Guppy is a 2016 Indian Malayalam-language drama film written and directed by Johnpaul George. It stars Chethan Jayalal and Tovino Thomas in the lead roles, along with Sreenivasan, Rohini, Sudheer Karamana, Dileesh Pothan, and Alencier Ley Lopez in supporting roles. The film was released on 5 August 2016 to positive reviews, but had a moderate performance in the box office.
The film revolves around the unexpected rivalry that starts between a teenager, Guppy and the engineer who comes for the construction of the village dream project. Centered on the theme of hope.
Plot.
Named after the angel, "Michael" (rather known as "Guppy") is the sole support to his ailing mother. A talented artist, the teenager earns a living by rearing and selling the ornamental fish – Guppy. He takes great care of his disabled Mother and aspires to gift her a fully automatic wheelchair, someday. The little mischiefs that his friends get into and the occasional glimpses from the neighborhood teenage beauty, Amina, makes his day. Their small fishing village is, lately, under a lot of excitement. Their village dream project just got sanctioned – a railway over-bridge to bypass the railway gate en route. The People await the engineers from Road and Bridges Development Corporation.
Meanwhile, somewhere in the Himalayas, a rider starts his journey leaving his dear ones and "'Malu"', heading for the village. He arrives at the small roadside stall where the boy works, and asks for a tea. Like the others present, Guppy gets prejudiced with the unconcerned lifestyle of a rider, for the people there in his village strived hard to subsist. Because of their gap in communication and probably because of his biased views, he offends the individual with the tea given. The experience ends on a bad note for the two, with both their egos getting hurt. Little did Guppy know that the rider was here to stay, for he was the Engineer "Thejus Varkey," in charge of building the over-bridge. A near miss accident the next day gives Guppy his upper hand and the teen gang loots the engineer for damages, when there actually is none.
Days pass by and the rest of the team arrives. Works start with initial planning and sketching. The engineer befriends the local village officer and convinces him to slash the price per pair for the guppy fish that the office pays to the boy. Being forced into apologizing, Guppy’s self-esteem urges him otherwise. The engineer find the boy near his office jeep with flat tires, waiting for him. Instincts send the boy running, while the engineer chase after him and slaps him, driving the rest of his gang to attack in defense. Guppy smashes the hand of the engineer with a stone. Later, Thejus finds their tent vandalized – burnt to ashes, leading him to send back his team till he finished the unresolved task.
Thejus takes his time off, studying the canals and former civil undertakings. His secret plan takes shape. The illegal pisciculture of the boy in the blocked drainage, causing floods during rain, along with the roadside stall where he works are to be destroyed by the police as part of the expansion of roads for the bridge. Giving him no time to shift, the tank is mercilessly destroyed, sending the fish, and along with them, Guppy's livelihood, down the drain. The engineer’s revenge is complete and the harm is done. As revenge, from his meagre savings, Guppy hires an outlaw to hurt the man. The engineer is stabbed from the front, horrifying the kid.
Guppy now knows that things have spiraled out of control. The engineer’s silence to the police frightens him even more, for the revenge will be something worse. Left all alone, helplessly watching his dreams slipping away and awaiting his assured fate, all his pride and courage drains out. His fear does not go unnoticed by his mother, to whom he reveals nothing. Thejus on the other hand, lonely on the hospital bed, is in pain but not physically. He too awaits to regain strength, to meet the boy.
Amina, the girl fancied by the Guppy, lives with her grandparents as her parents are both dead. The grandfather (whom she calls "Uppooppa") works as the temporary gate operator at the railway gate, hoping to make her an engineer one day. Once the over-bridge is commissioned he will lose his job, and at his age, will be unable to find another. His mannerisms always irritated the team and he couldn’t make friends with any of them. The solution to the poor man’s problem, thought out by his slender perspective, was to drive the team away. He was the one who punctured the tires of the officer's jeep and destroyed their tent. When nothing seemed to work, at the end of his pitiful rope, with his face covered, he stabbed the engineer. But now the thoughts make him paranoid. He too is admitted in the hospital with chest pain and regrets his actions.
The engineer having seen the one who stabbed him, now realize that his very presence chocked the lives of two innocent souls and their dependents. The bridge on the other hand, is just a political stunt targeting the vote bank; with nothing fruitful coming out of it for the society. Stating the project as ‘technically unfeasible’, he stops the million-rupee project, delaying it for at least another ten years. He meets Uppooppa to say that he understands and he will help with Amina’s dreams; forgiving him for his insanity. Revealing the courage to correct his deeds, he rebuilds Guppy’s tank and gifts it to him in grandiose, before leaving the place empty-handed. Guppy, relieved from his worries, run home to his mother with the happy news. Leaving him all alone, he finds her having breathed her last; while another gift, the long-awaited wheelchair is still on its way.
It has now been days since the boy left the village. The old man, "Tinku," as he is fondly called, comes back after weeks of caring for an old lady, who might have been his long-lost mother. He happened to have read about Thejus Varkey, who filled the news some years back. He was the engineer who constructed the much anticipated Omallur Bridge. On the day of the inauguration, his family met with an accident that killed his parents, his wife and his 7-year-old daughter, "Malu". Riding was his way out of his grief. To him every child that he met was his daughter "Malu," refusing to leave her with the dead. This railway over-bridge was likely the only work he undertook since.
Thejus is shown once again riding through the Himalayas with his dear "Malu," never having been so relieved and content, with the happy child "Michael" in his care. Like an answer to the prayers of his mother, "Michael" will never be left alone and neither will be "Thejus".
Production.
The film is jointly produced by E4 Entertainment and A. V. A. Productions, in association with Yopa Cinemas.
Soundtrack.
The soundtrack features songs composed by Vishnu Vijay. The lyrics were penned by Vinayak Sasikumar, Rafeeq Ahamed and Johnpaul George. The background score was also produced by Vishnu Vijay and orchestrated by Sushin Shyam.
Release.
"Guppy" was originally scheduled to release on 29 July 2016, but due to some procedural issue in getting the film censored, the release was postponed to and released on 5 August 2016.
The film was released in 72 theaters across Kerala.
Critical reception.
The film received positive reviews from critics.
Times of India gave a rating of 3/5 and mentioned that director and scriptwriter Johnpaul George deserves credit for weaving the beautiful tale
The Hindu mentioned that in "Guppy" director Johnpaul George is visibly eager to bring on screen everything he ever wanted to shoot and ends up packing in just a little too much.'
Malayala Manorama gave a rating of 3/5 and said that 'While it's a thumbs up for the maiden directorial venture, one is too tempted to sing 'beauty, beauty everywhere, but a good number of edits short of being a fine film'
The Entertainment website Sify with its inherent honesty, debutant director Johnpaul George's Guppy is a good film that has its fine moments
The power of the screenplay in getting the audience involved, choosing between sides, and later making them regret their choice is one which is worthy of mention.
Awards.
The film won 5 awards for 2016 47th Kerala State Film Awards which was announced on 7 March 2017.
Home media.
"Guppy" garnered excellent reviews after the DVD release which prompted lead actor Tovino Thomas asking through Facebook about re-releasing the movie in theaters again. The lead actor said that after the release of the DVD, he has been receiving a lot of messages from people who regret missing out on the movie in theaters.
References.
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