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Release
date:
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Kerala: March 1, 2019
Delhi: March
8, 2019
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Director:
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Snehajith
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Cast:
Language:
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Suraj
Venjaramoodu, Madhupal, Sunil Sukhada
Malayalam
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When the closing
credits of a film spell “choreography” as “corriography”, it does not require
much imagination to guess what went before. For evidence of Daivam Sakshi’s extreme amateurishness,
look no further than that misspelling.
To say that
director Snehajith’s film resembles something a kindergarten kid might roll out
would be to insult kindergarten kids. Daivam
Sakshi is not just a juvenile sermon on Hindu-Muslim amity that switches
midway to Muslim stereotyping, the production quality is C-grade and it
features the most insistent, meaningless, irritating background score I have
heard in a Malayalam film in recent times.
The point then is,
what is Suraj Venjaramoodu doing in this low-brow project?
This is not a
casual question. Too often we let character artistes off lightly for
participating in rubbish, with the excuse that everyone has a home to run,
loans to repay and so on. Sorry, that excuse should not cut ice here because
Venjaramoodu, who seems to be in every second Malayalam film being made these
days, sometimes in small roles and occasionally playing the lead, is clearly
not short of work.
When the star of Thondimuthalum Driksakshiyum appears on
the poster of any film, he guarantees it attention. With great power, great
respect from the audience and great critical acclaim comes great
responsibility, Sir. Apologies therefore for not excusing you for lending your
name to this rag called Daivam Sakshi.
Venjaramoodu here
plays an autorickshaw driver called Sethu, a kind Hindu man whose Muslim friend
Iqbal runs a shop selling pooja materials to devotees visiting the temple
across the road. Iqbal’s choice of business raises eyebrows among conservatives
in both communities, a response that seems to surprise the gentleman and his
wife. Their naivete is part of the film’s effort, which lasts throughout the
first half, to build up Iqbal as the golden-hearted stereotype of a minority
community member seen in cinemas across the world.
Positive
stereotyping is perhaps the most dangerous form of othering because it is
deceptive, and in this case is a set-up for the rest of Daivam Sakshi that throws up that other Muslim stereotype, the
currently prevalent one of the Muslim as a (potential) terrorist.
That all this comes
in a Malayalam venture is surprising and disappointing, because one of the
great things about contemporary Malayalam cinema is the extent of
representation of religious minorities in stories. Minority community members
are not treated as curios by Mollywood, but as regular people – good, bad,
beautiful and ugly.
The team of Daivam Sakshi is clearly incapable of
that kind of finesse, intelligence and open-mindedness.
The film’s ‘story’
is nothing but a potpourri of plot points and clichés, it is abysmal in every
technical department, and the editing is over-enthusiastic to the point of
being laughable (just stop those pointless wipes, please).
The audio quality
of Daivam Sakshi is so bad, it is
shocking that mainstream theatres have actually given this film a platform. And
then there is that poorly shot, terribly lit song and dance sequence in a
nightclub that tries very hard to ape Entammede
jimiki kamal (the superhit from Velipadinte Pusthakam) to embarrassing effect.
I remember once
writing in a review that Kerala is so beautiful, you could place a camera at
any random spot and come up with spectacular frames. I was wrong. Daivam Sakshi has zeroed in on perhaps
the only cinematographer in existence who could make even God’s Own Country
look unremarkable.
This is not “cinema”,
this is nothingness. Why did you agree to be a part of such nonsense, Mr Venjaramoodu?
Rating (out
of five stars): -10
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CBFC Rating (India):
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A
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Running time:
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103 minutes
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This review has also been published on Firstpost:
Poster
courtesy:
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