Release
date:
|
January 19, 2018
|
Director:
|
Venu
|
Cast:
Language:
|
Fahadh Faasil,
Mamta Mohandas, Manikandan R. Achari, Nedumudi Venu, Vijayaraghavan,
Praveena, Kochu Preman, Soubin Shahir, Chethan Jayalal, Dileesh Pothan,
Spadikam George, Sharafudheen
Malayalam
|
Some films refuse
to settle into a single genre. Writer-director Venu’s Carbon is one such that will not be tied down by slotting. Funny
throughout, eerie in places, suspenseful in parts and, especially in the second
half, gazing wide-eyed at the wondrousness of nature, it drifts about in a
trance just like its male protagonist whose head is forever floating in the
clouds.
Siby Sebastian,
played by Fahadh Faasil, is constantly hatching legally and morally dubious
get-rich-quick schemes, while youngsters his age take up jobs, marry and manage
their homes. He knows he is seen as a loser, a layabout and a fraud by the
community, but is unshaken by their judging eyes. Some day, somewhere over the
rainbow, he is sure he will make his millions.
The first half of Carbon is spent establishing Siby’s
kookiness combined with delicious non-conformism and the effect of his shady
affairs on his friends and parents. After flitting from one failed plan to the
next – ranging from peddling a gem that is not his to working as a middleman in
an elephant sale – he is tasked with visiting a remote spot where one of his
contacts has bought a decaying palace. His assignment is to recce the place and
figure out how it can be turned into a tourist resort. Once there, when Siby
hears of a lost treasure from the era of Tipu Sultan, he zeroes in on his next
grand adventure.
With Carbon, award-winning cinematographer
Venu returns to direction after 2014’s Munnariyippu. His new film
walks a thin line between being wacky and completely wacko. The story offers no
answers and the messaging is open-ended. Through Mamta Mohandas’ character
Sameera, a self-professed “jungle junkie”, it references Paulo Coelho’s The Alchemist, yet it appears to
contradict the point about the treasure in your backyard in its climactic shot.
This is a film that
is exasperatingly, fascinatingly open to interpretation at all levels. Every
step of the way, I found myself expectantly waiting for the next hint of its
intent, the next shot, the next turn, the next rustle of leaves, the next
whisper in the wind, the next creature camouflaged by trees or resting in its
cave, and in the end I was left somewhat bemused and still intrigued.
It is often unclear
in the film whether we are watching reality or one of Siby’s dreams, whether a
character exists in fact or in his imagination. How much of Carbon is taking place in Siby’s head is
worth considering, all the while remembering what Professor Dumbledore tells
Harry Potter as the
curtain comes down on J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows:
“Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should
that mean that it is not real?”
The film’s full
name is Carbon: Ashes and Diamonds from
which you might surmise that it is about what we do with the cards we are dealt
by fate. Will you allow life to reduce you to ashes or will you, as carbon is
wont to do under tremendous pressure, emerge a shining diamond? This then is as
much Siby’s journey to find himself as it is to find an ancient hoard of gold.
It is more though.
“We need a bit of fantasy to liven up our lives” – you have heard Siby utter
these words in Carbon’s trailer.
Perhaps this is a clue to the film’s mystery? Or perhaps not?
By not being
condescending towards Siby’s opposition to social norms, Carbon reveals its own quietly rebellious streak. His refusal to go
down the path that society expects all of us to follow – study, find work,
marry, have kids, work, retire, die – is a reminder that there is no
one-size-fits-all game plan for the human species and individuals must be left
to make their own road. It is worth noting too that in his quest for a cache of
precious metal, Siby chooses to push himself beyond his comfort
zone. He is not naturally brave like Sameera, who does not bat an eyelid before
sleeping out in the open in the jungle, but he overcomes fear to get where he
wants to be.
The second half of Carbon is largely devoted to a long walk
through forests near the Kerala-Tamil Nadu border, which is when it becomes as
much a survival saga as it is a treasure hunt.
If there were a
National Award for Location Choices, it should go to the film’s location
scouts. Post-interval, Carbon enters
visual heaven, and K.U. Mohanan’s keen eye beautifully captures the thick
vegetation typical of the region, looming rock formations, a glimpse of an
elephant through dense trees, a herd of bison peeping back from the foliage,
forbidding mountains, a cave on a cliff, a bubbling stream... Repeat: heaven.
This is arguably
the veteran cinematographer’s best work yet. Through large swathes of Carbon, all we see are Siby and his
companions trekking across this splendid landscape. They barely speak. And
Mohanan’s camera seems to call on us to walk along in communion with nature.
One grouse: the way
Kammatipaadam’s Manikandan R. Achari
is shot in a cave here in a bid to make him scary. Achari plays a local called
Stalin, who is Siby’s guide. The camera angle used on his face is designed to
spook viewers. It bothered me that choosing him – not Faasil or Mohandas – for
that shot, was an effort to cash in on widely held Indian biases regarding
looks.
Carbon’s nicely underplayed sound design – with its
clever use of the power of suggestion – is crucial to its effectiveness. Vishal
Bhardwaj, making a rare foray outside Bollywood here, serves up a mixed bag of
songs though. Benny Dayal’s robust rendition of Thanna thane briefly injects energy into an otherwise deliberately
languorous film, but Rekha Bhardwaj’s terrible diction and poor singing of Dhoore dhoore are downers.
The cornerstone of Carbon is its cast. Fahadh Faasil steps
so forcefully into Siby’s shoes that he sweeps us away in the tide of the
fellow’s seemingly crazy convictions. Mamta Mohandas as Sameera owns every
scene she is in, though she enters the picture only an hour into the narrative.
Venu does not
settle for anything but the best in small supporting roles either. Achari as
Stalin, Dileesh Pothan and Nedumudi Venu as Siby’s business allies are all in spiffing
form. Kochu Preman and Soubin Shahir are appropriately twisted. Sharafudheen is
unobtrusively hilarious as he offers his friend solace and wisdom. Praveena is
memorably strange without going over the top. Apart from Achari, the others mentioned in this paragraph get just a
few minutes each on screen. It is a measure of their arresting
personalities and abilities along with Venu’s attention to detail that each
makes a lasting impression nevertheless.
The pick of the
supporting cast is Spadikam George playing Siby’s father. There is a scene in
which the two meet in a marketplace after a gap. The way the dad looks at his
son, using the most fleeting of hand gestures and a glance to convey his deep
affection and a parent’s longing to have his son back home, come what may, his
faults be damned, is unforgettable.
Venu, to borrow the
title of Arundhati Roy’s book, is a god of small things and the big picture in Carbon. His idiosyncratic cinematic
vision and the la la land of Siby’s mind make for enjoyable viewing in this
unusual film.
Rating
(out of five stars): ***
CBFC Rating (India):
|
U
|
Running time:
|
146 minutes
|
This review was also published on Firstpost:
Poster
courtesy: https://www.facebook.com/carbonmovieofficial/
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