Android Kunjappan version 5.25 is a movie belonging to the Mollywood sector, released in 2019. It falls under the category of sci-fi and drama. In the movie we come across Suraj Venjaramoodu who plays the role of an 80 year old father Bhaskara Pothval. Mr.Bhaskara ,according to the modern world is a person who is old fashioned. He is satisfied with the classic way of doing things. Afraid of change, Mr.Bhaskara is simple man who likes to keep things easy. His son, Subrahmanian played by Soubin Shahir, is a well educated, young man who is looking for a job elsewhere as the village he is living in is not well developed and doesn’t offer him convincing job opportunities. In the movie we come across certain clips where subrahmanian had rejected a job opportunity from a Japanese firm who offered him a likeable designation and a pay which he couldn’t refuse. He was also aware that his father age, has health issues and would struggle without him. Subrahmanian tried to play the safe option by asking his father’s consent for the job offer at hold. Mr.Bhaskara ,a cranky old man as he is , asks his son to decline the job offer to stay here with him.
The difference in the thinking of the father and son is clearly seen. The father, Mr.Bhaskara doesn’t want anything but his son. He wants to be felt less lonely and taken care of. He wants his blood relative to stand beside him. He doesn’t pay heed to his health signals but rather assumes that as long as is son is beside him, everything is good. But Subrahmanian is a lad who wants to achieve something in life in terms of a career. He doesn’t want his knowledge as a mechanical engineer to go in vain. They constantly make each others’ feelings known by heated arguments and exchange of unpleasant words. Subrahmanian receives an offer from Russia which he thought was the ideal destination for all mechanical engineers. He gathers courage and puts this across to his father. His father fed up with his son’s plan comes to the conclusion that if Subrahmanian accepts this offer, he is no longer his son!
Subrahmanian with disappointment in his heart decides to move to Russia. His father is definitely on his mind. His previous experiment of hiring a house keeper failed as Mr.Bhaskara didn’t oblige to her ways of doing things. In Russia, Subrahmanian works on an android robot which is designed to assist the needs of humans. An idea sparks to him and he decides to take this robot along with him to try it at his father’s house. On his first visit to his village, he unveils the robot to his dad. His father thinks that the piece of machinery is an alien and brings a weapon to destroy it. His dad doesn’t like the idea of replacing his son with a robot. He took time to acknowledge the presence of the robot, let alone live with it. The robot brought something different unlike the other care takers. The son placed his faith in the robot and decided to fly back to Russia. No robot can refuse the orders of its master and Mr.Bhaskara liked that. He gradually started to establish a relationship with a robot. The robot did everything for him and catered for all his requirements. He started taking the robot out more and introduced him to the neighbourhood. The locals gave him a suggestion by asking him to name the robot Kunjappan .
Kunjappan had now grown so much with Mr.Bhaskara that he started wearing clothes and visiting temples. Kunjappan could do whatever Subrahimanian did. This is particularly noticeable when Mr.Bhaskara asks Kunjappan to wipe his head dry with a towel. We also see Bhaskara open up to Kunjappan more and have a lively conversation with him. The robot responds well to his questions and relates to him as if they were together since childhood. Their relationship just became stronger and stronger day by day. He went to the extent of blocking his own biological son from having virtual conversations with him. Mr.Bhaskara was quite happy with Kunjappan because he never disobeyed any of his orders or argued. He basically said yes to everything and that’s what Mr.Bhaskara wanted, a yes man! He becomes less lonely and dependable on Kunjappan.
Meanwhile in Russia, Subramanian is warned that the robot is a test machine and must be returned at once because it had a few major disaffects which would pose a threat to Mr.Bhaskara. Subramanian is very reluctant to return the machine because he is finally getting to see his father happy and keep his job at the same time. He is faced with a choice of either having his job or returning the robot. He has no option but to choose the later. He returns home and speaks to his father about it. His father refuses to give him back and deals with his biological son like a third person. Subramanian is shocked to see his father so attached to the robot. He tries to prove his worth by asking the robot to stop doing things because he wanted to do them. Mr.Bhaskara had none of it and distanced himself and the robot by going away from Subrahmanian. He went to such an extent that he went away from home to immerse the ashes of his wife without informing his son.
On his way, he is attacked by a long time enemy from his neighbourhood. The robot tries to defend Bhaskara by putting itself on line. The blinded robot instead attacks Bhaskara. Subramanian arrives right on time to save his father. He does that by destroying Kunjappan. Subrahmanian embraces his father like a weak and helpless child. He decides to take his father home, Mr.Bhaskara says nothing but looks at Subrahmanian as Kunjappan.
These are the seconds of the movie which poses the question “who is the father?” and “who is the son?”. To my mind, it is certain that Mr.Bhaskara is the father but who is the son? Well, according to Subrahmanian he is the son whereas Bhaskara thinks of Kunjappan as his son which is clearly depicted in the final seconds of the movie. Mr.Bhaskara defines his son as one who doesn’t make him feel abandoned and lonely, the one who is beside him at all times, the one who listens but does not argue and the one who places his father above everything. Ironically, Mr.Bhaskara finds these reqirements in Kunjappan .
Albuquerque's Blog 