Category: Malayalam

**a few spoilers, here & there**

All I could hear while I was watching Hey Jude (2018) was the word comrade echoing at the back of my head. Crystal (Trisha) being there for Jude (Nivin Pauly) to boost his self confidence, teaching him social skills, getting rid of his fear of the water & people, encouraging him to pursue his passion in life and finally, helping him to understand his peculiar condition related to Asperger’s Syndrome is as Bobby (Vijay Devarkonda) stands with Lily (Rashmika Madanna). In Dear Comrade (2019), Bobby tries to convince Lily to break free from the social shackles of fear to fight an established institution to acheive her life long dream of playing cricket for India.

Crystal like Bobby checked all traits of a comrade as a person’s support system in good times & bad, Lily had listed in her reply to the press at the end of her film.

The Malayalam film Hey Jude, and Dear Comrade (released parallely in 4 South Indian languages) set in entirely different contexts are primarily about friends who help and are there for each other. Released in subsequent years, they come together here as I happened to watch them one after the other over a period of a week. They are available on Amazon Prime if you wish to watch them, together, or/and separately 😀.

Hey Jude is Tamil lead actor Trisha’s entry into Malayalam films, Nivin Pauly’s second film with director, ShyamaPrasad. Siddique, as always is mind blowing, he and Vijay Menon bagged Kerala State Awards (2019) for their parts. Neena Kurup as Jude’s mother essays a full length role after long, brings in the remaining cast.

I watched Dear Comrade for Vijay Devarakonda. I turned his fan after his Arjun Reddy. He is brilliant in the film as well, his chemistry it Rashmika sizzles. Shruthi Ramachandran as Jaya holds fort. The music is addictive in the voice of Sid Sriram. There, your reasons to watch it, but the story drags, its run time could have been cut shot by at least half an hour, and may be a little more spotlight on Lily.

Fate brings Jude to Goa to meet Crystal, Lily to her cousin Jaya’s wedding to Bobby. They become friends, and comrades who are more supportive of their lives than their families could ever be. Jude’s lack of social and people skills make his problems more visible and tangible to the audience in comparison to Lily’s fear of the societal gossip and slurs. While Crystal has the task of gradually introducing Jude to a society that he can’t make sense of Bobby is up against Lily’s years of upbringing that stops her from fighting the bureacracy for their misbehaviour.

They are the best comrades, Lily and Jude could get to achieve their life goals.

Both the films begin and moves with the lives of their male leads for quite a bit until their women make their entry. In Lily’s case, the audience realizes she is a state level cricket player (a crucial piece of info to the plot) much later after she is introduced. It is clear from the epilogue that Lily’s fight with the cricket board is the crux of this film set in the larger canvas of an intense love story. However, the focus is slightly more on the Comrade in Bobby. As seen in the poster, his life changing physical & emotional experiences in at least 4 different looks is highlighted more than Lily’s ‘the problem.’ As Bobby is the one who instills in Lily the courage to fight, the film becomes an ode to Lily’s Dear Comrade, yeah?!

If this pattern is taken as a point of reference for camaradarie, Hey Jude would have provided enough screen space to Crystal’s trip to Shimla which is very similar to Bobby’s rides to Ladhak to rid him off his demons. Crystal is equally in need of help for her bipolar disorder which the script underscores through Dr Sebastian (Vijay Menon) her father and a psychologist. Nevertheless, the film is ultimately about Jude’s journey to being less of a misfit, excelling in his niche area of expertise (clue is in the poster) thereby finding recognition from the larger society. His transformation from being mocked to taking him seriously, by his family and colleagues. Therefore, his story is rightly named after him, Yeah?!

Which begs me to ask the question, what of the female Comrade Crystal, the first person to instil confidence in Jude to pursue his dreams. What of Lily’s transformation to stand up to her accusers on Bobby’s unwavering support? What is the significance of their roles as the helper/helped in their films ..

What if, Hey Jude was named Thank you Crystal on the lines of Dear Comrade, and Dear Comrade was titled, Hurrah! Lily after Hey Jude

Ponder ..