Notebook (2006 film)


Notebook is a 2006 Indian Malayalam-language teen film directed by Rosshan Andrrews and written by Bobby-Sanjay. It is about three students at a boarding school and how they face up to challenges in their lives. The film stars Maria Roy, Roma Asrani, Parvathy Thiruvothu, and Skanda Ashok; Suresh Gopi made a cameo appearance. The film dealt with the subject of teenage pregnancy.
The film was released on 15 December 2006. It received positive reviews and was also a commercial success at the box office. The film won the Kerala State Film Award for Second Best Film and Filmfare Award for Best Film – Malayalam.

Plot

The film begins with a new year eve celebration at Lord's Academy Ooty while three girls: Sarah Elizabeth, Pooja Krishna and Sridevi plant a sapling mentioning that the sapling would stay forever even after they passout from the school and would symbolize their friendship. Three years later the trio is in 11th grade and the sapling they planted has grown into a tree Venus. The girls come from different family backgrounds—Sairah from a broken home, with her separated parents but still she maintain a bold character, Sridevi, who is very much kind and sensitive in nature from a happy, close-knit family, with her parents doting on her, and Pooja, the ambitious one who is the school head girl, who is single parented child staying with her mother, whom the trio depend on, when they have problem between themselves. But on other issues, they believe in solving the problems by themselves. Sreedevi falls in love with a schoolmate, Sooraj Menon. Though hesitant at first, Sairah and Pooja approve their love after being convinced of Sooraj's sincerity.
During an excursion to Goa, Sreedevi and Sooraj make love, and eventually she becomes pregnant, much to the shock of Sairah and Pooja, and moreover herself. They keep the news to themselves, fearing the sorrow and wrath of Sreedevi's parents; even Sooraj is kept in the dark, for fear that the news may leak out. They decide to go for an abortion in a small hospital near their school. During the Founder's Day celebrations at the school, the trio sneaks out of the campus, and reaches the hospital. Pooja keeps watch outside the hospital while Sarah and Sreedevi go in and they convince the gynecologist for an abortion by telling several lies, including that Sreedevi had been raped. During abortion, Sreedevi suffers excessive blood loss and dies. Sairah and Pooja flee the hospital in terror and return to school.
They are summoned to the principal's office the next day, and the doctor who came to the school as a part of an enquiry identifies Sairah. Sairah confesses that the rape story was a lie and Sreedevi actually had sex with somebody she loves, but she maintains she doesn't know who that is. Pooja, who considers her future as important, distances herself from the whole episode, leaving Sairah embarrassed and angry. The principal, who is concerned about the status of the school presses for not registering a police case, dismisses Sairah from the school. Pooja, now ashamed of and disturbed by what she did, tries to apologise to Sairah, but meets with hostility. Pooja loses her mental stability, unable to take the pressure of having lost two best friends together—one to death and the other to her own betrayal.
Years later, on Sairah's graduation day, she receives a letter that claims to be from Sreedevi. The letter informs her that Pooja was in a mental asylum for 6 years, and she needs Sairah's company. Sairah, returning to Ooty, finds out that Pooja has been discharged from the mental hospital. They realise how much they missed each other and return to their school campus to Venus.

Cast

The filming was primarily held at Lawrence School, Lovedale, Ooty. The director Roshan Andrews says "Although it cost a fortune to shoot there, it turned out to be perfect. I had visited many schools in Kerala, but couldn't find what I wanted." The other filming locations were the Medical College Ground and the Indian Institute of Management in Kozhikode. The casting of the film was done through open calls. According to the director, the cast was selected from 5000 applicants. The film was produced by Grihalakshmi Films, a production house known for family dramas. The budget of the film was 18 million.

Soundtrack

All the songs composed by debutant Mejo Joseph.
The film was released on 15 December 2006.

Critical response

Reviewer from Sify, while complementing Andrews for taking up a taboo subject and casting newcomers, found the film unimpressive as a whole, and gave the verdict as "Ho-hum, just average". The Varnachitram.com review was generally positive, calling it an "interesting movie." However the reviewer felt that "t takes the whole of the first half to reach the first plot point." He goes on to state that "he line in the story would have read "Boy and Girl fall in love", but stretching it to the entire first half was, lets say a stretch." The reviewer lauded the direction and screenplay when the major theme of the film is dealt with. He also credited the director for "extracting great performances out of newcomers." The OneIndia.com review, though at first comments that "here are times when you might feel as if the director is very obsessed with periods and pregnancy than the story itself", later adds that "the film's real theme seems to be something very relevant in today's changing times—the need for a strong family and support base."
Rediff.com review was generally negative. The reviewer felt that "he single biggest handicap this film suffers from is the fact that none of the characters are real, believable." However, he adds that "he bright spot is that the bunch of newcomers put in some exuberance into the otherwise turgid film." There was almost universal praise for the music of the film by debutant Mejo Joseph, who also plays a part in the film, and for the cinematography by C. Diwakar.
In an interviews the director Roshan Andrews revealed that "even of Malayalam’s best known directors—Priyadarshan, Sathyan Anthikad, Sibi Malayil, Joshy, Jayaraj, Lal Jose and I. V. Sasi—saw the film and personally called up and said it was not only good but was touching."

Box office

The film was made on a budget of 3.5 crore. The film had a slow start at the box-office, but collections gradually picked up. It gained a distributor's share of 3.8 million from 35 screens in the first week. The film completed 140 days theatrical run.

Awards

;2006 Kerala State Film Awards
;2006 Filmfare Awards South
2006 Asianet Film Awards