In this episode of Start Action Cut, Swathi, Princy and Padmakumar are decoding the Malayalam movie 'Dominic and the Ladies' Purse', directed by Gautham Vasudev Menon and starring Mammotty in the lead. This Gatama Menon's directorial debut in Malayalam and the film features an ensemble cast that includes, Gokul Suresh, Viji Venkatesh, Vineeth, Balachandran Chullikkad, among others.
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[00:00:11] Hello and welcome to Onmanorama Movie Podcast, Start, Action, Cut. Today we are decoding the Malayalam movie, Dominic and the Ladies Purse, directed by Gautam Vasudev Menon and starring Mamuti in the lead. This is Gautam Menon's directorial debut in Malayalam and the film features an ensemble cast that includes Gogul Suresh, Vijay Vangatesh, Vinit, Balachandran, Chulikard, among others.
[00:00:34] So we have Swati and Princey here for the discussion. And it was a highly anticipated movie on various counts. First, it's a Mamuti film and film buffs are always curious to know how is he going to amaze us every time a film of his releases. Then it's Gautam Menon's first directorial in Malayalam. And from the trailer and posters, we feel that it's going to be different this time.
[00:01:04] So it's not usual police procedural which Mamuti has steered an umpteen number of times. He's not even the same altruistic, benevolent, angry cop, but a flawed human being, an ex-police officer, retired or expelled, we don't know. He's a private detective living on meager means. So as far as the character is concerned, it's a very marvelous, wonderful character and plot.
[00:01:32] So for you, how appealing was the premise and the plot and the treatment of the characters from Mamuti's C.I. Dominic to Siddik's Soman? Swati? Patma Kumar, when it comes to detective stories, you typically expect a sharp, almost Sherlock Holmes-like character. However, in this film, C.I. Dominic, played by Mamuti, breaks that mould.
[00:01:58] While he possesses impressive deductive skills, a background in law and experience as a police officer, he is far from the epitome of moral righteousness. He operates purely to serve his own interests and the film makes no effort to suggest otherwise, until the very end. Without a doubt, Mamuti is the heart of the movie, anchoring it effortlessly. After a string of intense, serious roles in the recent past, like the characters he played in movies like Brahma Yugam or any other movies for that matter,
[00:02:27] this performance feels like a refreshing change of pace. The film leans more towards comedy than a traditional murder mystery. And the humour lands exceptionally well, at least that is what I felt. I really liked how the way Mamuti delivered his comedy lines. In fact, I couldn't help but wonder if the film would have been even better had the makers leaned further into the comedic element of it, rather than, you know, sort of trying to balance both.
[00:02:53] Yeah, and see you reviewed the movie, and from the very beginning, it has been gaining mixed responses. So, what is your take on the movie? Okay, Pakmakumar. Like when you mentioned about, you know, how the trailer and all the post-production posters and all that created such a hype, you know. I personally, you know, found those, you know, the posters really attractive, you know, the brilliant purple view and also the title. The title is also interesting.
[00:03:23] It has a point that really makes you want to see this movie. And definitely you have huge expectations because you are walking the theatres to watch your work involving two great strong words of the trade. I mean, you have a master director like GVM who's known for his nuance-making style. And then another actor, a veteran, who has not had even one single flop in the past two to three years. So look at it. The plot really has potential.
[00:03:48] And you have this, because like the guys both mentioned, you have this quirky private detective who spends most of his, you know, initially he's shown to be, you know, tracking down cheaters and promiscuous men. And his character is presented as someone who's not taking himself too seriously. So it's easy to invest, as a viewer, it's easy to invest in Dominic, the character, because he has been presented really well.
[00:04:12] And even the way the plot unravels is interesting, because you have a certain house owner named Mrs. Madhuri, who's asking him to find, you know, he's a private detective who boasts that, you know, he's done a lot of things during his tenure as a policeman. And, you know, she is bringing him a peculiar case, you know, where he's supposed to be finding a person behind a missing part.
[00:04:33] And so you like to believe that the investigation will actually move ahead in the light, the indikers of the comedic elements present in the beginning of the story. But the mood of the film shifts here afterwards, you know, which affects the story, because you're not really expecting that mood towards, you know, as the movie progresses. I think the attempt was to make a film with comedy as its foundation and then build a suspense investigation narrative upon it.
[00:05:00] So now the task for Gautam Menon is to balance the two. That's make the comedy, I mean, to a certain level. And then from there, maybe to the halftime or so, and then from there, take up the investigation with a serious tone. I mean, then the challenge is to balance the both. You should have the comedy. If there are too much of comic elements, it will lose the gravity.
[00:05:30] And then if there is too much of suspense or serious, I mean, treatment for the investigation, it would look like the same pattern of suspense drama that is all over there on the Internet. Or there are so many police investigation stories out there. So, do you think Gautam Menon was able to pull off that balance? Patma Kumar, I think the movie faltered in balancing the two genres.
[00:05:59] One reason I enjoyed the comedy scenes was because Mamuti was the one delivering them. But if you asked me if I was able to connect with Dominic as a character, I'd say no. I was more focused on Mamuti, the star, who really stood out for me. A great example of how to blend a detective case with comedy, I would say, I think we were discussing this before, is C.I.D. Musa with Dilip. It handled the balance so well and we were laughing right up until the very end.
[00:06:24] But in Dominic, that was not the case. Even when the mystery started to unfold, it didn't feel entirely convincing to me. Without giving too much away, the climax was decent, but the murder itself wasn't fully justified. And the events leading up to it didn't feel very convincing either. Patma Kumar, I would like to add to what Swati actually said right now. Where she spoke about how GVM actually invested too much time on Mamuti as a superstar, rather than Dominic the character.
[00:06:53] Because you get that feeling, especially in the second half of the movie, because you have Vicky, the Watson kind of character, who is assisting Dominic, played by Gokul Suresh. You know, he keeps on showing this kind of certain awe or reverence to Dominic. I mean, you know, the way he handles the case with his kind of thought process that works, you know, how he does his detective act really well.
[00:07:21] Where you feel that, you know, D.N. is actually trying to, you know, appease a fanboy within himself. He is trying to push Mamuti as a superstar there. And that actually affects the pace of the movie itself. You know, I think the film sounds a little sluggish, you know, because things are not moving. You're kind of confused, you know, even though the plot unravels and you have a straightforward storyline. There's something that is missing in between, maybe.
[00:07:50] And that creates this sluggish pace, you know, which affects the entire viewing experience. I think there were certain scenes like Mamuti's slow motion scenes, which were completely unnecessary, I would say, because he's a very quirky character, he's funny and all that. But the slow motion scenes were just to appease the fans, like you said. I think regarding the performance of Mamuti, as Swati said earlier, when we see Dominic, we see actually Mamuti.
[00:08:17] So we root for that actor, not the character. But still, I think he showcased a decent performance. I mean, we know what a great actor he is. And he does justice to a great extent. And Gogul as his assistant does his job well as well. I think there are so many actors who come in and go presenting the characters with a significant role they have to play.
[00:08:45] But as regards Mamuti, he, I think this is something that he has never done before doing this much of comedy through and through. What about the performance of the actors, Swati? In terms of performance, like I mentioned before, Mamuti made it look effortless. This role didn't seem like a major challenge for him though. He is an incredible actor and I don't have to even, you know, separately say this. And this role further highlights just how versatile he is.
[00:09:12] However, beyond his performance, I didn't find any other character particularly entertaining. Every Sherlock Holmes needs a Watson and in this case, it was Gogul Suresh. He played the role well alongside Mamuti. But if you focus just on his character, there weren't any standard moments for him. His main role was simply to compliment Mamuti's character. And Viji Venkatesh's character felt somewhat similar to her role in Pachum Alpada Velakum in terms of the tone and presence.
[00:09:38] Sushmita Phatas, Nandita too, I think she gave out a very interesting performance. But none of them were striking as much as Mamuti for me. So when we start talking about the characters, I think we need to first start by mentioning how, about Mamuti as Dominic, you know, his interesting chemistry with all the characters in the movie. You know, because even if you look at it, you know, the kind of camaraderie or the kind of relationship
[00:10:04] or the kind of chemistry that he shared with Gogul Suresh was actually nice. You know, I think the majority of the comedy worked because it was Gogul on the side there. And also when you look at Viji, like Swati mentioned, it really did feel like an extension of her character in Pachu and Alpada Velakum. I mean, I read somewhere that, you know, she is like the next convention star because in that, in the other film too,
[00:10:31] she is trying, you know, she's kind of convincing her son, you know, to actually try to help out, you know, a young girl there. And here also, she's really concerned, you know. And so there's these kind of character arcs that these characters have been given. But when you look at it, we do not really understand why they are actually acting in it. We do not know why Viji as Mrs. Madhuri is so concerned about this young, about this girl behind the missing part.
[00:11:00] So I think it's because the characters have been written quite one dimensionally. And also if you look at it, Gogul's mannerisms are also somewhat, you know, to be very honest, I found him cute in his character as Vicky, the assistant to Dominic. But his character was also quite an extension of his character that he played in Gaganajari. Where, you know, he has this kind of attitude and he is trying to bring all these cute expressions on his face.
[00:11:28] So in that way, though all these characters had good screen time, the characters were written in a one dimensional manner, which affected the entire story arc. To cut a long story short, I would like to say that what engaged me, what interested me was the comedy part of it. Because we have never seen Mahmoodi doing that. And he did it exceptionally well.
[00:11:54] But when the crime and the investigation part comes up, it sort of put me off. So what I would like to say is, and also there are some flows, which I mean, which I couldn't make out. For example, I didn't understand how they landed up at Karthik's sister's place. What was the, any idea? I could you please explain?
[00:12:20] So in the theatres, you cannot have a replay or on several occasions, especially when it comes to these kind of suspense thrillers. You, if you miss a certain thing, there is no scope to watch it again. On several occasions, I felt that we could have had such an option there, but it's not possible. So can you, Swati or Prince, tell me how they landed up at Karthik's place? What was the immediate reason for them to land up there? Do you remember now?
[00:12:50] Karthik was something with Tuja, right? I mean, so... Yeah, Puja is there. Puja is the victim. They are investigating her disappearance. So... And Karthik was her previous boyfriend. Okay, how the Munnar place, they were in a hotel in Munnar, but their house is also there. They are also staying there in Munnar. How... What was the...? That was quite abrupt, yeah. Yeah. So that is there. And certain things like that, I mean, felt missing.
[00:13:20] I mean, they failed to join the missing links. So... I think the film could have actually better write-in. I think much of the issue happened because the writing was quite flawed. Yes. It didn't really have a lot of experiment. There was nothing really new or refreshing in it. I don't know. Maybe they could have doubled even more deeper. Yeah. Like, you know, the missing links to avoid the missing links. So, whenever we watch a movie, we feel like...
[00:13:50] I mean, if it's not living up to our expectation or going up the level that we imagine, we always feel that this story could have been like this or something else. So, here too, I feel that I would have loved it more if they had pursued the comedy of the situations more. And give some more flesh and blood to Dominic. And they could have shown some more intense emotional side of Dominic. We see that he got a divorce from his wife.
[00:14:20] And he's living alone. And they have no children. And things like that. I would have loved it more if there is an emotional part of it. I think, Patmumar, like you said, Mamute's character could have been more meaty because we don't really get to see how he really cracks full-fledged crime. All the other crimes that we see him solve are kind of comedic and some sort of comedy related to it. So, we don't really know how this person as a true detective or as a policeman
[00:14:48] would actually navigate and crack the code, right? Crack the crime. That is not shown. So, when that is not established and the way Nantita is introduced and the way she acts, there is something off about it. So, when you have the detective and when you have the culprit in the same room, you can actually figure out a lot. But the writing of it was, I think, a little bit shabby that it couldn't hit the mark is what I felt.
[00:15:14] When you look at it, I think if the makers were actually intended to be a mystery thriller throughout, you know, towards at least the second half completely, you don't really get the rush of an investigation. You know, you only feel that towards the final act and the final act, you know. Otherwise, till then, you really don't really have much emotional connection. I mean, you do like the characters that you're watching on screen and it's entertaining,
[00:15:40] but you don't really get the pulse of the investigation till the final act. And though the final act was, you know, quite interesting, I think it is quite similar to some of the recent movies and short films that have been around for the past two or three years. So, I didn't find anything much novel in that aspect either.
[00:16:01] If people do say that the final act was the, you know, the, was the thing that actually saved the film, was the saving grace of the movie. I don't really know how much novel it was. But in terms of comedians, I forgot to mention this, but I did like Mamuti's dialogue delivery as Dominic in some certain scenes, especially, you know, that particular scene where he mentions that he is C.I. Dominic.
[00:16:28] And you cannot change it in any aspect. You can't remove C.I. from, this is his dialogue. You can't remove C.I. from my name because I am Charles Anashu Dominic. This is funny because he carries around the police identity card claiming he is C.I. Dominic. So, you know, the humor there really works. And I think that was the most enjoyable moment for me in the movie. Yeah, there are so many comic moments in the film. I don't know actually why many people don't appreciate it.
[00:16:57] For me, it's a comedy film first and with sort of intriguingly captivating twists towards the end especially. And it was moving engagingly fast, but sort of screech stopped and dragged on after a certain point until you face the final resolution in the climax. So that brings us to the end of this episode. Thanks for listening to the podcast produced and hosted by me, Pat Mogumar.
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