Lighter than light

 When Mira came home on vacation two weeks back, her demands included watching two Malayalam movies in theatre - Sookshmadarshini & All we imagine as Light. 

The first was another comeback (she doesn't like the term) film of Nasriya Fahad after Koode and Trance, and with all the trappings of her cute and poke-your-nose-in-others-affairs self from Om Shanti Oshana. It was partly fine but her over-the-top detective ways wasnt entirely convincing and had the kiddishness of a Famous Five or Secret Seven adventure. Three neighbourhood Nancy Drews join in to unearth strange happenings in a new neighbour's house, and honour killings are not what we are used to in Kerala, so that makes for some novelty. But the movie was interminably long for post-Covid times and I was squirming in my seat after 90 minutes. Popcorns and nachos kept my kids busy part of the time.

We managed to catch AWIAL on the last day of its screening at the nearest VOX theatre's VIP screen. Since it is not the kind that enlists much viewers here, it was shunted to the limited seat screen. On a Wednesday (movies change here on Thursdays), there were just five of us in the theatre -- apart from the two of us, there was a lady who was probably non-Malloo and a man who walked up to the last row with a bag of snacks, and another guy who just didnt seem the type for a hi-funda movie like this. We suspected he was drawn to the movie by the nude scenes that it reportedly had. Unfortunately for him, they were censored and we didnt see anything beyond some smooching.

AWIAL, directed by a non Keralite with some French and Dutch collaboration, seemed made for awards and it had already bagged some. By depicting Bombay in all its starkness and roughness, it managed to show India in truly dirty and unappealing colours as the Oscar winner Slumdog Millionaire. Two nurses from Kerala - one the head nurse and the other a fresher - share a room; one is dark and quiet and the other is pretty and voluptuous. The first has lost her husband - he  has been missing or his whereabouts are unknown ever since he departed to his workplace in Germany where he is working in a factory, or that is what he made her believe (By the way, it would have been convincing if the husband was a blue-collar worker in the Gulf; I havent heard of Keralite men going to Germany for low-level factory jobs). The second has found new love - one expects this will turn out to be a 'love jihad' or a jilted case. But the chap seems earnest and is hoping her family will accept their love.

While the first half (we were warned there would be no intermission, so Mira ran to get a bag of popcorns) showed life in Bombay, the  second shifted to coastal Ratnagiri where the teaseller at the hospital where the nurses work  -- played by the gritty Chaya Kadam -- shifts after she is ousted from her Bombay shack by landsharks. The young women accompany her, and the boyfriend joins his love interest. We see the women dancing over a bottle of booze, and the trio and boyfriend are peacefully enjoying each other's company as the titles roll. We also see the missing husband -- or was the nurse hallucinating that the man she nurses is her man?

The movie is slow as award movies are meant to be. I didnt understand the end. Did the director not know how to end it or was it meant to be incomplete? Or were the old accepting the ways of the young? 

All We Imagine as Light did remind me of my days in Delhi sharing a room with a classmate who had a string of beaus and often didnt pay her share of the rent. The title is a play on the name of the main character Prabha which means light or brightness in Malayalam. But what is light in the lives of the women it portrays?

Down Under and back

We were in Brisbane, Australia, for 12 days in October to attend V's nephew's wedding. There was an English wedding and a Kerala Orthodox style wedding since the girl is European. It was a lot of fun. Also visited Sydney for 2 days apart from Gold Coast.

Lies, laws and the victims

Since we live in the vicinity of Novo Cinemas, it is our first choice for a last-minute movie plan. But most often when we go, we rush in after the movie starts playing on screen hoping against hope that the first 10 minutes would be advertisement time.

Dragging a near-reluctant husband who dislikes new-age Malayalam movies, we walked in to watch Kishkinda Kandam, the new Asif Ali movie that was receiving rave reviews online. We missed the opening scenes and were just in luck to watch the lead characters registering their marriage at a court.

(The experience was further spoiled by the usher's goof-up. Though we had paid premium for balcony tickets, he told us to go one floor down and we found ourselves in the front row seats. Since the movie had already started, there was no point going in search of him and we waited until interval to find our way to the balcony seats in the top floor -- the curious plan of the screen is such that balcony and first class seats are on different floors. I hope Novo employs staff who can read English alphabets and can distinguish between a W and an M!)

Back to the movie: A matronly and plump Aparna fits the role of the wife of a widower, played by AA, whose restrained acting does justice to his role as forest officer Ajaychandran who lives with his ex-service father played by veteran actor Vijayraghavan. The case of the missing gun of the Army man gets curiouser and curiouser; the monkeys that inhabit the canopy of trees, the grandson who has been missing for 3 years are the other mysteries that are unravelled as the story goes on. The climax and ending have an unexpected twist, and the audience is caught by surprise. No wonder the reception has been largely positive .

When a film is written by a cinematographer, nature and its breathtaking beauty has to be a character in it. Kallepathy forest, ex-naxals and wildlife seamlessly merge in the script but above all that, KK gives the audience an idea of dementia or Alzheimer's that is quite different from Mohanlal's portrayal in Thanmatra. Here we have an elderly man trying to combat memory loss in his own way, unwilling to bow down but willing to forget unpleasant truths.
Just a few weeks earlier, we had gone to watch Jeethu Joseph's (Drishyam fame) Nunakuzhi starring Basil Joseph and Grace Antony. Though the title literally means dimple, from the assumption that the hole in the cheek appear when you tell a lie, here it is a pothole of lies that Basil and Grace invent to save their skin. It is largely funny and worth a one-time watch. Jeethu's stories seem to revolve around characters who get on the wrong side of the law and navigate their way around it. Kooman on Prime is another JJ movie where a police man becomes a thief just for the heck of it.


The first half of 2024 has been a roaring success for Mollywood. Can it get any better?


p.s. A discerning audience is emerging, especially those addicted to OTT, and we are seeing parallel, offbeat films in other languages too.

Movie magic season

Laapata Ladies has made it to the Oscars from India, and I hope it bags some recognition. It was a cute film, made cuter by the innocent-looking Phool as opposed to the wily-looking yet determined second bride. 

As young Phool gets lost in an Indian railway station in the UP-Bihar landscape, one cant help feel a bit nervous about her welfare. Surprisingly, she gets into the company of two rail 'workers'/beggars who dont molest her as one would expect in India but gives her refuge until she is taken under the care of a matronly shopkeeper on the platform. Ironically, the brides get swapped because their heads are covered by veils and they blindly follow their grooms out of the train. Not very different from the veils (save for the colour) that women from certain other community wear but are targeted for adopting regressive medieval attire.

I watched the Kiran Rao movie a couple of months back and cant remember much except that it exhorts women to study, work, stand up for themselves or care for the environment. I would classify it in the league of The Lunch Box for its endearing and enduring message. 

The 8 AM Metro that I saw a couple of days ago seemed a bit boring - maybe because it had an overdose of poetry - and a bit over the top as far as the heroine's fear of trains is concerned. It had a little of the drama that one would expect from a Telugu story/ movie.

Netflix brought my way IC 814 and Sector 36 based on the Kandahar hijacking of an Indian Airlines flight and the Nithari killings. I found the former brilliant and engrossing, and watched it in one or two sittings (inviting the better half's ridicule for wasting my time). As for the latter, I skipped the gory killings and fast forwarded to watch it in less than half an hour. 

I meant to add a note on two Malayalam movies I watched in theatre this month. Will do it as a sequel.

The last teen year

Mira celebrated her 19th birthday today with her friends. She cut a cake she ordered on zomato, and got herself some KFC as a treat.

College and hostels can make birthdays fun and memorable.

Onam sadya

We had 3 last-minute guests -- a cousin, a niece, and my old classmate Amos _to our sadya on Onam Sunday. Though planning gives me the jitters, for a change I jotted down what I should be making and managed to make almost all of them - save for the payasam, and 2 side dishes and banana chips we got from Lulu.

In the end, the feast was a success and the male guests were extremely thankful and happy for the best home-made sadya they have had since they left their families back in India. They stayed on and chatted  till 9 pm reluctant to return to their lonely bachelor pads.

In Mira's absence, the next best art director got down to setting the pookkalam or floral pattern. Ash played assistant while I just hovered around.

Amos gifted us a cake that looked like a fruity pookkalam.

Casting doubts

 The  Hema Committee report has unravelled a Pandora's Box of  abuse, gender inequality and violation of workers' rights. A few heads have rolled but the bigwigs remain relatively safe as the whistleblowers are not brave enough to name them.

Of course world over, cinema because of its glamour, power and money has remained a medium for abuse especially of female aspirants in the industry. The casting couch has preyed the unwilling and the willing, but some of the revelations that have come from a small yet classy industry like Mollywood has been shocking. (It is laudable that Malayalam has shown the way where Hindi, Tamil or Telugu movie industry will not dare to tread - the stench will drown them if they do. The democratic way in which Malayalam media and public clamour for the blood of the perpetrators is also exemplary)

It reminds me of a brief period in my early years here when I came across a Facebook page for auditions, and I applied for Mira who was 11. A casting director in his imperfect English replied that she was welcome to join in a Blessy biopic on the centenarian bishop of the Marthoma church, Chrysostom thirumeni. 

"Our recent project is NOT A FEATURE film, its a BIOGRAPHICAL FILM of PHILIPOSE MAR CHRYSOSTOM directed by BLESSY. In this film lot of Historical & Mythical moments included. We preferred almost new comers, because the story and characters are the back-born of this film. 

COSTUMES & MAKE-UP

Costumes and Make-up are based on the era of AD 52 onwards. Interested candidates make sure the above details we mentioned.

LOCATION

Pathanamthitta"

I let it go because the shooting was during school months in February, and he asked me to contact for later projects. I didnt.

Hearing the present tales, I am glad I didnt.