Life of Josutty

Life of Jossutty Jeethu Joseph's new venture after the stupendous successes of Drishyam and its Tamil remake Papanasam carried very high expectations. This film starring Dileep is a coming of age story of a young man which is told with a sensitivity that we least expect from a Dileep film and humour is kept at a low boiling point which forces a smile or a chuckle from the viewer.

Josutty (Dileep) is a typical malayali hero who is naive and with a heart of gold and to top it his family is debt ridden with a younger sister yet to be married and another sisters dowry yet to be paid. As a child he wished to be a priest and serve the lord but he falls for the charms of Jessy his neighbour. And as luck would have it this relationship is doomed to be a failure as Jessy's father would not accept an uneducated and a pauper as his daughter's husband. So, he somehow makes Jessy understand the gravity of the situation and she gets married to the man of her father's choice. On the other hand Josutty readies himself to marry a divorced nurse who is working in New Zealand and promises to take his family out of financial trouble.

The rest of the story was expected to be a humorous take on how an uneducated house husband takes in the experiences of being in an alien land. But, the director gives us is a kind of shocking surprise. We not only see the ego battering condition of a house husband has to survive in a foreign land, but also the exploration of the layered man woman relationship without being judgmental. The story by Jayalal Menon’s story does try to hammer down the message that lots of conflict in life can be avoided if we think by being in the person’s shoes. That just feels as a slight glitch if you see the overall impact it delivers.

We even feel that there is an attempt to appease the Star’s fan clubs by inserting a line and there in his voice over narration that induces a few claps from them otherwise Dileep’s performance is subdued and realistic as it could be. In the beginning he does give a feeling that it is one of his typical kinds of films with actors like Noby and Saju Navodaya on his side. But, they depart once he is in New Zealand and here it is Chembil Asokan who takes their place along with Aqsa Bhatt (who is one of the three women in his life).

Rachana Narayanakutty as Jessy appears and disappears once in a while. Her appearance is to provide comic relief as she is pregnant every time she makes an entry. Jyothi Krishna as Rose who appears as Jossutty’s wife impresses depicting a complicated character.

Hareesh Perady as Jossutty’s father gives a moving performance as the character who is idolised by his son.

On the whole, with Life of Josutty director Jeethu Joseph carries on his good form that he showed in Drishyam giving Dileep one of the best character of his acting career.

As it appeared in Rediff.