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Release date:
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Kerala: February 10, 2017.
All India: February
17.
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Director:
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Jay K
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Cast:
Language:
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Prithviraj
Sukumaran, Priya Anand, Sudev Nair, Sujith Shanker, Ann Sheetal, Vijayaraghavan,
Tovino Thomas, Pratap K. Pothen, Babu Antony, Bharath Dabholkar, Alencier Ley
Lopez, Thara Kalyan
Malayalam
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Dybbuk: from Jewish
folklore, an evil spirit that possesses a living human with malicious intent
Hamsa: a
hand-shaped amulet, traced variously to Jewish, Christian and Islamic origins;
believed to ward off the evil eye
Ruchim: spirits in
Judaic myth
If you wish to
fully understand these terms, you could either turn to an encyclopedia or watch
the new Malayalam film Ezra, a
supernatural thriller starring Prithviraj Sukumaran and Priya Anand. The pre-release
chatter surrounding Ezra seemed to
suggest that it would provide insights into Jewish culture in Kerala. Taken at
its face value, the film does quite the opposite, seeming to exoticise rather
than familiarise audiences with the community. Look closer though and you may see
Ezra’s larger purpose: its subliminal
messaging on forbidden love across the ages, how the more things change the
more they remain the same and ultimately, love conquering all divides.
The blend of modern
city life, mythology and under-stated politics rooted in the tragic tale of a
young Jew from pre-Independence Kerala becomes absorbing in the hands of
debutant director Jay K.
The events in the
film kick off when the last living Jew in Kerala passes away and the state
media is abuzz with talk of the end of an era. Meanwhile in Mumbai, Ranjan Mathew
(Sukumaran) and his wife Priya Raghuram (Anand) prepare to shift to Kochi where
he must take charge of a giant nuclear waste disposal plant run by a company he
co-founded.
Once there, they
move into a spacious villa which Priya packs with antiques. Her acquisitions
include a box from the dead man’s house which – unknown to her – is already
connected to a recent local murder. When the couple (expectedly) starts hearing
strange sounds and seeing a scary figure in their house, they seek help from medics,
the police and finally, religious folk.
Ezra is not the kind of horror flick that is replete
with mammoth scares. The film’s USP is its low-key tone and all-pervading feeling
of foreboding. Jay K is unflinching in his purpose, never once slackening the
sense of impending doom that permeates every nook of the narrative. Editor
Vivek Harshan and cinematographer Sujith Vaassudev are able partners in this
mission.
When you shoot a
geographical landscape as stunning as God’s Own Country, it must be tempting to
capture it in all its explosively colourful beauty. Vaassudev’s achievement in Ezra is that he holds back, giving us
instead a Kerala of grays and muted shades and at one point, sepia tones, still
spectacular of course, but hauntingly atmospheric too in this avatar. He also
keeps strategically switching vantage points, sometimes standing with the
audience, sometimes with Priya or Ranjan, sometimes seeming to stand by the
spectre in their house as it watches these two go about their business and
sometimes watching them through the eyes of other characters.
The other leading
light of Ezra is its production
design, in particular in the flashback to an earlier Kerala and in the present,
the intimidatingly grand interiors of Ranjan and Priya’s home.
It is all very
eerie and filled with dread for what is to come. Though the film uses familiar
motifs from the horror genre – a spook in a mirror, glazed eyes, the attic of
an old house, a wild-haired child (who, by the way, remains unexplained) – it
does so sparingly.
If you get down to
thinking about it, much of the paranormal stuff is silly not just for atheists,
agnostics and cynics – as is the case with most such films – but for other logical
minds too. (Spoiler alert) How, for
instance, did they so quickly find 10 Jewish tourists willing to expose
themselves to an invisible monster late one night in Kochi? Why does a maid,
who shows no signs of understanding English until then, watch a Hollywood hit? A
couple of the red herrings strewn around (that maid’s aggressive behaviour, a
rabbi’s initial weirdness) are grating in their obviousness. (Spoiler alert ends)
The film’s success
lies in the fact that it leaves a viewer with little time to dwell on these and
other loopholes while battling the unrelenting heebie-jeebies.
Ezra’s other USP is that its scares stand shoulder to
shoulder with a solid story. The theme of inter-community romances runs right
through the film, and has great resonance in this age of ‘love jihad’ campaigns
and overtly, publicly expressed prejudice. Jay K’s storytelling style is
non-preachy, but the commentary is unmistakable.
Hints of Ranjan and
Priya’s liberalism are also unobtrusively scattered about. Theirs is a mixed
marriage (he is Christian, she is Hindu) but neither has imposed their faith on
the other. A passing reference reveals that she has not changed her surname. In
such a film, it would have been nicer to see evidence of Priya’s career as an
interior designer rather than a mere passing mention of it in the midst of her
wifely activities. Perhaps next time, Jay K?
In terms of
performances, Sukumaran stands out for his conviction in a genre that often has
actors come off looking silly. He even manages to pull off an exorcism without
going too over the top or being too cliched considering the scores of such
scenes we have seen down the decades. Anand does not do quite as well in scenes
in which we are supposed to believe she is possessed, and Sujith Shanker
playing a rabbi falls prey to the deliberately confusing writing of his
character – can’t blame either of the actors though.
The rest of the
supporting cast is sturdy. Sudev Nair is especially memorable in the very
poignant flashback.
While the detailing
in the film’s sound design is impressive, the decibel levels needed to be brought
down a couple of notches in several scenes, considering that as viewers we are
now accustomed to standard efforts at manipulation with loud noises and
background scores in supernatural films.
So yes, Ezra is not perfect. Overall though, it
is an unusual and thankfully not superficial experience. Without straying too far
from the conventions of its chosen genre, the film conjures up enough novelty
value to remain interesting throughout. We are not a country that does horror
very well. A hat tip then to Jay K for defying the norm.
Footnote about the subtitles: A hat tip to Vivek
Ranjit too for remembering to subtitle the signage in Ezra. Too many writers of subs forget that if a viewer cannot
understand a language in its spoken form, chances are they cannot read it
either. One suggestion for Ranjit, since he seems to care enough: keeping in
mind the needs of hearing-impaired viewers, next time please also subtitle
English dialogues. Almost no one does that.
Rating
(out of five): **3/4
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CBFC Rating (India):
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U
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Running time:
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147 minutes
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This
review has also been published on Firstpost:
Poster
courtesy:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ezra_(2017_film)
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