S. R. Praveen

Folklore carries with it the natural burden of old ways of thinking and the inherent tendency to not stray from what has been handed down over the generations. Often, when filmmakers take inspiration from folklore, knowingly or unknowingly, their approach to the material too is weighed down by the past. In ‘Lokah Chapter 1 : Chandra’, folklore appears to have inspired the people behind the film to think anew, not just in terms of the film, but for the Malayalam film industry as a whole. A particular bit of folklore that almost every other Malayali has grown up with, but has been forgotten in recent years, courses through the veins of Lokah in its original form in a flashback sequence for the ages, which has some of the best use of intercuts. It is also a lesson in using well-timed flashback sequences, delaying that revelation until close to the halfway point, leaving behind some major impact. This revelation will send a chill down the spine for most Malayalis, but it is doubtful whether it will resonate in the same manner outside Kerala.

Towards the fag end of Odum Kuthira Chaadum Kuthira, when one character asks - “Do you sense any logic in this joke?”, it appears to be one last-ditch effort to convey the filmmaker’s intentions to the audience. Clearly, the film is set in an absurdist landscape. It is the kind of film in which the father of the protagonist, who has slipped into a coma, would say, ‘Till now, he was a question mark to us, now he has become a com(m)a’. But such jokes, which land, are few and far between, for even absurdist humour requires a sense of timing and rhythm for it to work. What we get instead is a series of misfires that punctuate a screenplay with no sense of direction, just like the protagonist Eby (Fahadh Faasil). We are pulled into his life the night before his wedding, when his fiancée, Nidhi (Kalyani Priyadarshan), expresses a wish. In the quest to fulfill the same, Eby ends up facing a crisis.

The need to move out of their comfort zone ceases to be a necessity for filmmakers when they find success with their favourite tropes. That has been the case with Sathyan Anthikad for over four decades. Even as the film industry changed around him in unrecognisable ways, and despite a few slumps, he continued to have some level of success with his signature style. Anthikad’s previous film, Makal (2022)— which also dealt with the tried-and-tested — had a conservative protagonist who struggled to understand the mindset of his teenage daughter. But, in Hridayapoorvam, one finds a filmmaker who has a clear intent to connect better with a younger generation, without, of course, letting go of his family audience. The casting of a few popular online content creators, an odd fit in the Anthikad world, although an industry trend, is not a coincidence. One can also notice the influence of his sons, Anoop Sathyan, the associate director, and Akhil Sathyan, who penned the story, in how he has approached the scenes.

The anticipation of violence is as mind-numbing as violence itself — the expectation that someone who has taken a hit will retaliate, with several ways to do so. In Sangarsha Ghadana - The Art of Warfare, which begins with a violent hit by one gang on another, filmmaker Krishand prolongs this anticipation to upset the audience’s expectations of what would transpire during that period. Kodamazha Suni (Sanup Padaveedan), a former gangster who has moved on and is now living a respectable life, has just lost four of his trusted lieutenants in a brutal attack by an unknown gang led by Kunjan (Vishnu Agasthya). One would expect the man to be plotting his revenge, especially when he sits with the other members of his former gang. The comical policemen tailing him also probably expected the same. But go closer, and the conversations are about a pepper drink and special masala dosa that Suni would like to have before leaving the city.

Cops without any baggage are so hard to find in movies these days that the police officer protagonist and even the entire police station in Soothravakyamstand out as different, although not exactly in a good way. Neither do they have personal troubles, nor are they challenged much by professional assignments for a good part of the movie. It leaves them enough time to run a tuition centre for school students on the top floor of the police station, with Circle Inspector Christo Xavier (Shine Tom Chacko) doubling up as a teacher. The police are so diligent in their teaching that they even go to the extent of visiting the houses of students who are absent from class. So much so that Nimisha (Vincy Aloshious), the teacher at a nearby school, feels students are losing interest in her class because of the tuition classes at the station. In Eugien Jos Chirammel’s debut directorial, this teaching activity of the police is projected as one of its novelties, but we are never told how it came about. Just like the rest of Soothravakyam, nothing is explored beyond what you see on the surface. Not even a single classroom exchange is shown to convey the equation that the officer shares with the students.

Nothing enlivens courtroom dramas than fiery arguments, which open new pathways into our understanding of a case. In Janaki V Vs State of Kerala, celebrated advocate David Abel Donovan (Suresh Gopi)‘s arguments are full of fire. Still, a significant portion of them are so irrelevant that they would fit more in a loud television debate than in a courtroom. He is the kind of person who would talk about cheese when he is supposed to argue about chalk. So, it is no wonder that he would go on a long diatribe against the State’s developmental projects when he is arguing in court in a case related to sexual assault, or that he would ask a rape victim whether she watches porn and how often. The opening credit sequences of the film hint at this behaviour with news clippings of his various press statements on a host of issues, all of which reveal a lawyer who is more active outside the court than inside. Janaki V Vs State of Kerala, which arrives in theatres with an extra ‘V’ thanks to the diktats of the censors, is caught between the need to tell a sensitive story and projecting the superhero aura of the actor playing the advocate. Debutant director Praveen Narayanan, who has also written the film, struggles on both counts.

Right from the title Dheeran (brave), which defines the protagonist, almost every other character in Devadath Shaji’s debut directorial has a defining trait. From a Hindi-obsessed welder to a local don who is more interested in his perfume business to an illicit liquor brewer who has a penchant for stirring up trouble even in the most peaceful of circumstances, it is a motley crew of oddballs. Eldhose (Rajesh Madhavan), the protagonist, gets that unlikely name which he struggles to live up to from an act of bravery in childhood, that also becomes a moment of tragedy in his life. Director Devadath Shaji, who wrote the screenplay of Bheeshmaparvam, gives a wrapping of humour to convey all that he wants to. Beneath its surface layer of easy humour, which keeps the film engaging atleast until the halfway point, Dheeran is also about the long-lasting impact of certain events in the lives of people. One particular incident leaves all those who are involved in it deeply scarred, some physical while for some others it is mental. The incident also dictates the whole village’s perception of a particular character.

As far as series openings go, Kerala Crime Files 2 takes off from quite a peculiar situation. All the police officers at a particular station have received transfer orders over suspected links with criminals and goons. A new set of police officers, clueless about the place or the criminal activity in the area, have just taken charge. Before they could ease into their new seats, they are forced to launch a search operation for one of their own. The initial piecing together of the complex character of Ambili Raju (Indrans), the missing Civil police officer who was among the transferred bunch, makes up some of the best passages in the six episode-series directed by Ahammed Khabeer, a follow up to the first web series made in Malayalam in 2023. The unassuming officer is the kind of person who is vital to any investigation team, with his wide network of acquaintances and deep knowledge of the place. He has his share of shady links, most of them cultivated for the purpose of his profession, yet he remains unsullied by it all through sheer strength of character.