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Ketchup Cut: Ennum ninte Moideen, the real-life Romeo Juliet

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Smrithi Mohan
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Ennum ninte Moideen

If you believe in true love and are a hopeless romantic at heart, then check out how Ennum ninte Moideen gave us a picturesque love story.

‘The course of true love never did run smooth’ - A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Our idea of romance comes from what we've seen or heard. Literature, movies, and real-life stories gave us a reason to believe in love. They set a bar that we look up to when searching for our special someone. Over the years, we've seen movies that have changed the way we look at romance and make us wonder 'How can one love someone so much?' and the Malayalam movie Ennum Ninte Moideen is just that. In today's Ketchup Cut we discuss this amazing movie that shows us the elixir of love.

About the movie:

Directed by – R. S. Vimal
Written by – R. S. Vimal
Cast – Prithviraj Sukumaran, Parvathy Thiruvothu, Tovino Thomas, Sai Kumar, Bala, Lena
Where to watch – Disney+ Hotstar

Ennum Ninte Moideen is a story about Moideen (Prithviraj Sukumaran) and Kanchanamala (Parvathy Thiruvothu) who find each other and create history out of their love. Moideen is a Muslim and Kanchanamala a Hindu, the two fall in love with each other only for their story to have a lot of setbacks and tragedies until their love ends up facing an unfortunate destiny.

Ketchup Cut:

While we have Veer Zara, separated by a border and forced to be distanced from each other, we have Moideen and Kanchana create their own story in real-life that will live on forever. Their love is completely opposite of all the ephemeral love that we see today. It's not the one we find at the tip of our fingers while swiping right, waiting for someone to match. It's the textbook love that happened over letters. It's about sneaking around to meet each other and trying to catch the smallest glimpse when apart. It's the love that went on to become epic and one we still cannot believe exists.

Kanchana is the outspoken, smart, intelligent woman of her family who knows well to complete her studies and become a doctor before getting married. Moideen is the ideal socially active man from the 60s. Vigilant, a football player, and a man who had his strong political views where he made sure people's voices were heard despite all the resistance. It should not be a surprise that these two fell in love and continued to fight for it against all odds. Kanchana being put under house arrest because she loved Moideen and the two of them promising to wait for their entire lives to get a chance to be together again is unimaginably beautiful and heartbreaking. Hence, it's hard for anyone to pick one particular scene from the film that we loved.

But the proposal scene definitely stood out. This scene of Appu (Tovino Thomas) proposing to Kanchana to marrying him is proof enough to show why their love will go on to become an epic. While it is about this fairytale love, because of the tragedies it has, it's also about that one love that never succeeded. The one Appu had for Kanchana. Appu was always the third wheel who has a one-sided love for Kanchana. And he always imagined him getting married to her because of his strong belief that Moideen can never have her because of all the resistance that their love faced. He goes back to her after she was on house arrest for so long. With the tiniest hope that she might agree to marry him and that her love for Moideen might have faded away, he asks for her hand. It was when she says, 'I love Moideen a thousand times more than you love me' and that 'If I would be marrying anyone it will only be to Moideen. And if you still wish to marry me it will be to my corpse,' that he understands the depth of their love. Appu leaving the house with a heart full of content for having the chance to witness the greatest love story proves the profound love that Moideen-Kanchana shares. Appu knows right then that the two belong to each other.

This movie is a celebration of an eternal love that we ended up rooting for to have a successful ending. We laughed, blushed, felt the butterflies, and sobbed with each moment. It spoke about a love that was considered forbidden for reasons that now seem nothing but lame and pointless. Everything in their lives perished eventually but not their love for each other. It only leaves us with a 'can such a love exist?' feeling. It's heartbreaking, it's fulfilling and moreover, it's powerful enough to withstand anything that comes in its way. And the filmmaker captures their love through frames and rains, only symbolizing the two benevolent souls. Rains that have always been equivalent to romance show their presence in the entire movie. Every time it rains, we get to witness the different phases of their love story eventually satisfying our drenched souls. With the rain becoming heavier as their love progresses, we get to see the hardships that their promise to stick with each other brings along. The outpour can be a physical representation of the boundless love that one has for the other. It could also be compared to Kanchana's happy and sad tears that represent the incredible bond and death of her love. The symbolism is uncanny and leaves us with goosebumps with every pour.

The extraordinary cinematography of the film sets it a class apart from the other love stories out there. Jomon T John is one of the very few cinematographers in the industry who is brilliant with his camera. He can capture the vaguest moment in the most magical way adding to the magic of the film. The music in this movie is also the reason behind this one being so magical for us. Gopi Sunder, M. Jayachandran, and Ramesh Narayan were able to capture the essence of the story in their tunes.

About the movie:

RS Vimal recalled the struggle he had to face before getting the film on the big screen. He said, “The word ‘controversy’ might be so small to describe the journey. The misunderstandings, legal soup, indifferences regarding the production and screenplay, and unmatchable hard work. I believe BP Moideen’s blessings were with me." (experts: ETimes.com)

Fun Facts:

This movie is the third Malayalam blockbuster movie after Drishyam and Premam

The story is based on real-life people and their love story

Real-life Kanchanamala insisted on casting Prithviraj as Moideen because she found him to look very similar to the actual Moideen

Kanchana's house arrest lasted for long 25 years

Awards and Recognitions:

  • 63rd National Film Awards: Won for Best Music Director
  • Filmfare Awards South: Nominated for Best Film, Best Actor and Won for Best Director, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Best Music Director, Best Lyricist, Best Playback Singer – Female
  • 5th South Indian International Movie Awards: Nominated for Best Film, Best Music Director, Best Lyricist, Best Playback Singer – Female, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor, and Won for Best Actress, Best Supporting Actress, Best Actor
  • Asianet Film Awards: Nominated for Best Director and Won for Best Film, Best Music Director, Best Lyricist, Best Playback Singer – Female, Best Supporting Actor, and Won for Best Actress, Best Supporting Actress, Best Actor
  • Kerala State Film Award: Won for Most Popular Film, Best Actress, Best Music Director,Best Cinematography, Best Singer (Male), Best Lyricist, Best Sound Design
  • 1st IIFA Utsavam: Won Best Film, Best Performance in a Leading Role – Male, Best Performance in a Leading Role – Female, Best Performance in a Supporting Role – Female, Best Playback Singer – Female and Nominated for Best Director, Best Performance in a Supporting Role – Male, Best Performance in a Supporting Role – Male, Best Performance in a Negative Role – Male , Best Music Direction, Best Lyricist, Best Lyricist, Best Playback Singer – Male, Best Playback Singer – Male
  • Asiavision Awards
  • KFPA Awards
  • Ramu Kariat Awards: Won Best Promising Star
  • IBNLive Awards: Nominated for

Have you seen this beautiful movie yet? If yes, what is your favourite part? Let us know in the comments below.

Also Read: Ketchup Cut: The Crown, the fairytale tale of the century

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