I went in to watch Love Under Construction for Aju Varghese’s character, and I would do it all over again for this man.
He stole the show. ‘Progressively.’
Film maker Prem Kumar once noted that a good movie brings about a good transformation, even if on a small level. Vishnu Raghav nailed this aspect with his writing, and Aju Varghese played it to perfection.
He showed a character that’s next-door and has all the familiar icks. It’s that ammavan who’s always judging you vocally. But here’s the thing – we all judge him too, silently.
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We Listen & We Judge
For all the woke-ness we love throwing around, we are quick to villainize anyone who doesn’t align with our thought process.
This is the same with them as well. We see Pappan, quick to character assassinate Gouri because the idea of a woman working abroad alone is foreign to him. He’s known women who are back in their hostels by 8, wore clothes not showing more than 1 inch of human anatomy, and he’d definitely get a reaction equivalent to eating chalicha meen curry when he sees a woman smoking.
But we’ve never really been any kinder to them either.
With our woke-ness ready to pop out of the pressure cooker any minute, we forget to draw a line. Many among us carry the “holier than thou” attitude just because we Googled what “glass ceiling” meant two days ago. And now we’re flabbergasted at any and every misogynist who’s only known ceilings made out of oddu.
Lokam Kanditt Enthina?
Pappettan is a character that showed us their side of the story. When hit with that usual singsong of “Ningal korachoode lokam kaananam”, Pappan asks, “Appo nyan ee kaanunath onnum lokam alle?”
A simple dialogue, but carries so much gravity when you think of it. Growing up in a certain world and community, their perception of the world is entirely different from ours. But is that really enough to deem their worldview irrelevant ?
The only time they give two fucks to the world outside their 100m radius is when it shows up on their Facebook feeds—and that’s okay too.
There’s a lot happening in the world, even in Pappettan’s tiny universe. Swantham veetile kaaryam nokkaand, lokam kaanan povunna Prime Minister olla naatil, inganathe chella grounded characters are also needed.
I’m not celebrating ignorance here, but simply stating that your world is not your thantha’s world. They’ve got a different outlook to life, and it was wholesome to watch Aju portray it.
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Character Under Construction
What makes the character undeniably lovable is his filterless-ness.
Pappettan is refreshingly direct to today’s generation who wake up second-guessing whether their words are politically incorrect or just plain dumb.
He’s among those characters who say things ollath pole. And that’s truly one of the people we need to keep close to us.
We’ve villainized un-woke people way too much, and Pappettan is a reminder that there’s absolutely nothing wrong in being “under construction”.
Which is what makes his connection with Gouri and Lissy even more special. For someone like him, to fight for the best for these two women, shows a genuine character arc and I’m totally here for it.
Progressive Proposal
The winning scene of them all.
In an era where a new term is being set for every stage of relation from benching to ghosting, he’s brought back what romance means in the simplest terms –
“Ende type alla. Amma’ky ishtapedilla. But eniky thanne ishtam aan.”
Felt like an Alaipayuthe proposal, but this time it hit home for being so real.
I hope we have a lot more Pappettans bringing back what being in love truly means. (Sometimes it simply means to dance along with Lissy when your mother’s judging her dance at your wedding)
Pradhana Petta Pappettan
Aju established his main character energy, and how!
Pappettan took us for one hell of a boat ride with his character arc.
At first, Pappettan seemed like just another supporting role. But as Love Under Construction progressed, we found ourselves relating to him, rooting for him. By the final showdown, he was fully owning his main character energy.
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We stop worrying about the house that was being built all along and start rooting for the home Pappettan and Lissy are about to create together.
Ann Saleem, Thankam Mohan, and the rest of the cast supported this buildup beautifully.
Love Under Construction was an easy watch and it was fun to watch Aju Varghese in his full form.
Here’s to hoping we utilise their brilliance more often on screen!
