Kurup

Brother remembers how granny would settle down with the Malayalam newspaper during a kitchen break, and read aloud in her murmuring voice the day's big news. A lot of the sensational news in the 80s, he learnt through such passive reading - actor Jayan's accidental death, Skylab's fall, and the infamous Sukumara Kurup case.

Kurup, since then, became synonymous with the most ingenious and elusive criminal from Kerala as well as the complicity and ineptitude of Kerla Police. Even to this day, occasional references to Kurup surface in conversations.

Apparently two movies - NH 47 and Pinneyum - were made on him, but nothing has captured him as well as DQ and his titular role of SK in the just released movie Kurup. Although I was least interested in seeing the movie about an elusive criminal and his heinous crime - killing an unsuspecting wayfarer (curiously it is the name of DQ's film production company too) who had asked for a car lift in order to claim insurance money in the Gulf where he worked. 

The kids insisted on watching the movie  - reviews from friends plus the Dulquer fascination amongst youngsters. For my part, I am no great fan of his movies or his choice of movies save for Ustad Hotel and Jomonte Suvisheshangal; as for Bangalore Days I feel all the other lead actors had a more likeable persona in it.

But Kurup is indeed a DQ movie done to perfection - he fits the bill of the flamboyant NRI who comes home to lavish money and drinks on relatives and faithfuls, the earlier struggle in the defence forces and in Bombay which was once the stepping stone for those planning to fly across the Arabian Sea to the Land of Black Gold, the economically backward nurse who latches on to him. The rest is probably a little fiction - his escapades in Madras, the romance in Bombay and the real motive beyond the insurance claim. 

It is worth watching, and if you like to study  it further, a second or third time watch wont do any harm. The 80's costumes - the shirt collars -  the hairstyle of both men and women seem comical today, the thick-lipped curly haired consort of the lead character are all crafted to perfection. 

Though the movie doesnt says so, the speculation is that SK may be dead as he had some debilitating disease (diabetic probably) but recent interviews with family and acquaintances note that the wife and sons are living comfortably in Kerala.  

Full marks to Dulquer for an entertainer that wasnt sympathetic to Kurup but tries to get beneath his skin to understand the psychology behind the murder. Tovino's cameo is the surprise element. Shine Tom excels as the brother in law and Indrajith as the persistent police officer on Kurup's tracks.