Vinod Sagar – Movies of the Soul

Vampire Owl: I have wanted to watch this movie for a long time.

Vampire Bat: The trailer had impressed many people.

Vampire Owl: I have heard that there is a second part too.

Vampire Bat: An early declaration of second part is more interesting.

Vampire Owl: Malayalam film industry needs a vampire film in two parts. The movie can also have me in a major role.

Vampire Bat: The demons are different in the industry. They might not even think about taking us in.

Vampire Owl: They could even take a demon from Israel. Our realm is much bigger and more easy to access through portals.

Vampire Bat: Well, Ezra and its Hindi remake are exceptions.

Vampire Owl: And vampires continue to be avoided.

Vampire Bat: Our time will also come, sooner or later. Even Lucifer has his time.

[Gets a French Naugha cake and three cups of mint tea].

What is the movie about? :: Saba Mariyam (Mamta Mohandas) works as a professor in a central university in Ramanagara, with hopes to inspire the students with revolutionary ideas, even though she did have a better opportunity in the United Kingdom. She loves her students, and hopes to make them better people than they are, fighting injustice in the process. She is considered as one of them by the students, but not that much by the other senior teachers and the administration at the institution. But soon enough, her mother Shabana Mariyam (Shari) and younger sister as Sana Mariyam (Vaishnavi Venugopal) are shocked to find the burnt body of Saba on the side of a highway. There are continuous protests in the campus led by Gouri Lakshmi (Vincy Aloshious), and they get beaten up by the police who enters the campus with the help of the university officials. Most of them land in the hospital, and the rest continue the struggle, which spreads to the campuses all around India, especially Kerala. Government of Karnataka finds itself in a bad situation, and decides to make some quick decisions.

So, what happens with the events here as we just keep looking? :: ACP Sajjan Kumar (Suraj Venjaramoodu) is given charge of the case, and he is quick to find the four youngsters who were found dumping the body on the side of the road, as there is a witness in the form of someone returning home late from work. He is able to find enough clues to find them, but not enough evidence to arrest them. Even though they are finally captured by the police, there is no regret from their side. They seems to be sure that nothing much will happen to them, and that someone will save them soon enough due to their political connections. The students keep calling for their blood, and Saba’s family is not ready to accept any judgment. When faced with being taken away from the case, Sajjan decides to take matters into his hands, and murder the accused in a fake encounter, which he justifies in the name of self-defense. This leads to him becoming a hero in the eyes of the public and the media. Yet, as a number of Human Rights activists come up with a complaint against the encounter, and a court case follows much to the dismay of Saba’s mother and sister.

And what more is follow here with what we have now? :: The one who is fighting against the police encounter is Adv Aravind Swaminathan (Prithviraj Sukumaran) who has entered late in the field of law. He also has a terrible past which had led to him having a problem on one of his legs. A proficient lawyer with years of experience, Adv Raghuram Iyer (Shammi Thilakan) appears for Sajjan. The case once again gets a lot of media attention. Aravind decides to take things to the next level with his arguments, and surprisingly, the more experienced Raghuram falls behind in his law points. It seems that Aravind is going through a terrible pattern which upsets many people in the court, even the judge. It seems like he is so much in favour of the accused who were killed in the encounter. Raghuram feels that he is playing some mind games without any reason. But Aravind seems to be about more than what it seems. He makes everyone wonder what he is trying to prove. Can he actually make any difference around here? What is it about the four people killed in the encounter that makes this important?

The defence of Jana Gana Mana :: As a political thriller, this movie is indeed intense, and connection to real-life incidents are made pretty much effectively, often worth a salute. It is also thought-provoking enough, as we look at it closely. There is the criticism of the media which plays according to their need to increase the viewers, and the politicians who have always done almost the same thing by playing with the emotions of the common people. We also see the need to make sure that justice is served without inequality, and about the need to end discrimination. The focus seems to be about focusing on the right questions more than the answers. For the same, there are some very interesting moments of high impact in here. Prithviraj Sukumaran clearly steals the show here once again, and Suraj Venjaramoodu is almost that strong too. The two had combined forces earlier in Driving Licence, and keeps the quality going here too. Vincy had the chance to be the right female lead and starts well, but losses it in a way similar to what she did in the reality show which she participated – a chance missed as Mamta’s character is more like an example.

The claws of flaw :: The movie is a little bit too long for our interest, and at times, it is also too loud for the common audience. The court scene takes a lot of time to get things to be interesting, and often turns repetitive in nature. Some of the dialogues seem to be just added for the claps, and not to contribute positively to the movie. When dealing with such a serious matter, it is better not to play with the emotions – along with the dialogues, this one also uses a lot of background music according to the mood, and too many songs also ruin the progress; without them, this movie could have been trimmed a lot to make the pace better. The scenes also move from one point to the other without much of an explanation, lacking in clarity, cohesion and depth. Despite being the first movie with another to come, the timeline is just rushed through it like so many other incidents. There is a quick view of whatever happened in the life of a protagonist, and there is the earlier main character who changes so quickly for the strange reasons. The college students are shown as the most easily manipulated group, and the emotions are forced. The artificial feeling also exists here and there.

How it finishes :: The movie ends up with enough effectiveness to keep it going. There is also the talk about a possible second part of the movie, and one would also find it interesting to wait for that one. Even with all those special moments, the movie should have focused on bringing better quality on the screen, along with some more focus on the flow of the narrative – even the protagonist comes too late, and there are too many flashbacks from his life added in the end without contributing enough to this particular version. Still, most people will find it easier to remember some of the dialogues in the court and wait for the possible sequel. They seem to have left the most memorable scenes for the sequel, but in that case, they shouldn’t have shown it in the trailer – maybe, after editing, the movie felt too long? Who knows? The movie goes for a pattern that will gain the support of the crowd rather than make it a complete thing. The fact that it has worked for most people means that they haven’t done wrong in that case at all – the rest will be known through the sequel. I do have a feeling that the title would have been “Sathyameva Jayathe” if it wasn’t used so much.

Release date: 2nd June 2022 (Netflix); 28th April 2022 (Theatre)
Running time: 165 minutes
Directed by: Dijo Jose Antony
Starring: Prithviraj Sukumaran, Suraj Venjaramoodu, Vincy Aloshiyous, Mamta Mohandas, Sri Divya, Shari, Pasupathi Raj, GM Sundar, Vaishnavi Venugopal, Priyanka Nair, Chitra Iyer, Ilavarasu, Dhruvan, Harikrishnan, Shanavas, Midhun, Josekutty, Dhanya Ananya, Raj Bal, Shammi Thilakan, Anand Bal, Raja Krishnamoorthy, Vinod Sagar, Sagar Surya

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@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.

What is the movie about? :: Praveen Michael (Kunchacko Boban) is seen as rejoining the police force after taking a small break from service for a tug of war competition. Even though he made a fake medical claim, he is reinstated into the force as the police department is preparing for bye-elections. He meets his superior officer Maniyan (Joju George) and Sunitha (Nimisha Sajayan) works at the same police station. One day, they have a fight with a local goon, a relative of Sunitha in the police station who has been harassing her, and the situation goes out of hand with Praveen and Maniyan fighting the goons. The issue is finally settled, and no case is charged against the person for assualting the police because of his political influence as part of a Dalit party. Later, their jeep meets an accident, and a person is almost killed. The driver who is a relative of Maniyan runs away, and the person who met the accident happens to be a friend of the person with whom they had a fight.

So, what happens with the events to follow? :: They take the person to the nearby hospital, but he is soon, pronounced dead. At the same time, the goons reach the hospital, and the three cops run away towards the police station, almost getting attacked on the way. They get to the station, and tells them the details, but it turns out that the news in channels haven’t come in such a way that it would be helpful to them. It turns out that the police was planning to arrest them, and as they understands the same, makes their move. They leave the police station, and decides to run away, even though there is no clear destination awaiting them. The Chief Minister calls for immediate arrest of the police officers because he needs the support of the Dalit group. At the same time, even though left with minimum help, they manage to go for the highlands. But a group of elite police officers are searching for them, and time is surely running out.

The defence of Nayattu :: Nayattu shows the strength of a certain survival mode at all times. Malayalam movies have had their own dose of survival films, but none of them have come close to being this effective. There is also the case of a corrupt system which is hell bent on punishing the innocents if that means political advantage, and power always shifting to politics and their goons, even if one has law and order in hands. The movie deals with the realistic side of a survival thriller, and it doesn’t pretend in doing the same. There were many paths which Nayattu could have taken, but here it takes the one with the least pretensions, and that can be seen in the final moments of the film too, as there is nothing like an uplifting moment in this movie. The ending is open-ended, and it is up for the viewers to decide how this ends, even though the options seem pretty much straight forward. With some good visuals to add to it in the later stages, the movie reaches there.

Positives and negatives :: Nayattu is a reflection of that world in which putting up a fine show in front of the camera is more important than truth, and it is a mirror that should be held against a good number of cases which the media had taken up in the last few years – truth had often taken the backseat favouring the sensational in almost every case there. It is that world were facts are not important, as the objective viewpoint becomes weaker in comparison to the emotional side. It is like a fixed match of IPL, and people just wish to enjoy the show, and different castes wishes to play their cards, sometimes in an extremely violent manner and at other times that of victim – this situation is reflected rather clearly around here. Still, the ending could have been made crisper, and better meaning could have been given to these happening instead of making all these acts resulting in nothing, a case of absurd. Even when going the realistic path, there are always more things to be done, and something else to be added.

The performers of the soul :: Kunchako Boban plays the main character here, even though the balance does lie among the three police officers. He plays the rookie police officer in a very much believable manner, as this realistic depiction makes another version of dealing with crime unlike what we had seen earlier in Anjaam Pathira. It is indeed nice to see him being part of such serious movies again and again. Joju George’s character here reminds us of his work in Joseph and Action Hero Biju, and he does a very believable job in this film too. He has some of the best dialogues in the movie too. Nimisha Sajayan is realistically good as usual, and we have seen her choosing the realistic path on so many occasions and succeeding in the same. She was on one side of crime before, as we have seen in Oru Kuprasidha Payyan when she played a lawyer.

Further performers of the soul :: Jaffer Idukki was seen playing the Transport Minister in Yuvam, and here he plays the Chief Minister – the role of the politician, especially that of a minister seems to suit him really well again and again. His character here reflects the typical politician who wants to retain power at any cost, and will plan successfully to win elections. Yama Gilgamesh who plays the police officer in charge of the operation has everyone’s attention too. This is also one of the last films of Anil Nedumangad, the actor who have done some memorable supporting roles in the last few years, and had died by drowning at the reservoir of Malankara Dam during break in between shooting. He plays the officer who supports the investigation, and this is once again very much a notable role. The rest of the supporting cast feel very much realistic.

How it finishes :: Nayattu is the one realistic survival thriller which reflects the corrupt system so well, that we feel the strength of that depiction in more than one way. There are castes and communities which try to get their due, and for governments, these divisions matter – now the question remain about the position of justice, and that is left to the crowd and media, The film is a fine reflection of this situation, and as it has reached Netflix, I am sure that more people will be interested in watching the flick. Unlike the forgettable Irul which had released in Netflix, this one has a lot more to offer, even more than what the Amazon Prime releases Drishyam 2 and Joji had to offer. It is time that the films which were taken out of theatres due to lock-down come to some OTT platform or maybe have an early television premiere, because it is the worst stage of COVID-19, and we do not know what the future holds for anyone in India right now.

Release date: 8th April 2021 (Theatre), 9th May 2021 (Netflix)
Running time: 124 minutes
Directed by: Martin Prakkat
Starring: Kunchako Boban, Joju George, Nimisha Sajayan, Anil Nedumangad, Jaffer Idukki, Samson Matthew Valiyaparambil, Ajit Koshy, Manohari Joy, Yama Gilgamesh, Jineesh Chandran, Hakkim Shajahan, Vinod Sagar, Dineesh P, Jithu Asharef, Kiran Peethambaran, Sminu Sijo, Arafath