Hridayapoorvam Review: Mohanlal-Sathyan Anthikad Reunion Finds Heart In Simplicity — And Strength In Storytelling
What you get in Hridayapoorvam is what you’d get when Mohanlal lets himself go, just as he did in the golden era of his common man films in the 80s and 90s. In this Sathyan Anthikad movie, Mohanlal returns to his old ways-delivering grounded performances with simple yet effective dialogues and composed acting. Another takeaway from Hridayapoorvam is Sathyan’s evolution as a filmmaker who adapts to new-age themes, in an era where Kerala’s new-generation movie makers are reshaping the industry he has mastered for over four decades.
Hridayapoorvam is not Lucifer, Narasimham, or L2: Empuraan; it’s more in the vein of Mammootty’s Immanuel (2013) or even Shah Rukh Khan’s Dear Zindagi (2016) — because here, the Thudarum actor’s screen presence and dialogues take center stage. It’s not Thudarum or Oppam either — two of Mohanlal’s most creative and successful recent outing — because Hridayapoorvam leans more toward comedy-drama than suspense thrillers.
(Spoilers) The film’s major strength lies in a story treated with utmost care. The idea of the heart— and its emotional and physical existence — runs throughout the narrative and that idea has been handled without throwing the viewer to boredom. The protagonist receives a heart from a donor in Pune and is later asked by the donor’s daughter to visit the city for a family function. There, the story opens up, offering Mohanlal ample space to entertain. His strong presence and the well-written screenplay wash away any doubts a viewer might have about the believability of certain events. The treatment, packed with humour, drama and a little bit of action, has removed the numbness which normally emerges from predictable storylines.
Sathyan, long known for his village and common man tales, handles this upper-middle-class setting with surprising ease. With Hridayapoorvam, he proves he’s still capable of telling heartfelt stories that resonate — even in a cinematic era dominated by younger voices pushing the boundaries of storytelling.
The casting department, which has very less work to do as the story revolved around less than five people, needs special mention. Apart from Mohanlal, Hridayapoorvam features Malavika Mohanan, Sangeeth Prathap, Sangita Madhavan Nair, Siddique, Baburaj, Lalu Alex, Janardhanan and Nishan. You will also see Basil Joseph and Meera Jasmine in short cameo roles.
There were two important questions looming around the movie before its release: the veteran and old actors romancing younger actresses and also the casting of Malavika Mohanan. In Hridayapoorvam, the Beyond The Clouds actress has more screen time than her previous works in South India like Master and The Great Father. She also had enough dialogues and intense and emotional scenes in the movie to deliver her calibre with most of the scenes her sharing the screen with Mohanlal. The viewer would feel an utter indifference to praise or denounce her performance as she was able to perform really well in occasions while was disappointing in some scenes.
About the veteran actor romancing the younger actress: as Malavika has mentioned in one of her interviews while asked about this question, you need to watch the movie to understand where both Lal and her are placed in the story. In fact, the story and normal cinematic treatments compel the viewer to judge the pairing, Hridayapoorvam takes a different route.
