Whether it is Rama or Ravana...

Bramayugam (Era of Madness, Malayalam; 2024)
Story, Direction: Rahul Sadasivan

Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. That is the takeaway. No matter who holds the helm of control or the intoxicating concoction of power, life can never be a level playing field. Invariably, one tries to supersede another regarding idea, physical prowess, endowments, or wealth. For every robust individual, there is always another who is slightly better, faster, or stronger. And the eternal duel to be the supreme leader of the tribe goes on. 

Set in 16th-century India, when the  Portuguese were out hunting for Indian slaves to spur their intercontinental slave trade, two men escaped from their captive ship and hid themselves in the jungle. One of them falls to the lure of the jungle temptress spirit, Yakshi, and is killed by her. The other, Thevan, makes it to an abandoned mansion in the middle of the jungle. Hungry, he helps himself to some coconut, but he is admonished by the house's cook, who brings him to meet the boss of the manor. The boss appears like a reasonable chap and treats him as a house guest, much to the chagrin of the cook. Upon discovering that Thevan is a palace singer, the Lord of the Manor requests him to sing. 

Thevan, a person of the lowest castes, Pannar, is grateful to be given due recognition for his talent. Soon, things change. Increasingly, the homeowner goes into mood swings. When Thevan says he wants to leave, he gets a 'NO!'

Things turn eerie with strange sounds, and the cook starts acting weird. The story explores the various superstitions and beliefs in the supernatural, spirits, and demons in Kerala. This film is shot in black and white but does not fall short of suspense. The filmmakers do not depend on gore or visual extravaganzas to drive home their point but via judicious use of sounds, visuals, and good acting. 

The Lord of the Manor is not who he is supposed to be. Demon (shattan) has taken his appearance. As the cook and Thevan defeat the Demon, the Demon tries to jump ship. The body that it goes into turns evil. That, in essence, is the message behind the movie. The Demon is equated to power. Power is evil and destroys indiscriminately. 

First, the primordial people of the land tried to make sense of the world they were in. Trying to give meaning to tremendous forces of nature, they named Gods. Work was distributed based on people's skills and aptitudes to ensure the continuity of life on the planet. Somewhere along the way, people started thinking that their own jobs were more important. They tried to impose restrictions to keep the knowledge of the job to their own kind. A divisional hierarchy soon followed.

People were always suspicious of other communities; they allayed their cognitive dissonance by convincing themselves that the other party was wrong or deviant. It made sense afterwards. To spread their beliefs, they had to conquer over the other.

The conquerors started making divisions amongst their subjects to make 'divide-and-rule' the way to go. They came up with half-baked studies, supported by supposed scholars, to drive home the point of who the real boss is. Obscure occidental studies supported the theory that the Orientals were culturally backwards when, in reality, the reverse was true. Aryan Migration Theory was coined to justify the occupation of Europeans over India.

It did not matter who held the ruling position. The people at the lowest rung of the food chain will always be pushed. As the Tamil proverb goes, 'Whether Rama rules or Ravana does, our life remains in the doldrums.'

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A platonic marriage?

Kathal: The Core (Malayalam; 2023)

Director: Jeo Baby

In 2001, the Netherlands became the first country in the world to legalise same-sex marriage. Four couples were chosen to have their wedding broadcast on TV. One of the couples was Hèléna Faasen and Anne-Marie Thus. Like a flock of seagulls to the shoreline in summer, journalists worldwide made a bee dive for it. One interesting point that a Chilean journalist was heard telling the world was that the lesbian couple was so ordinary. He had expected them to exhibit in full glory iconography of their sexuality, smut or menageries sexual of nature.

Well, I think that is the problem. Hollywood and our society always stereotype members of the LGBTQI community as sex-crazed people engaged in sex orgies all around the clock. It is forgotten that they also yearn for the same things in life as others: peace of mind, security and knowing what tomorrow may bring. Being gay is more than about sex. 

This Malayalam movie is one of the rare ones, especially coming from a traditionally conservative society, on same-sex relationships. The topic is dealt with civilly without much melodrama and commotion. The character is supposed to be engaged in a gay relationship and does not exhibit the typical effeminate behaviour either. 

Mathew is a respected independent party member who had been nominated as a candidate for a by-election. That is when his wife drops a bombshell. After 20 years of marriage and a 19-year-old daughter, his wife, Omana, files for divorce. In a calm, composed manner, the viewers are slowly told of the issues at hand. 

Even before marriage, Mathew knew that he was gay. He had a partner in the same village. Upon Mathew's father's persuasion, threats and belief that the age-old adage that marriage would solve everything, Mathew is arm-twisted to tie the matrimonial knot. 

Life just dragged on with the matrimonial staying cold except for the mandatory one child. Beyond that, both husband and wife just performed their worldly duties, like Omana caring for the children's upbringing, running the household and managing the ailing Mathew's father and Mathew performing his fatherly duties.

Maybe it was the decriminalisation of Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code in 1998 many people surrounding queer people got a relief to live their lives. 

Omana decided to get a life for herself and let Mathew live his. The difference in the presentation is how compassionate everyone is to each other's feelings. There is no animosity or overt display of discontent or anger. Everyone seems to accept things as they are. Mathew is not shown as a sex-crazed homosexual. His former partner is just an innocent bystander watching things as they unfold.

Quite unbelievable to happen in real life. I do not think society, especially an Asiatic one, is accepting enough to value a person by his worth and work alone. Other associated features linked to his birth, family, religion and wealth take precedence. Anyone with a different sex orientation or preference, whether they like it or not, has to live a dual existence. They live in a lie with a loveless marriage.

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Nature and its reset button!

2018: Everyone is a Hero (Malayalam; 2023)
Written and Directed: Jude Anthany Joseph

This must surely be the first successful full-length disaster movie ever done by filmmakers of Indian cinema. Unlike the usual endeavours where the final outcomes appear inferior to an average B-grade Hollywood flick, this one is for real; it looks it anyway. It is India's entry to the 96th Academy Awards under the Foreign film category.

It tries to recreate the 2018 significant floods that hit Kerala. Monsoon was particularly bad that year, with unusually high rainfall that resulted in the worst floods in the century. 483 people died, and 15 went missing. In the aftermath of the floods, Keralites realised and feted not only the government-sanctioned rescue teams but also the role of the general public in helping each other out. The fishermen were particularly mentioned for rising to the occasion with their fishing boats. This movie is also to honour these people. Everyone is a hero when he acts selflessly.

Many characters' lives get entangled when a small village gets badly flooded. As strong as Nature is, it resets the order of things. A discharged Army is sometimes sniggered upon by villagers. He leads a quiet life, waiting for his visa application to Dubai to be ready. The ex-soldier turns out to be a hero later. A patriarchal fisherman family is upset that the second son is not interested in the family profession of fishing but is interested in modelling. Even his girlfriend's family rejects him mainly because he is from the lowly fishermen clan. The fishermen community became heroes later when they went around rescuing stranded villagers, including the family who looked down on them.

A long-distance grumpy interstate lorry driver from an arid-dry region of Tamil Nadu who is transporting dynamite to a group of dam protestors has a change of heart after seeing so much devastation. He becomes a hero and distributes ration food. A couple amid separation renew their bond. A couple who had built a new home is devasted their house is destroyed but is happy that they still have each other.

The thing that struck me about the movie is the part where the managers of a dam and their decision to control the release of water to balance between preventing the breakage of the dam and flooding of human habitation. Not that it had not happened before. One of the reasons cited for the recent massive floods in Pakistan was precisely this. Unable to pay for the maintenance of their dams, torrential rains caused dams to overflow and cause devastation.

Quite recently, the tragedy that befell Libya comes to mind. In an arid country like Libya, the dams that were built were like heaven-sent. Unfortunately, after years of neglect culminating from internal infighting and corruption, this oil-rich nation with the most enormous reserves in Africa never saw Nature giving them a curveball. An unprecedented storm and rainfall resulted in the dam being filled to the brim. A lackadaisical, contented attitude led to a chaotic warning system. Poor maintenance showed when the dam burst. Floods killed over 4,000 people.

Some say building a dam can be a curse. Perhaps it is just fighting back. The world over, many ambitious dam projects have proved disastrous. On top of all the news of dams overflowing with heavy monsoon and glacial waters, the ill-thought King Zahir's ambitious plan to build a massive dam to change Afghanistan to a little America only turned the country into a poppy-planting lawless one. Meanwhile, Russia has been embarking on projects where rivers flowing towards the Arctic regions are diverted artificially to irrigate lands where it is needed.

Worth the watch.

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Everything has a price!

Joseph (Malayalam, 2018)

Director: M Padmakumar

This movie gives another twist to how man's greed hijacks a noble intention like organ donation. Good virtue has been held in high esteem and is said to be the raison d'être of man’s existence. The sound of one man’s death knell signalling another's beginning of life sounds cruel, but that is how life is. Death and tragedy in the goat family are signs of survival and satiety in the tiger family.

As creative as a man can be, he knows about demand and supply, market forces and the electrifying power of the currency. Money, a lubricant in most transactions, eases this. The desperate seeker calls these middlemen God-sent. The mourners find solace in knowing they had done one good deed before the last call. The observers call it unscrupulous when they see the donors donating before their time is up and the deserving recipients are bypassed for the highest bidder. 

Man has converted everything into businesses, invented creative schemes to monetise even cadaveric organs, and, if needed, expedited death when the situation demands. They become the ‘invisible hands’ that guide the economy. 

Socrates may have convinced Greeks and generations after him to promote good virtue and philosophy as the basis of human living. Plato preached that a wise person uses his mind to understand moral reality to apply it to daily life. No more; this train of thought is so passé. It is not applicable in kali yuga. We all bow to the Money God. Virtue is so Satya and Treta yuga. 

They say our data is protected, and our personal pledges are classified. Any firewall is only as good till the next version hits the market. These systems' inventors will leave a loophole for them to market their next upgrade. 

Hence, our private data, including medical information, are all out for scrutiny. Hackers, in collaboration with sneaky businessmen who regularly taint noble professions, will stop at nothing to scheme out plans after plans to profit themselves. 

In this movie (spoiler alert), pledged donors are screened during their routine medical examination and matched to potential foreign recipients. A fake accident is arranged by thugs in a remote locale. A Good Samaritan, also part of the gang, would bring the accident victim to a predestined hospital. The victim would invariably perish without regaining consciousness. Organs will be harvested. Local recipients planning to receive these transplants would undergo dummy operations, but the organs would be shipped far away. 

A retired police officer had to lose two family members, his late teen daughter and his wife, to these fraudsters before smelling a rat. He devised an elaborate to uncover the whole network. 

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Indian cinema's fascination with identical twins

Iratta(Twin, Malayalam; 2023)

Written & Directed By: Rohit M G Krishnan

Indian cinema's fascination with twins, particularly identical twins, goes way back to the late 1960s and 70s. Kollywood had MGR appear in many swashbuckling matinees featuring twins separated at birth by twist of fate, only to be reunited in adulthood by chance. Invariably, the twins would be different in mannerisms and characters, like day and night, but would be the spitting image of each other in appearance. These movies were mainly to boost MGR's political career as well as to spread Dravidian party ideologies. His films that involve twins' confusion include 'Enga Veetu Pillai' (1965) and 'Maattukara Velan' (1970).

Not wanting to be left out in the race to stardom, Sivaji Ganesan took the challenge to act in double roles. He pushed his acting prowess to the limit by appearing in triple roles - 'Deiva Magan' (1969), as a pair of twins, one looking normal and one scarred face, just like the father who is also Sivaji and scarred faced! Pushing the limit to the point of no return, this excellent actor assumed nine roles in 1964's 'Navarathri'. In 2001, BBC described Sivaji Ganesan's appearance in that movie as the best in his illustrious career. Each part is said to reflect nine human behaviours.

Double acting of yesteryears. 

Kamal Haasan tried to outdo Sivaji's roles via his 2008's 10 avatars in 'Dasavathaaram'. A fine actor he is, some characters did create a buzz, but sadly others fell flat, giving the feeling that they were just forced upon.

We have our own representation of double acting in the 1956 P Ramlee's 'Anak Ku Sazali', which earned him the Best Actor award in the 1957 Asia-Pacific Film Festival.

This police procedural Malayalam film is different from most 'twin' stories. Most movies depict twins as poles apart, so black or white, one good and the other bad. However, this one has both good and bad, just like an average Joe in real life. 

Pramod and Vinodh are twins separated in childhood by feuding parents. Their abusive alcoholic father chased out the mother and Pramod after a drunken stupor. Interestingly, both twins become police officers working in the same area. Pramod becomes a Deputy Superintendent of Police, and Vinod becomes an Assistant Sub Inspector. Pramod had drinking problems and was separated from his wife and daughter. Vinod is a hot-tempered cop who has no qualms about abusing his power. He throws his weight around the public and is a menace to his colleagues. The story starts with three gunshots that shatter the tranquillity of an idyllic hilly town in Kerala. ASI Vinod is shot at close range and found sprawled at his table in the police station. The rest of the story is about the investigation of the murder, interviews with Vinodh's working colleagues and narration of flashbacks to the deceased and his brother's back history.

The beauty of the movie is the fine acting of Joju George, who did not give a single hint that Vinodh and Paramod are acted by the same actor. Their body language, mannerisms and speech differ much. There was no uncertainty about who was who. Wait for the twist at the end.

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