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Release
date:
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November 3, 2018
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Director:
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Ranjith
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Cast:
Language:
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Mohanlal, Arundhati Nag, Asha Sarath, Kaniha, Suresh Krishna,
Shyamaprasad, Dileesh Pothan, Baiju Santhosh
Malayalam
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Dead men tell no
tales, they say. Dead women could be a different kettle of fish. Drama, directed by Ranjith, is about the
funeral politics that ensues when a lady from Kattappana in Kerala breathes her
last unexpectedly in the home of her daughter in London.
Before she passed
away, old Rosamma had expressed a desire to be buried beside her husband in
their hometown upon her death. Of her five children, three don’t care what the
mother wanted, one does, and one is too weak to push her point of view forward.
It is then left to Raju (Mohanlal of course), a partner in the funeral services
agency that the family hires, to ensure that Rosamma’s last wish is fulfilled.
Raju’s reason for
getting personally involved arrives with a twist in the tale right before the
interval. That it took so long to get there is one reason why Drama is not as impactful as it could
have been. Another is that Mohanlal plays a stock Mollywood character seen a
million times before, complete with flirtatious nature, lecherous behaviour,
and a conviction that infidelity in marriage is cute if the erring partner is
the husband.
Like those million
films that have gone before, this one too bears the stamp of the director’s
belief that a sensible wife will not and should not take any of this seriously.
This is a world of commercial Mollywood’s imagination, in which all women,
especially young women, get excited or at worst are bemused on being leered at,
especially by paunchy, elderly heroes. The trivialisation of male infidelity,
of course, is rampant across all Indian cinema, not just Mollywood. In this and
other ways, not only is Drama sexist
and deeply patriarchal, it is also clichéd. A woman in the film says marriage
is built on a foundation of forgiveness, but she too offers an example of a
wife forgiving a husband who ‘slipped up’ sexually, but no example calling on a
male spouse to close his eyes to a wife in similar circumstances. A man plays
on the words “pig” and “pork” while addressing his wife
in conversation. A passing reference to domestic violence is troublingly casual,
more so because the woman in that scene is in a situation that could
potentially be very dangerous in real life. And the truth is, all
this feels minor in comparison with the horrendous misogyny of so many other
mainstream Malayalam films.
This aspect of the
film and the scenes squandered on establishing Raju’s pointless back story divert too
much attention from its main purpose, which is to address family politics at
the death of a relative. That part of Drama
is far more engaging and fulfilling and at least initially, nuanced. Note the
fleeting look of hurt on Rosamma’s daughter Mercy’s face when she first hears
Raju’s employees referring to “the body” and “the box”. Even if she were not
the quiet, mild-mannered person that she is, how can she possibly object to
their choice of words? Mom is, after all, now “the body” and “the box” to
them and it is clear they mean no offence. That said, the men’s tendency to
switch to terms such as “item” and “stuff” when the family is not around shows
how they have been hardened to the point of extreme insensitivity by their
daily encounters with death.
The intricate games
being played among the siblings too are interesting and comical to begin with
until they get repetitive and it also becomes clear that while an effort has
been made to build up Raju in the screenplay, an equal effort has not been
invested in the characterisation or casting of Rosamma’s children. This should
not come as a surprise although the film has been made by the National
Award-winning director of Thirakkatha
and Indian Rupee since, as
Mollywood-gazers well know, Ranjith is as capable of insipidity (sample: Puthan Panam) and mixed bags (sample: Spirit) as of quality cinema.
The absence of
detail in the writing of the children is Drama’s
big gaping lacuna. Even the performances are largely ineffectual, with only
Kaniha as the reticent, sorrowful Mercy leaving any kind of lasting impression.
Arundhati Nag is alright as the dead lady. And the always-striking Asha Sarath
is wasted playing the role of Raju’s wife whose deletion from the screenplay
would have made absolutely no difference to the plot.
Mohanlal too is
just alright except when his comic timing is put to good use in some scenes. In
the end he gets to sing a foot-tapping number accompanying the closing credits.
That is not a bad thing when viewed in isolation, but when
you consider that this is an ensemble film, the song is a symptom of the
director’s undue focus on the character played by his superstar leading man.
2018 has provided
an excellent measure of the chasm that separates conventional commercial
Malayalam cinema from its more experimental cousins, with the release of
Ranjith’s Drama coming just months after Lijo Jose Pellissery’s Ee.Ma.Yau. Both are funeral-centric
satires, but Ee.Ma.Yau. is a profound
commentary on death, relationships and the community in which the story is set.
Drama, on the other hand, has little
depth. This Mohanlal-starrer is mildly entertaining but, like its unimaginative
title, also unremarkable.
Rating (out
of five stars): *3/4
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CBFC Rating (India):
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U
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Running time:
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146 minutes
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This review has also been published on Firstpost:
Poster
courtesy: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drama_(2018_film)
Did I just read a film review by a bona fide movie critic or the rantings of an overzealous feminist??? Certainly Indian movies are not the bellwether of a clean marriage and audience do not expect such a high moral ground either. Cinema is a not a religion to be run by strict moral ethics. Your job as a reviewer is not to judge based on your completely biased and frankly malicious attitude towards men in general. You need to distinguish between personal and professional life. Thank you, next.
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