Featuring just one actor in a single space, the Ranjith Sankar-Jayasurya team add another feather to their collaborative cap with their latest film Sunny. The pandemic and the resulting quarantine and lockdown has inspired a few Indian films, shows and anthologies that have explored the unchartered circumstances we are in, and Sunny stands out amongst them.
Unlike their previous successful ventures like Punyalan Agarbattis, Su..Su..Sudhi Vathmeekam, Punyalan Private Limited and the Pretham franchise, Sankar and Jayasurya's Sunny is completely devoid of comedy. The duo stick to telling a dark yet soulful story of a down-on-his-luck, guilt and debt-ridden music composer desperately looking for a way out.
Sunny begins with us being introduced to a Dubai-returned Sunny Varkey (Jayasurya), who is quarantining himself in a luxurious suite at a 5-star hotel. From then on, it's a journey into Sunny's life - his past and his present. The narrative pieces together Sunny's life in bits and pieces for the audience. What begins with desperate calls for a bottle of liquor unravels into an insight into his troubled mind and soul. Between a friend who financially cheated him, a broken marriage and a bitter extra marital relationship, Sunny 'virtually' finds solace and hope among total strangers during his voluntary solitary confinement.
Filmmaker Ranjith Sankar places his total confidence in Jayasurya to shoulder the film. There are no flashbacks or dream sequences that take the audience away through the film's 1hr 30 minute run time.
While actor Jayasurya may not have Mohanlal's screen presence or Fahadh Faasil's new found fandom outside Kerala, he ably gives Sunny - both the film and his character, enough heft and depth that's needed. His hurt, arrogant and vulnerable act tugs at your heartstrings especially at the end.
Aju Varghese as Rajesh, Sunny's old friend and Innocent as Dr Eerali do their parts brilliantly even though they are only heard and never seen in the film. For the Malayali audience, just their voices would suffice to imagine them actually acting out their lines. That's the kind of close comfort and relatability that these actors have established with the average cine-goer in Kerala.
For Sankar, who has always tried something different while staying in the mainstream be it via Passenger, Ramante Edan Thottam or Njan Marykutty - Sunny is yet another winner. But for an increasingly attention deficit audience the film should have ideally released in theatres, because the long and languid sequences of Sunny coming to terms with the world around him in his hotel room demands patience. However, if you are ready to invest yourself with Sunny and plant yourself with him in that room you will be rewarded.
Sunny acts as a balm of relief for those who are looking for hope in these bleak times. If personal setbacks and professional failures begin to weigh you down, and you can't see the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel, just remember Dr Eerali's words of wisdom - 'This too shall pass'.
Rating: 3 Quints out of 5
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