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anjoepaulkallody
Reviews
Chakoram (1994)
A movie that speaks for and against woman's endurance.
Chakoram is one of those few underrated movies that deserves to be discussed. Shanti Krishna as Sharadhamani leads a rough life after having abandoned by her siblings for whom as she says, she sacrificed her life. Hence, the abandoned pheasant is forced to play the role of a dutiful parent and a loving yet a tough sibling. However, her reasons for not solving the issues of her life and excuses spring thereof for not finding a male companion to support herself, cannot be accepted. Interestingly, we see her projecting her inability to solve the affairs of her life upon others. If she wanted she could solve her problems by her own without waiting for an angel like savior, Lance Naik Mukundan Menon.
Perhaps by locking herself up, she was revolting against herself, making it impossible for love to enter her life. Anyway, emotional inability that makes one incapable of leading his/her own life will be seen as nothing but ignorance by a modern viewer. It is only the individual's responsibility to uplift himself/herself.
Murali for his part played the role deftly. The character was safe in his hands. The charm of his personality is difficult to be untouched by anyone be it someone like Sharadamani, the Unniyarcha of our movie. Had it not been for its premodern and self destructive elements (which we see very often in the movies of Lohitha Das), Chakoram could have been something else. Thus the movie ends up being a contradictory statement upon what it made us feel it stood for.
Devadoothan (2000)
There is more in this movie than you think.
A huge number of viewers of the time the movie released and those of the present days tend to believe that Maheswar indeed came and took Aleena with him to a different world where they flew like two adorable pigeons. This is because our viewers have an overload of romantic expectations. On the contrary, I would like to see it as a revenge story made colorful with the sound and fury of Vishal Krishnamurthy (Mohan Lal) who plots a devious plan to get rid of Madam Angelina Ignatius, the lady who destroyed the course of his life on a fine day by ousting him from the college on the alleged playing of the 'Seven Bells'. We know that it is precisely because of that Murthy had to live a difficult life and that his dreams got dashed onto the rock on which you could hear only a clatter of stones than the harmony of music.
All those years after college he must have been forced to live a sullen life with resent. He must have been looking for ways to take revenge and set his life straight. In comes Principal father with an offer for a musical. Grabbing the opportunity, with the help of his friend Ithakk (Jagadeesh), Murthy, like the Namboothirippad of Manichithrathazhu creates a Tantric ceremony like atmosphere for his enemy Madam Angelina Igantius.
Having gotten rid of Madam Angelina, Murthy had his revenge and regained his dreams of becoming a well known musician. Although the movie, fell short of becoming yet another classic of psychological thriller genre, thus opens opportunities for multiple interpretations. If you are a romantic you can believe the first story, if you are a rational thinker or a pragmatist, you can believe the latter.
Mailpeelikkavu (1998)
A movie that deserve a lot more attention.
As the cinematic sensibilities and level of appreciation got significantly improved these days, movies like Mayilppeelikkavu deserve to be approached from an angle that is more tolerant than critical. Many might say that Mayilppeelikkavu could be a lot better had the makers were better informed about the art of film making. But all these worries can take the back seat for some time. Let's discuss what a modern viewer can dig out from a psychological thriller like Mayilppeelikkavu.
The movie is strongly based on the strength of myths and their ability or rather the ability of people to manipulate them for gaining their ends. Valyathan could be approached as an ambitious old man who afraid of losing the wealth of the Kovilakom, is devising an ingenious plan to get rid of the heiress Gayathri. At the same time it is highly unlikely that he did not believe in the myths and magic so as to leave someone who looks exactly like Kuttimalu unscathed.i.e., Valyathan could indeed have believed that Gayathri was the reincarnated Kuttimalu, therefore, a threat to his life. There is one more reason for this. We know that Vallyathan had an unfulfilled love life in connection with Kuttimalu and that he, although insanely, had loved her. So when Gayathri came back he must have awoken the sleeping lover who could not get Kuttimalu. (Remember, Valyathan's last words were: "Kuttimalu" suggesting that he madly loved her). After considering the above obervations, no viewer would be able to say that Manu is Krishnanunni and Gayathri is Kuttimani in the sense of reincarnation. The movie is clearly on the side of science asking viewers to shake off the vestiges of superstition which, as in the past can still wreck havoc in human lives. It seems that the movie wants to tell us that myths gain power only after we start believing in them. In other words, the imagined reality (as that of the dreams of Kuttimani and Manu) if believed has the potential to become objective reality. The choice is ours.
Thenmavin Kombath (1994)
An evergreen classic of Malayalam Cinema.
Considered as one of the evergreen classics of Malayalam cinema, Thenmavin Kombathu is always a fresh watch even after watching it a number of times. The beauty of village life that is clubbed with some of the precious moments of nature have been preserved so subtly in each and every frame of the movie. The plotline never ever misaligns with the setting of the movie that marks a key feature of this art work. The music also fits right into the plot that is of the type which is quite unheard at that time. Some of the songs from the movie are still being downloaded and remains in the playlist of people who love nostalgia.
Movies centered around rustic life will have some special traits of that place to present. Here it is the bullock cart race, agrarian country life, lord-servant dependency, folkways etc. However chief among them is the belief of the community in superstitions. Thimmayya, the soothsayer subtly becomes the innocuous pivot that gears the movie quite unawaringly. The fact we can find if we watch closer that can be understood is that it is nothing but the very same set of superstitious elements that the movie is criticizing at the same time showcasing the goodness of the village people and their wishes to climb up the social ladder sometimes throgh crookedness.
Ozhivudivasathe Kali (2015)
A Game with no rules-Another Masterpiece.
The movie starts from a scene where a group of people gather around a shallow and plan how they will be spending the coming off-day. Our view is obstructed by two small twigs and this shot continues for minutes with no practical movement. This block and difficulty in seeing completely what happens is central to the film. It is like the camera with the audience is spying them or trying to overhear them, something that should only reside among themselves. Their plan is about boozing up the coming day in a quieter place with no disturbance despite the fact that the general election to the state assembly is on its way.
The group comprises people from all ages and all social divisions. There are representatives from the higher stratum of social ladder, from the lower stratum and also those who are in between them. It is evident that their group is formed on the basis of liquor and that liquor sets no difference between people on their social status. In this regard it is a unifier. However we will soon discover the role of liquor as a discord generator.
The place they have decided to spend off the day is blessed for its enigmatic side and natural appeal. It is as if the nature herself conspires with the drunk to fly off in their fantasies. We see a capsized boat in the lake symbolizing a state the group will soon be in. The boat and the still water are two important stages in the life of an alcoholic; inebriety and death. Nature sometimes becomes the sole observer of their acts, like the omniscient God (Camera takes us so).
An act they all set out to do just after taking a bath in the lake is the cutting of a jackfruit that they thought was ripe but found not. Previous to this scene we have seen that they already had arranged a man to help them with the place and a woman to cook food items (touchings in the local slang), especially chicken and tapioca. However what we see is that after they got the jackfruit, they are canceling their earlier plan and asking the woman to stop preparing the tapioca porridge but to prepare jackfruit. The language and way of talking tell us that they have had their earlier share of liquor. And with this thing (Jackfruit) we understand how fickle these people are and how senseless they really are. In fact the group have bordered the line between sanity and insanity. Nobody talks sense here. Nothing makes sense here.
A helper they had arranged (a forest watchman or so) gets drunk with them and loses consciousness. He stays like that until the movie ends; like half dead and half alive. It is like one is dead but one is still alive; another state that liquor creates. The movie touches issues like security of women and role of women in the political system of the country.
The woman, Geeta is marked by two of the men. They try to make sexual advancements toward her. However the woman knowing the danger fights back quickly; once with retorts and another time with a sickle. Earlier when someone brought her attention to politics, she replied "isn't that men's game sir?.
Interestingly the flip side of liquor (discord generator) starts from an interesting scene where two among them (of course drunk) start talking about women. One holds onto the view that women should be subjugated physically and sexually. While the other holds that women should be let alone if they do not seem like enjoying men's sexual advancements. The two touch on personal issues where the one tease another on his lack of manliness and the other on his hypocritical stance on women when it touches his family (especially his wife).
What liquor brings out here is the hidden workings (mostly philosophical and theoretical) of one's mind. At this point they begin to talk about one another's professional life and personal life. Bias and hypocrisy that they have previously suppressed easily come out with the help of liquor. It creates discord in the group. The differences of opinion leads one person to make the decision to quit the group. However a person (Dasan) (who will soon become a scapegoat, though he himself is not without blemishes) tries to reconcile him. Sooner the other two who crossed their words with the man also come and try to reconcile him. Reason for their desperate tries is needless to be discussed since it is easy to understand how quickly liquor erases memories (here, discords) and how drunkenness sometimes allows a flash of sense though we cannot tell when.
From the non-animated eatable Jackfruit which they somehow conquer (cutting the jackfruit itself is a heavy task for them now) they begin to move onto hen; animated eatable. The problem is that nobody is willing to kill the hen. The responsibility is shifted from one person to another where it finally reaches the shoulder of Dasan, the youngest in their group who is also a lower caste.
Dasan is also not willing to kill it. However as it is presently on his shoulder he has to do something. He decides to hang the hen! The hen is hanged and the camera moves onto an unmoving water body; symbolic of life and death. We also hear the dying hen's flutter.
Kammatti Paadam (2016)
A masterpiece of the times.
Civilizations in all parts of the world were always questioned on the bases of their modes of progress. During the earlier stages of human society man's primary concern was survival. From that initial stage of survival we have come so far and have reached stages where ancient men if by some chance are to witness, can only marvel at the progress their later generations have achieved. But there will also be a vain search from their part to see the crops that were borne out of mud which for them have been the life giving manna. Centered on it they dreamed dreams, shaped their lives, raised
Rajeev Ravi's new attempt is a commendable work that raises some important questions regarding human development standing from a physical, cultural and educational level. Here in the movie, the gang of Kammattippadam outlive society's all kinds segregation by forming a group comprising youth from all religious and cast divisions that purely depends on the base of friendship alone. Right from the very beginning we cannot help but notice director's clever use of caste codes. A vendor asks whether the girl's color is 'black' before selling a necklet, the upper class boy who takes revenge on his peers and Ganga's song akkaanum maamalayonnum
echoes caste matters so symbolically.
Balan and Ganga (Gangadharan), heads of Kammattippadam gang who belong to lower castes are represented in the movie as the first from their caste to overtly question societal segregation through open confrontation with the upper caste. Their machismo is boosted by the upper caste. This unfortunate but possibly the only way of living (resorting to violence) is proved detrimental toward the end of the movie. An old generation of theirs who depended purely on the soil cannot help but leave their physical space through sorry deaths without being able to give their later generation any option to live. Like Ganga sings 'pulayadi makkal njangal kalahichu marikkunnu
' the new generation fights and die for the upper caste who now live in skyscrapers built and bought with the blood money of people like Balan and Ganga. In fact the lower caste's initiation to violence is anointed and blessed by the upper caste like Mathayichan, Martin Sir and Surendran Asan who use them against their own people.
The multistory buildings stand in the place of crops the elders of Balan and Ganga cultivated there. Encroachments began with simple fencing ended in filling the physical and cultural space of the lower caste. Today instead of rice modern society minus the lower caste, cultivate towers of greed in the name of development and sophistication. When Balan and Ganga die for their oppressors their wives live off the left over from their way of living. Like Balan's wife (a converted Christian) they become prostitutes and later goonda leaders. Another generation (Rosamma's personal bodyguard) springs out of their tradition taking the goonda tradition forward. They assume machismo and take on the violent tradition.
Though the movie has shown how the working class is exploited by the bourgeoisies (if we use the traditional terms) it could not completely discuss the solutions to these problems. Nevertheless some clues to societal upliftment are surely brought out. When the burned corpse of Ganga is taken out we see a small girl carrying bag is going to school. Though the shot is not stressed much we can assume that the director might want to bring education as a ladder climbing which lower caste can overcome their difficulties and stop being a tool in the hands of upper castes. Krishnan from the upper caste formed an alliance with Ganga and Balan. To Ganga he was not just a friend but like a brother who went over color and physical features, the same matters for which Ganga's community had always been condemned. Krishnan is a representative from the upper class who unlike his wealthy corporate counterparts joins hands with the downtrodden, love them and even desires to be part of one of them (through loving and desiring to marry Anumol). Krishnan and Gangadharan, even their names have much to tell. According to Indian legends Krishnan is an incarnation of the Aryan God Vishnu and Gangadharan (Sivan) is a Dravidian God with immense power who is often called the creator and the destroyer.
Thus in a changed society there comes a liberator for the downtrodden from the part of their own oppressors. This is a hope this dexterously crafted movie proposes before its brilliant audience. Kammattippadam is a must watch of recent times that comes in the line of movies of literary value and entertainment merit.
Leela (2016)
Leela; one word, thousand lives.
Leela, the title of the movie and name of one of its central characters obviously has a special scent of carnality around it. However the movie is not completely about what its title suggests. Besides it is also about the present society's hypocrisy, lifestyle and unhealthy trends toward cultural degradation.
Our central character Kuttiyappan himself becomes a satire on the modern society. The queerness with his behavior, place of living and mannerisms tell us a lot about the present society.
Leela will be Ranjith's first movie to use extensive symbolism. (Also because it is based on a literary piece) We know that cellphone is no more a material. It has become something on which people have invested a huge bundle of their secrets, cares and worries. So this gadget is a unique thing of this century. People find it really hard to separate themselves from it. Whenever it beeps, vibrates or rings they jump on it. Almost always people are busy with this gadget that it has become another organ of human body. Kuttiyappan mocks this that he fixes his cellphone near to his hand. Kuttiyappan's mentioning of Dinkan with other Gods is a perfect mockery on the educated boastful atheists. Dinkan, an abandoned character from a children's comic is now adopted by young atheists as their symbol. However the philosophy of atheism which had always gone to criticize organized religions became part of yet another religion through the adoption of Dinkan as their symbol.
Sex has become a ritual. Something that has lost its meaning because of the importance given to body over heart or love. That is the reason why Kuttiyappan is asking the girl to light a lamp before starting what the girl thought for which she came there. The first thing he asks to this girl is to imagine that he 'is her father'. This alludes to the present situation where women feel no security at their own families. He also asks her to cry over his death. Later he comes to know about the poor conditions of the girl. It brings him to some of the fundamental questions regarding morality and survival.
His search for elephant is his search for women who have fallen preys to men's sexual fantasies, who have become yet another product that has huge selling value. Marlin Manroe, the most celebrated Hollywood actress is their representative for men's voyeuristic fantasies. On his search for elephants Kuttiyappan meets an environmental activist who rubs some intoxicant in his hand. What could be his worries? About trees being cut down, deforestation and climate change? A cigarette lamp hangs in front of Kuttiyappan's jeep's mirror suggesting the society's addiction to smoking and drugs.
When somebody is dead Kuttiyappan goes to attend his funeral. Later he tells us that it was not from drinking alcohol that the person died but from excessive consuming of unhygienic food. This can also extend to fast and junk food culture.
Every society has a tendency to forget its past. This easy oblivion is that society's clever escape from its fake moral consciousness. This is what Kuttiyappan wants to mock through the old women whom he takes to roundabouts.
Finally he decides to do something against at least a single injustice. Kuttiyappan derives his inspiration from none other than Mahatma Gandhi under whose statue we read: 'first they mock you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win'. Not so late Kuttiyappan's dead aunt, a woman who might have gone through the oppressive rule of the patriarchy comes in the guise of an angel (an ugly looking angel). She represents a past generation of women who went through the same kind of sexual and domestic torture as that is presently experienced by their later generation
The determined Kuttiyappan pauses his symbolic fight with the society for some time and decides to do some act that will wash out sins of his and that of the entire patriarchy he represents. Hence next we meet Kuttiyappan in a government hospital. The untidy atmosphere of the place tell us a lot about our health systems. Pilla (an aged householder) follows Kuttiyappan hoping that he will get a chance to have a sexual relationship outside marriage. He also hopes that he will get a young girl to satiate his sexual desires. Dasappappi follows Kuttiyappan in the hope of arranging somebody for Kuttiyappan and if possible, to find somebody new to his dirty business
An old woman Kuttiyappan meets on his way to find an elephant sings a children's song about an elephant; another allusion to objectification of women.
It is very interesting to note that Leela's character does not utter a single word in the movie. She has been silenced from the very moment she was misused. The fact that she is silent throughout the movie tells us a lot about the intensity of her suffering. After hearing Leela's suffering we notice Pillechan becoming more and more worried about his daughter who is of Leela's age. He is now far from his fantasies of enjoying a young body. Pillechan who represents old men having their sexual fantasies about young girls is touched by his conscience for the first time after hearing Leela's story.
Injustices done to women by men go beyond all limits and transcend little foils from the part of women. Thus, Leela, representative of phallocentric cruelty, gives her consent to the animal (to whom she is objectified) to take her life realizing that a woman is never safe in the hands of men. The final image of Leela is of her dead body carried in Kuttiyappan's aunt's lap which cannot help but recall us of Pietà, the famous sculpture by Michelangelo depicting the Virgin Mary supporting the body of the dead Christ. This movie is a noticeable attempt that will help viewers watch and appreciate films of literary merit.
Vidheyan (1994)
A wonderful work that demands more insight.
Apart from the tyranny of a master and the obedience of a slave, the film opens windows for other discussions also. Thommy, basically a weak person both in the physical and psychological sense, if not always but at times is portrayed as an opposite force following his master (for reasons of making a living and in fear of the consequences that might arise from not obeying the master). Patterlar is portrayed as a very rude, cruel, sexually obsessive landlord. These contradictory demeanor of the two have been successfully incorporated into the film. For most of the time Thommy acts as a moral light or conscience of Pattelar; Thommy tries to reason Pattelar when he kicks a person for no obvious reasons who came there to search his brother. Another time he tells that it will not be good to catch the fish of the pond near to the temple who are seen as the citizens of the local deity. Thommy also shows his lack of interest in killing Saroja Akka, wife of Pattelar who treated him (Thommy) like a mother and who saw him as a dutiful husband who loves his wife Omana very deeply. To her, Thommy acted almost like a surrogate husband. It can be said that it is Thommy's inner wish that the fish of the pond should not be killed that made all thottas that were thrown to the pond left unsuccessful. And it is also his wish not to see Saroja Akka as dead that Pattelar missed his aim while trying to kill her. We see occasions in which Thommy had to be part of Pattelar's evil plans always ended in vain. This might be because Thommy always had a very exotic moral conscience that operated in a very different level, in a way that could actually reverse Pattelar's evil plans. When we come to Pattelar, we see him saying "I'll live the way I feel like." Though reasons for why Pattelar acts in this unacceptable manner is not dealt very deeply in the movie, we can deduce Pattlar always held an inner judge within his consciousness. This can be brought into light on his worries after killing his wife which force him to think if she might have guessed who the killer was, i.e, Pattelar. This is what forces Pattelar to abandon the idea to go to Police to surrender. It is at this point Pattelar feels for the first time that he did something really wrong and decides to hide instead. In all other times it can be said that Pattelar did not feel guilty of what he was doing. Because in all those moments his consciousness could not see him as a culprit but as someone who was successful in fulfilling all he wanted and someone who made full opportunities of a life which gave him full rein. Though Thommy obeyed his master every time he was given an order, he always knew that his master was wrong and immoral. This is what supported him in finding nothing wrong in helping to kill his master (Though it was a failure). But we cannot overlook Thommy's concern for his master. He loved his master for sure. If he did not, he would not be able to cry saying "...is this really thou who has fallen!..". Finally when Thommy leaves his dead master to freedom, he was proving himself that he always stood in the righteous path.