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A twisted tale of cops and bandits!

Churuli (2021)
Director: Lijo Jose Pellissery

When it came to my attention that the Kerala High Court agreed that the language used in this movie is 'atrocious in nature' after a portion of the film was played in the court following a writ petition, I was excited. In my mind, any publicity is good publicity. After plucking the movie out of cyberspace and watching it, I was hooked. I was eager to find out where the film was heading.

Amidst the beautiful green lush of tropical Kerala countryside, two undercover cops infiltrate into a remote village to apprehend a hardened criminal. The problem is that neither of them had a clue how he looked like, but they were determined to find out anyway by mingling with the villagers.

The towering trees, the rugged terrain and the imposingly dense forest with the eerie background sounds of Nature set a perfect backdrop for a suspenseful thriller with hints of extraterrestrial visitation.

The undercover cops, Anthony and Shajivan, soon discover that the timid villagers who share the transportation suddenly turn abusive after a certain village perimeter. This is the beginning of more surprises and suspense to come. The cops end up becoming helpers at an arrack shop which morphs into a church on Christmas! Many things happen around them, but they cannot finger them. There are many bizarre characters around them, the hut which houses giant machinery with tiny gear-like contraptions ticking away inside, the firefly-like flashes of light that appear every day now and then, and many more.

At the end of the day, this story is based on old folklore. A monk once entered a forest to fight a demon. After looking high and low, he found no monster, only a coiled-up anteater. The monk placed the anteater on his head and continued his journey. He sensed he had got lost in the woods. He asked the anteater for directions. With this 'assistance', the priest got more and more misplaced into the jungle. Nobody knows the outcome of the search. The moral of the story is to highlight the importance of choosing the right partner in any endeavour. A wrong one will lead one astray.

By the end of the film, it is anybody's guess who the villain is and what the story is all about? Are the character caught in a time loop where events happen again and again in indefinite loops? Are the characters subject to alien experimentation? Is there some kind of energy that brings out only the evil part of people? These are precisely the uncertainties that make this film enjoyable!
(P.S. Is the use of profanity necessary? Yes. This lingo is used in the real world, away from civilisation and the rule of law, where hardened criminals rule. Civility only manifests when life is at peace and certain.)

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Location: Kuala Lumpur, Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

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