Ponman is everything an adaptation of a novel should be—crisp, well-rounded, and crafted with care. I haven’t read the original, but if the fact that the original writer is also credited with the screenplay for the movie along with Justin Mathew is anything to go by, it is definitely a winner. The story doesn’t take time to plunge the viewer into the milieu of its setting (in and around Kollam, Kerala), and we are in the thick of things within minutes. Everything you need to know is revealed with brevity, making for a thoroughly enjoyable drama from start to finish.

“P P Ajesh”, the protagonist is a self-styled “madiyil jeweller”, literally meaning someone who trades in gold from his lap (madi = lap in Malayalam). He arranges for gold ornaments to help families put up gold dowry for marriages. The deal is that he lends them gold ornaments of an agreed value, the family then raises the money to pay him within a day of the wedding after collections from gifts and donations, offering to pay for whatever they can with the cash, and duly return the rest of the gold. Needless to say, in this business, ‘high risk, high return’ is an understatement. But Ajesh, is truly a man who knows how it can be and is a man of his word, sometimes very stubbornly so.

For one such deal, Ajesh happens to arrange for gold ornaments for a friend-of-a-friend, who wants to get his sister married for a dowry of 25 sovereigns. He does so, and after signing the necessary contract waits for the gold to be paid for or collected back.

But it doesn’t happen.

The rest of the story (no spoilers!) is a tense-drama that reveals the true nature of the characters in different ways, sometimes poignantly, sometimes shockingly, but always revealing the desperation of circumstances. We root for Ajesh, of course, and grow to like him as a man of character, and always willing to lay down everything for his honour and reputation without any fear of the consequences. Well, he is Ajesh. “Ajeshaada, Ajesh!” as he repeatedly reminds us. We want to see him win, and are constantly curious about what he will do next. He is as clever as he is determined. And boy, he doesn’t disappoint!

Basil Joseph is completely believable as P P Ajesh, and convinces us effortlessly about the motivations of the character. Sajin Gopu, playing Mariano, emerges as the main antagonist and does a commendable job of holding his own against the power of Ajesh, and has us squirming in the seats. Lijo Mol Jose as Steffi Graf (did you do a double take?) is a believable character with a range of shades in grey. She goes from pitiable to cunning to deceitful and even likeable by the end of the movie. The movie, of course, begins with Bruno, Stefii’s wayward good-for-nothing ‘party worker’ brother (played by Anand Manmadhan) who also goes through his own personal arc throughout the story.

Suffice it to say that it is a movie worth watching for what a novel can look like on screen. There are no unnecessary embellishments (even the songs play their neat part in exposition without distraction) and the story is brought to life by director Jothish Shankar with a great cast and good performances all around.