Drishyam, 2013

Watched Driyshyam, the Malayalam movie which is spawning so many remakes, yesterday.

An interesting thriller, which inverts the usual thriller genre, as we know from the beginning who committed a crime. The suspense of the movie is whether the criminals would be saved or not. The sympathies of the audience are towards the criminals. They want them to be saved.

For me, the movie didn't work. And it didn't work because of its moral apathy. What it says that to save one's family, it is alright to hide a killing. What it doesn't explicitly say, but plays upon, is people's disenchantment with the workings of criminal justice system and hence their acceptance of different alternative justice mechanisms like Kangaroo courts or equivalents.

Another reason the movie didn't work for me is Lalettan, as the larger than life Mohan Lal, is fondly called by his crores of fans. In fact, he is so larger than life and every other character is so much in awe of him, that the film looks to be suffering from miscasting. It is not that he doesn't try. He does and also succeeds in conveying the life world of an auto didact, with its attendant lack of self doubt. Life world of a self made man who values the life he had created. But many others seem in awe with his character. And that doesn't work.

Would love to hear more from friends who have seen the movie.:-))

Amma Ariyan, 1986

Went to see, after much planning, missing my lunch, straight from a class, travelling some 10 kilometres, a movie by a film maker long dead again after almost 30 years.

Jadavpur Film Society was showing a better print of Amma Ariyan by the legendary Malayalam filmmaker, John Abraham.

A rebel and a genius, John did many interesting things adding to the mythology around him. One of the stories about him is that once he said that if MGR can be a hero in a Tamizh movie, even a donkey could be a hero. And he really made a Tamizh movie with a donkey in the main role. The movie got him the best film award at the national awards in that year.:-))

John, one of the most respected alumni of FTII had a rather nomadic life. And an influence which went much beyond his four completed films.

Last time I saw Abraham's movies was in a JNU auditorium in Delhi ( somewhere in the city, not on the campus) when I was visiting. This could be 1987, sometime after the death of Abraham at a relatively young age of 50. I remember having seen three of his movies. One was definitely Agraharathil Kazhutai ( Donkey in the Elite Colony). The second one was most probably Vidyarthikale Ithile Ithile ( This way, Students). And off course, Amma Ariyan (Report to Mother). While all the three movies were interesting in their own right, Amma Ariyan had a narrative style which seemed quite phenomenological to me.

In the years since I saw it last, Amma Ariyan ( made in 1986) has grown in stature. It got selected as the only movie from South India in the top 10 movies of Indian cinema mad by the prestigious British Film Institute in 2011.

I realised after watching it that I didn't remember much of the movie except some key facts about it. So it was almost a fresh viewing.

The movie is about a person's journey to look for the identity of a suicide victim and after he finds his identity- his journey to give the victim's mother the bad news.

Through a non linear, as I said earlier, phenomenological narration, the movie tries to present many facets of the dead person. At another level, we get a road trip (and boat trip) from North Kerala to Southern Kerala, seeing many places through very special eyes. Eyes of John as a documentary maker. Documenting the history of people's struggle in the places he travels through. It is almost a visual atlas of people's struggle. The propensity for filming the reflected images made me think of what could be their significance. And invocations to mothers and mother goddess seemed like a tribute to Ghatak.

The film seems to have aged well.

Wonder if Nina Lath would be kind enough to bring out a collection of DVDs of John Abraham to make him available for the next generation of viewers.

Apart from its content and style, Amma Ariyan is also important in terms of how it was made. John and some others formed a cooperative venture called Odessa Collective ( I hope you get the Eisenstein tribute)  to take movies to people. Apart from showing movies to people in villages and so on, they also collected money from people (Preceding what we now know as crowd funding by at least three decades. And typically crowd funding involves a reciprocal arrangement, here were people donating money without any expectations) in small amounts to make the movie. And it was a very frugal film making. Something which Dogme 95 movement of Lars Von trier also tried to do, in terms of its intent in 1995.

Catch it if you can.:-))

Swapaanam, 2013

Watched Swapaanam, a Malayalam movie by the maestro Shaji N Karun.

This is second Shaji movie where he has engaged with a character from performing arts. Vaanprastham (1999) had Mohanlal playing a Kathakali performer.

Swapaanam is about the life and loves of a Chenda player. Chenda is a percussion instrument, apparently, considered an Asura Vadya or demonic instrument.

Story of the movie is like an epic with an elegiac texture- passing away of a world- gentler and unhurried. The film begins with a fire in an asylum. The scene reminded me of the Buddha sermon where he said "all is burning".

Apart from a gripping story, the music and visuals are fabulous. A large number of Chenda players ( more than150) recorded a particular track in a paddy field. The film has fabulous music - Chenda pieces and Mohinattam songs. And many Mohiniattam pieces. And many haunting visuals of landscapes to remind you that Shaji is also an excellent cameraman.

The film is available on DVD with English subtitles.

Shaji also happens to be an illustrious alumnus of FTII.:-))

Would love to have views of the friends who may have watched it.:-))

Rasam, 2015

In my season of Malayalam movies, watched a 2015 release,which apparently bombed on the box office.

Rasam is supposed to be mostly about food, including the name.:-)). It joins movies around food in recent times like Love Shove Te Chicken Khurana, Daawat-e- Ishq, The Hundred Foot Journey.:-)). However, I am still waiting for the Indian Chocolat.:-))

The movie does bring some nuances of the Malayali feast tradition and also shows the way a market economy is transforming the institution of feasts. It also brings out nuances of food in a hierarchical society like India with its notions of pollution and purity.
A casting coup was to have Lalettan as Lalettan. Much better. Because even otherwise, he would have remained Lalettan.

Was also happy to find as bonus some shots of the waterfronts of Doha and lyrics by Malayali poet Kavalam Narayan Panicker.:-))

Would love to hear from friends who may have seen the movie.:-))

Vaanprastham, 1999

Today's catch was Vanaprastham (aka Pilgrimage) , a 1999 Shaji Karun movie in Malayalam.

With exquisite Kathakali performances, it's the story of a maestro, born in a lower caste, who becomes a renowned dancer. A multilayered story, as is expected from a highly cultured society like Kerala, the movie kept reminding me of the Kenji Mizoguchi movie The Story of the Last Chrysanthemum which was based on a Kabuki artist's life. Vanaprastham, engages with questions of caste, gender, artistic integrity and a complex love.

Mohanlal, I hope my Malayali friends would agree with their repertoire of many more performances than me, has given perhaps his best ever performance, ably supported by Suhasini Mani Ratnam and numerous others.

The film's frames kept reminding me of Raja Ravi Verma's paintings.

Undoubtedly, a modern world classic. It's a befitting addition to Shaji Karun's ouvre who made his name from his debut, Piravi, itself.

I hope it's gets seen by more people. :-))

North 24 Kadham

North 24 Kadham, the Malayalam movie had come wth a lot of recommendations.:-))
First half an hour made me think whether the recommendations were misplaced. But after finishing the movie, I can see what my friends probably wanted me to see.
i would like to see it as a road movie. Typically, the genre of road movies has characters which don't get along in the beginning and you see the roads and also see the interaction between/among the characters.:-))
North 24 Kadham, starts with investing great deal of time trying to establish the strangeness of the lead character Hari, played by Faahad Faazil, whose great fan I am becoming after each consecutive movie. Suffering from (Probably) an obsessive compulsive disorder and almost a sociopath, he meets up with an old person, played superbly by Nedumudi Venu and a young social worker, played by Swathi Reddy.
The circumstances of their coming together is not very convincing, the long build up to establish Hari as strange is not it to much good use and the interaction among the three could have been more intense.
However, what the movie has, that itself leaves you with good memories. Kerala, ever the beautiful, in all its charming landscapes and some people they meet on the way. To me, the most interesting persons they meet were a couple, a Kutchi woman who drives a matador kind of home and her Tamil husband who live together but have no common language. A touching scene was where Venu's character, the old man, wraps the body of his long time comrade and wife in the flag of a communist party.
Thanks for the recommendation guys.:-))

Njan aka Life And Times of KTN Kottoor

Watched a Malayalam movie, Njaan aka Self Potrait, directed by Ranjith yesterday.:-))
Based on a novel called KTN Kottoor Ezhuthum Jeevithavum ( Life and Collected works of KTN Kottoor) by TP Rajeevan, it is an excellent adaptation of an ( what seemed) equally good literary piece. Realism meets fantasy. Film meets theatre.
About the life of a fictional historic character KTN Kottoor, the movie is a complex exploration of loves and lives of a progressive Nair person. Visually, there are moments which remain in the memory for long for their vividness and eeriness. The house in which much of the movie is shot, KTN's house in Kottoor, is a character in itself in the movie. With very competent acting by Dulquer Salmaan and others, it is a believable alternative history of the pre independence Kerala.
The movie has whetted my appetite to try and read TP Rajeevan as well as catch the other Rajeevan Ranjith movie.:-))
Malayalam cinema rocks.:-)). Both in terms of numbers and in terms of sheer variety.:-))