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.
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