Lokah Chapter 1: Chandra

Maybe it’s not saying much that Dominic Arun’s Lokah Chapter 1: Chandra is the most progressive pan-India blockbuster I’ve seen. In the competitive aftermath of the Baahubali films, we have seen umpteen stabs by many Indian film industries, where the reverence for Hindu mythology, nationalism, Islamophobia and/or common-place misogyny is dialled up for a big-budget film. It’s a lazy, patronising and dishonest strategy aimed at the layman (arguably with more spending power compared to the average Indian woman). Perhaps, it’s not surprising that a few months ago, another film from the same industry (L2: Empuraan) – a mainstream action film began by depicting the anti-Muslim pogrom in Gujarat, 2002. In the same film, the opposition leaders contesting a state election, are shown to be arrested on instructions of an establishment that seems to play on the Hindu majoritarian sentiment. And thus it was almost poetic, when Enforcement Directorate and Income Tax officials conducted raids in the offices of the producers and director of L2: Empuraan, going on to prove the makers right.

Superhero thrillers in Malayalam are rare to come by. After the phenomenal success of ‘Minnal Murali’, the genre was nowhere to be seen. Now, director Dominic Arun has revived it with ‘Lokah Chapter 1: Chandra’. He blends a Malayalam folklore with the superhero genre, more prevalent in the West, to gift viewers the best of both worlds. Is ‘Lokah Chapter 1: Chandra’ a worthy addition to the superhero genre? Let’s find out! Chandra (Kalyani Priyadarshan), a mysterious woman with superpowers, arrives in Bengaluru on a mission involving Moothon. The city faces a spate of missing person cases linked to organ trafficking. Chandra takes a bakery job and displays odd habits, while three curious young men living opposite her become fascinated by her.