Sufiyum Sujathayum: An phantasm worth 'listening'

In a land complete of such sleepless folks, can Sufi and his Sujatha slip right into a deep and easy sleep? The first-ever Malayalam film to be released on an OTT platform (Amazon Prime), Sufiyum Sujathayum narrates the tale of forbidden love among a Sufi saint called, err... Sufi (Dev Mohan) and a speech-impaired upper-caste Hindu lady Sujatha (Aditi Rao Hydari), with 'love jihad' thrown in.

The concept of 'love jihad', though, spoken in hushed and not-so-hushed tones in this a part of the world, has no longer been explored much in Malayalam cinema, with the exception of, likely, the critically-acclaimed.

But Naranipuzha Shanavas's Sufiyum Sujathayum is no Kismat. It turned into in no way supposed to be. It is greater of a musical journey, through a small-town, possibly close to the Kerala-Karnataka border, with its personal rustic charm, superbly framed by Anu Moothedathu. And whether or not the protagonists control to achieve closure, 10 years down the line.

The track is brilliant and is the saving grace. M. Jayachandran has invoked the Sufi spirit admirably, though, at times, the repetitive 'Roohi' in the history reminds one of the iconic BGM in yet every other 'forbidden love' saga, Ennu Ninte Moideen, where it turned into used greater aptly, perhaps. To his credit, Jayachandran, right from the azaan to the clarinet portion, manages to offer goosebumps to the listener.

The discordant note, however, is the writing. Shanavas, who is additionally the scriptwriter, fails to feature intensity to either the plot or his characters. In fact, the love itself between Sufi and Sujatha, that's the bedrock of the film, is woefully under-explored. As a viewer, it is hard to believe that their love transcends obstacles of time.

The absence of any real war is yet another sin that Shanavas the scriptwriter commits. A Sufi saint, on a spiritual quest, falling for a 22-year-old woman, need to motive some internal struggle, right? But no longer in Sufi. Even Sujatha, who has been raised in a conservative higher-caste household falls madly in love with the saint at first sight. Agreed that he whirls like a dream, and she is an angelic beauty, however, is that enough for those to behave like lovestruck teenagers? Even the 'love jihad' perspective makes best a visitor look or two, after promising tons. The loopholes in the script affect the actors, too. Debutant Mohan, reportedly, trained for nine months to get the whirl of the Sufis corrects or even learned Arabic. But his man or woman is on the whole one-dimensional, and, as a result, he looks promising simplest in patches.

Jayasurya, in a prolonged cameo of a suffering husband Raveendran, does justice to his role but the same can not be stated about Hydari, who stands out like a sore thumb. Though the language barrier is taken care of through casting her as a speech-impaired lady, she struggles to now not most effective look the part, however additionally in shape into the role. And it's no longer totally her fault. Despite being a validated actor and a skilled dancer, Hydari disappoints as Shanavas's Sujatha. With a tighter script and right casting, perhaps, Sufiyum Sujathayum would be a great deal extra than simply the phantasm it turned out to be, for the sleepless folks who logged in at nighttime to capture the exclusive premiere.