Note Book - Legible and Neat

Twenty-three months after his debut film Udayananu Tharam, one of the classics in Malayalam cinema, the expectations from Roshan Andrews's next, a three crore extravaganza with all new stars, manages to spring a lot of surprises. Having embarked on an unexpectedly bold theme, the director and the producer have made a brave attempt all through the proceedings, to capture the zest and colours of adolescent life.

“Children should grow up with their families and not in boarding schools.” Roshan has used his new film 'Notebook' to convey this strong message. And they have succeeded in planting the idea successfully with negligible compromise, with beautiful frames and splendidly dealt sequences. Roshan has proved in many a sequence with his directorial stamp that he is not a one film wonder. Accolades must also be made to Grihalekshmy productions for having given such a film.

The film set against the colourful backdrop of a boarding school in Ooty delves into issues like friendship, love, parental care and sophistry of adolescence in a sensitive manner. Everything about the film is colourful.

The film has three girls as protagonists. They are in a boarding school trying to find out a way to overcome their emotional problems. Saira (Roma), Pooja (Parvathy) and Sridevi (Maria) are classmates and close friends studying in twelfth standard in Lord's Academy in Ooty. The threesome come from totally different backgrounds. Pooja lives with her mother (Seeta), Saira comes from a broken home and Sridevi’s parents are heart smitten on their daughter.

Pooja is the brightest student in the class and also the school leader while Saira is the naughtiest one in the group, even though she is more emotional due to her family problems. Due to her separated parents (Suresh Gopi & Aishwarya), Saira, who is in hostel always plays fowl to get caught every time by their principal whom they passionately call Dracula. Saira and Sridevi who are in the hostel find their best friends in Firoz (Majo Joseph) and Suraj Menon (Sooraj) in their class. Firoz is a modest guy, bad in studies but crazy about music. Suraj, the hero of his class falls in love with Sridevi and in a school excursion, they end up making love which results in Sridevi becoming pregnant. The rest of the story revolves around how the friends handle the pressure of pregnancy and how they find ways to overcome the associated troubles.

Roshan wins a major battle by selecting the right actors in the lead, who look every inch the characters they play. The all new star cast tries their best to bring in energy and freshness into their roles. Going by the way it is all packaged, the director gets a perfect ten with a different narrative style, camera angles and lighting that match the mood and the background score which fits the storyline perfectly. Not anytime in the recent past have we seen a movie with so much visual splendour. The definite plus points of the film are the camera of R Diwakaran and the effective re-recording, which in many ways, has kept intact the continuity of a racy narrative. The screenplay is quite upright and on the flip side, it is the dialogues which often go haywire. For instance, the way the principal deals with a boy who climbs the clock tower threatening to commit suicide, could have been dealt with in a better manner.

Among the cast, Roma as Saira excels, projecting herself as a definite prospective performer, while Parvathy and Maria are promising as well. Mejo Joseph, who has also scored the songs for the film, has put in a very impressive performance as Feroz Ahmed, the rather meek and shy student who has a passion for music. Songs tuned by him for the film are hummable and are well picturised.

Suresh Gopi as Brigadier Alexander (Saira's father) does an impressive guest role. Seeta as Pooja's mother too is impressive. Bobby as the Principal-Father Antony, nicknamed Dragon by the students, is also a good choice for the role.

The real problem with the circumambience of strict and naughty dwellers of a boarding school is the distance that the happenings on screen have from the normal folk, because generally, not many parents send their children to residential schools. Much of the audience don’t relate to the theme hence.

Notebook is a film made with the best of intentions, rarely so in Malluwood. Roshan and Grihalekshmy need to be appreciated for the rare effort and for the conviction with which they have handled the sensitive theme.