Jan E Man is streaming on Sun Nxt. A small movie that came silently without much hype and claims, Jan E Man became one of the biggest hits of last year. After its successful run in theaters, Jan E Man is now streaming on Sun NXT. Directed and written by debutant Chidambaram, Jan E Man is a soulful narrative that starts with loneliness and then passes through a spectrum of human emotions like friendship, romance, friction between family members and ends with a love story that stays in viewers’ minds. The movie keeps us engaged through situational comedy, memorable emotional exchanges between characters and a narrative style which keeps the tension alive till the very end. Director Chidambaram hits all the right notes by perfectly balancing emotional sequences and situational comedy.
Despite an interesting paradox involving a birthday party and funeral, the movie proceeds naturally and every character has a role to play in this flow. The movie starts in a remote village in Canada where Joymon (Basil Joseph), a nurse from Kerala, seems to be living a lonely life. He feels trapped in a silent, monotonous and chilly place and even his mother in Kerala doesn’t understand her son’s feelings. The movie comes to life when Joymon decides to return to Kerala to celebrate his 30th birthday. Joymon doesn’t have many friends in his life due to his untimely humour and nonsensical behavioUr, which he accepts later in the movie. However, he invites few of his 10th standard classmates to his birthday party. Joymon is received by his friends Dr Faizal (Ganapathy) and Sampath (Arjun Ashokan) at the airport. On their way to Sampath’s house to celebrate Joymon’s party, the characters of Sampath, Faizal and Joymon are established by the director. As they are about to start the party, Sampath’s neighbour who is an old man named Palathotathil Ittyavara dies of a heart attack. From then on, the movie changes gear as the birthday celebration of Joymon and Ittyavara’s funeral happens in houses opposite to each other. With Sampath’s past feud with Monichan (Balu Varghese), the grandson of Ittyavara, things get more eventful. The movie soon introduces more characters who come in so naturally and fit in the narrative.
More classmates of Joymon join his birthday celebration and more family members of Monichan arrive to attend the funeral, making the movie a ‘party-of-a-mourning’. The director cuts from one scene to another with precision as the viewer is taken from a highly emotional scene to the senseless behaviour of Joymon, which elicits laughter. As Sampath is about to kiss his long-lost lover besides the lake, and Lal’s character gives a last kiss to his elder brother’s dead body, fireworks are set off at the stroke of midnight to mark Joymon’s birthday. This is one of the many instances where the director has used the situation well to showcase several emotions in a few frames. There are many other characters that will catch your attention in this movie. Be it the funny Palakkadan goon, played by Sarath Sabha, who accompanies Joymon’s classmate, Abiram Radhakrishnan’s Akshay Kumar, who is the event manager for both the funeral and birthday party, the nun played by Jilu Joseph and Monichan’s hot headed friend Chacko, played by Prashant Murali, among others. And all through this paradox of emotions caused by the birthday and funeral, Chidambaram maintains the tension that makes viewers expect a chaotic unleashment of anger. But the director keeps that tension till the very end and comes up with a brilliant twist in the climax that melts all the tension away. The movie ends with a soothing feeling of eternal love.
Basil Joseph as the senseless Joymon is one of the best comedy characters written in the recent past. And Basil delivers the goods. Balu Varghese as a tormented Monichan also stands out in the film. Monichan is entirely different from the roles Balu has done in the past and it was refreshing to see him in a serious role. Arjun Ashokan is convincing as Sampath. As there’s a long list of actors playing different memorable characters, it would be better to say each of them were perfect for their parts.
Kiran Das’s editing needs special mention for keeping up with pace and sudden shifts in the movie. The cinematography by Vishnu Thandassery also enhanced the viewing experience of this fast paced movie. The movie also makes good use of some golden tracks from the past.
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