatic treatment. I mean by this that rather than foregrounding the economic aspect that Adoor professes to focus on in the movie, he stresses on its emotional qualities. That is one reason why the film, as TV Chandran rightly says, appears to be more a TV serial. Nedumudi Venu and Jagannathan, with their ace acting skills, has solved the issue in the second movie albeit not perfectly. The tone of inappropriate dialogues and slow pace is draped over the whole texture of movie so much that one is forced not to see an Adoor Movie again.
But as I said earlier, the bearing of a war waged somewhere in the world upon the economy of fragile village is a compelling theme. But Adoor might as well tell people to read the books again and again rather than watch his drudgery.
