Release
date:
|
Kerala: May 17,
2019
Delhi: May 24, 2019
|
Director:
|
Anuraj Manohar
|
Cast:
Language:
|
Shane Nigam, Ann
Sheetal, Shine Tom Chacko, Leona Lishoy, Jaffer Idukki
Malayalam
|
If you are a young
person just figuring out your views on rights issues, Ishq is a great case study of what we are likely to get when
feminism is a fad, a formula or a superficial pursuit for a filmmaker, not a sincere
commitment and a deeply understood, carefully-thought-out ideological stance.
Director Anuraj
Manohar’s debut feature begins with a knife-like indictment of what has come to
be called “moral policing”. This part of the film is brilliant in its interpretation
of the social dynamic that causes a woman to stay on in a dangerous,
potentially fatal situation because the option – which would mean her family
finding out that she was making out with her boyfriend in the backseat of a car
in a darkened parking lot – is, to her mind, far worse.
Ishq stars Ann Sheetal as the woman in question,
Vasudha. She is an MA student spending the day with her boyfriend Sachidanandan
(Shane Nigam) when two creepy strangers accost them, threatening to report them
to the police for public indecency. This is a hostage scenario not because the intruders
are carrying firearms (they are not) nor because they physically attack (they
do not), instead their hold over Vasu and Sachi comes from a thorough grasp
of the couple’s psychology and the sociology of that setting.
Sachi is the sort
of young man who tends to get aggressive with anyone behaving inappropriately,
in his opinion, with Vasu. He is not, however, a hyper-masculine ass. There in that
lonely parking lot, he knows that any mindless aggression from him could put
both of them, her in particular, at risk. He also knows that if their
rendezvous becomes public knowledge, it is she who will be maligned more than
he in their conservative patriarchal society. He therefore defers to her
decision about how they must conduct themselves in those chilling
circumstances.
Like the creeps in
the car in director Sanal Kumar Sasidharan’s S. Durga a.k.a. Sexy Durga,
the two men in this film – Alwin (Shine Tom Chacko) and Mukunthan (Jaffer
Idukki) – simultaneously play good-cop-bad-cop and a cat and mouse game with
their prey, intimidating them even while pretending to be concerned about their
security. The characterisation of these four and the writing of the events that
unfold in the pre-interval segment of Ishq
are impeccable and insightful.
Writer
Ratheesh Ravi’s acute observation powers are on display here, and Anuraj Manohar handles the scenes with sensitivity.
Vasu’s tension and Sachi’s frustration over his forced inaction are palpable. As
frightening as the awareness that she might be raped or that matters might
escalate resulting in death for both is the realisation that what Alwin lusts
after is the woman’s fear far more than physical contact with her. This is the
most illuminating aspect of Ishq
because it points to what feminist experts on sexual crimes have forever been
telling us: that sexual violence is not about sex but about power.
Without giving away
any spoilers, I can say that even the scene right before the interval is spot
on. The way Vasu lashes out at Sachi is believable although she is being unfair
to him and contradicting a position she took earlier – after all, human beings do
tend to be illogical and even unreasonable while under extreme stress. Sachi’s
reaction is just as believable – this world is full of men whose liberalism
towards women is only skin deep, but it is just as possible that she
misconstrued a question he asked her. The writer’s comprehension of Malayali
society and human
nature, which are evident up to here, gave me
goosebumps.
Then, it all
unravels. A film that is at first a condemnation of patriarchal conservatism
spends almost its entire remaining 50% celebrating
machismo, before a twist in the end brings it back on track by which time it is
too late.
Ishq is a manifestation of our society’s disinterest
in regular folk who react in a regular fashion to sexual violence aimed at them
or their loved ones. This is why we as a nation bestowed the offensive title
Nirbhaya (The Fearless One) on a woman who died after being gangraped on a bus
in Delhi in December 2012 – it was as if she was not worth fighting for unless
we could envision her as a Rani of Jhansi cum Joan of Arc. This is why
vigilante justice in response to rape is popular in mainstream cinema. Films
such as 22 Female Kottayam and Puthiya Niyamam stopped at romanticising
revenge though. Ishq goes several
steps further in its highly condemnable, self-contradictory second half.
(SPOILER ALERT, please skip this paragraph. Repeat: Spoiler
Alert)
If feminism is not
a mere gimmick for Messrs
Ravi and Manohar, if they are genuinely well
intentioned, then they should introspect about the sub-conscious misogyny that
caused them to think it is okay to normalise and hero-ise a man who decides to
molest a woman as revenge for her husband’s assault on his girlfriend. No
excuses please, gentlemen, that scene is designed to elicit audience empathy
for him, the drummed-up triumphant background score as he walks away is
laudatory in its tone, and no, the turn of events in the climax is not
compensation – it simply underlines your confusion and inconsistency.
(Spoiler Alert Ends)
Ishq’s bizarre post-interval proceedings overshadow everything
else in it. That is a pity because the film features an incredible cast
including Shine Tom Chacko at his best. It beats me why we do not get to see
him and the lovely Leona Lishoy more often and in more large roles on screen.
Oh wait, I do know
why Ms Lishoy does not get her due. Because few producers are willing to bet
their money on women like her and her equally remarkable co-star in this film,
Ann Sheetal, both memorable women with acting talent and a solid screen
presence, while they invest repeatedly in men who are equally or even less
gifted, thus giving these men a chance to evolve as artistes and grow as stars
over time.
At least Shane
Nigam deserves the space Mollywood gives him. Fresh from the success of Kumbalangi Nights, Nigam gets to up the cuteness quotient of his personality with braces for his teeth in Ishq. As if those dimples were not
irresistible enough! He does a commendable job of playing Sachi to the extent
that it is possible to be good when yours is the largest role in a film but the
only victim of its uneven politics.
Seriously, Ratheesh
Ravi and Anuraj Manohar, before waxing eloquent about the moral police,
some self-policing of your ideals would be in order.
Rating (out
of five stars): **
CBFC Rating (India):
|
UA
|
Running time:
|
134 minutes
|
This review has also been published on Firstpost:
Poster
courtesy:
No comments:
Post a Comment