‘Powan’ Movie Review: An Unimaginative Attempt at a Novel Film

Poster of ‘Poon’ | Photo credit: Scheibenbacher Productions

Towards the rise of Powan, Kanan (Vineet Vasudevan) asks his wife Veena (Akhila Bhargaon) if the people in his neighborhood are more concerned about the small and unnecessary things than the important things. The character says seeing his mother-in-law lamenting the loss of her sewing machine that her daughter took with her while running away with Kanan, and seeing a neighbor crying over a missing rooster.

On paper, it might have stood out as a poignant moment, but an audience tired of the parade of silliness that was Rooster’s story would nod in agreement with his question. Vineet, in his directorial debut, as he tries to tell the stories of humans, and the frustrations that arise from misunderstandings and miscommunications. But, whenever he wanders into a story thread involving a rooster, which was said to be the highlight of the film, the narrative breaks down.

At the center of Varun Dhara’s script is Hari (Antony Varghese), who is facing problems due to insomnia. Adding to his troubles, his sister runs away with Veena Kannan, with whom Hari has a past rivalry. All is not bleak for him though, as the girl he has been pursuing for a long time has given him a positive response. However, the arrival of a rooster at the neighbor’s house and its constant crowing worsens his insomnia. The scriptwriter’s main task seems to be to find a solution to his insomnia, but the methods he devises to solve the problem leave the audience sleepless.

These plans involve a painfully long sequence of a group of grown men in colorful camouflage arriving to catch a rooster. Despite attempts to give Rooster the impression of some sort of divine aura and supernatural powers, it doesn’t really work. Yes, there is beauty in small things, but the ‘characterless’ rooster in the film is definitely not one of them.

Also, it has to be said that the scriptwriter and director have handled the subplots well, especially the unexpected love between Benny (Sajan Chirokel) and the much younger Sini (Anishma Anil Kumar). The story of On the other hand, they are not sure what to do with the protagonist Hari or tell the audience what keeps him awake other than the rooster. His enmity with his sister-in-law and the subsequent problems that arise between them stem from common misunderstandings, which are dragged pointlessly to keep the film going.

Even if you remove the rooster and his insomnia from the script, the elements of an average, bland family drama will remain. It still would have made a better watch than these unimaginative, snooze-worthy add-ons for novelty’s sake.