REVIEW 775: VEYILMARANGAL

Release date:	February 28, 2020
Director:	Dr Biju
Cast:	Saritha Kukku, Indrans, Govardhan, Krishnan Balakrishnan
Language:	Malayalam

It is astonishing how a film with so much movement can achieve the appearance of such stillness and quiet. Dr Biju’s Veyilmarangal (Trees Under The Sun) is a story of Dalits, displacement and degradation of both the social and ecological kind. Its leads are a woman, man and child whose island house in Kerala is inundated, leaving them homeless. 

The nameless family – Mother (played by Saritha Kukku), Father (Indrans) and Son (Govardhan) – are poor Dalits who eke out a living from hard manual labour and the running of a peanut cart. The land where they live has been abandoned by most of its inhabitants as water levels have risen over time and threaten to submerge it. As Nature wreaks her wrath on them at one end of the spectrum, at the other, they must deal with constant reminders of their deemed insignificance by fellow humans.  

There is no screaming, shouting or voluble, overly busy background score accompanying the narrative. That is not how Dr Biju tells his stories. But in the climactic scene, when the lead trio explode with anger, as in an earlier scene when the Father can barely let the words out of his mouth after he is subjected to a humiliating, unjust incarceration, we are left in no doubt that even in their silences there is resentment and a boiling, bottled-up fury. They fight then only in self-defence but the energy for that momentary outburst comes not just from the episode at hand but from years of pent-up indignation that has not and should not be forgotten. This scene perfectly paraphrases the title of Indian poet Aamir Aziz’s Hindi verse Sab Yaad Rakha Jayega (Everything Will Be Remembered) that recently gained global attention when Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters read it out at a public function in London: “You write injustice on the earth, we will write revolution in the sky.” Because “everything will be remembered”.

Veyilmarangal is unlike Dr Biju’s Valiya Chirakulla Pakshikal (Birds With Large Wings), a well-intentioned, informative but tedious, somewhat indulgent chronicling of Endosulfan poisoning in Kasargod. Like the director’s 2017 film, Kaadu Pookkunna Neram starring Rima Kallingal, Indrajith Sukumaran and Indrans, this one too extends its economy with dialogues to its use of time. It is a minimalist work, and despite its conciseness, it is packed with activity and commentary. 

There is no overt sermon about caste and gender politics yet both are ever-present entities whether in Communist Kerala where there is an appearance of social equity or Himachal Pradesh where a landlord openly calls his employee a "ch****r" and a lower-caste man is physically attacked for touching an upper-caste man. In my favourite scene in the film, a group of Dalits in a meeting with a government official all stand to attention when the national anthem is heard being sung by some young voices nearby. Right before and when they seat themselves right after, the poor gathering is informed by the sarkar’s rep that there is little he can do about the fact that the government’s rehabilitation work for them will be hampered by their lack of Aadhaar cards. Can there be a more telling statement on symbols of nationhood getting greater respect and consideration than humans who make up the nation?

Some of Mollywood’s finest talents have participated in this project. The subtle background music is by commercial cinema’s darling, Bijibal, and the absolutely stunning cinematography is by M.J. Radhakrishnan. As in all Dr Biju’s works, the environment is a character unto itself in this film. Kerala is no doubt gorgeous, as is Himachal, but Radhakrishnan’s camerawork goes beyond merely capturing the natural beauty of both states – it is designed to have a calming effect on the viewer. 

And then of course there is the cast, each one a naturalistic actor. Kukku, Indrans and Govardhan are so good that they actually come across as a real family living in harmony with each other and with nature. The charismatic Krishnan Balakrishnan, who plays their Malayali friend in Himachal, is memorable in a smaller role. 

Veyilmarangal does not feature any of the elements that conventional wisdom tells us give a film commercial appeal, but forget conventional wisdom if you are in the mood for a sublime cinematic experience. It is a sedate, realistic slice of life, or rather slice-of-two-years-in-the-life-of-the-sweetest-family-you-can-imagine, and completely worth a visit to theatres.  

Rating (out of 5 stars): 3.5

CBFC Rating (India):	U
Running time:	134 minutes

This review has also been published on Firstpost:

https://www.firstpost.com/entertainment/veyilmarangal-movie-review-dr-bijus-emotionally-and-visually-rich-saga-of-caste-and-all-round-degradation-8104441.html

Posters courtesy: IMDB

REVIEW 744: NALPATHIYONNU (41)

Release date:	November 8, 2019
Director:	Lal Jose
Cast: Language:	Biju Menon, Nimisha Sajayan, Dhanya Ananya, Saran Jith, Indrans, Suresh Krishna Malayalam

Kicking off a religion-versus-rationalism debate is a risky business at any given time, more so now when skins in India have gotten thinner than they have ever been since Partition and temperatures are on the rise. Fear of causing offence does not stop veteran director Lal Jose from selecting this theme although it does seem to hold him back from offering a full-blown critique of religion in Nalpathiyonnu (41), as he tests the atheism of a senior Communist in Kerala by sending him on a pilgrimage to Sabarimala.

Biju Menon plays that party member, Ullaaskumar, a teacher from rural Kerala where locals debate whether their place of residence, Chekkunnu, got its name from Che Guevara or Lord Shiva.

Ullaas is committed to his atheism, but it is twice tested during the course of this narrative: once through his romance with his student Bhagyam whose family are devout Hindus, and later when his organisation virtually coerces him to join his party colleague Kannan on a trip to Sabarimala. That a Communist set-up would show any commitment to religion may seem unconvincing, but this one has its reasons. Getting Ullaas to accompany Kannan to the Ayyappa shrine is the party’s desperate solution to the latter’s alcoholism: they are hoping that Ullaas’ monitoring will force Kannan to stick to the gruelling 41-day vratham – no meats, no alcohol or other intoxicants, no sex and so on – demanded of those hoping to have a darshan of the deity.

Lal Jose and writer P.G. Prageesh roll out their story in slice-of-life form, weaving in everyday insights about small-town life and party politics as they go along. Some of it is humourous and endearing, some of it contrived and clichéd. Like the scene in which Ullaas is caught in a bind that can be seen coming from a mile and then becomes tongue-tied.

The treatment of the relationship between Ullaas and Bhagyam (Nimisha Sajayan) too feels dated. A young woman chasing a reluctant hero played by a much older star is a ruse many filmmakers have used to establish the attractiveness of that male star. The seemingly liberal Jose’s decision to not pair Menon with a female actor his own age is a measure of the low value attached to romantic overtures by an older woman and of the ageism in casting that women face in cinema, more so in Mollywood a.k.a. the Malayalam film industry where the average age difference between older male stars and their female romantic partners on screen is 20-30 years, as if to suggest that this is routine in real life. The Nimisha Sajayan-Suraj Venjaramoodu pairing in Dileesh Pothan’s Thondimuthalum Driksakshiyum just about passed muster on this front, but Menon, loveable as he is, looks like Sajayan’s Daddy.

That said, through Ullaas’ dilemmas, Nalpathiyonnu does make some interesting observations about the challenge of being opposed to religion when your loved ones are culturally and socially rooted in it. It also features a far better written, far more convincing man-woman relationship: the one Kannan shares with his wife Suma.

Menon plays Ullaas with the natural ease that is his defining characteristic as an artiste. Sajayan is wasted in a marginal role that seems unworthy of an actor who already has Thondimuthalum Driksakshiyum and Eeda to her credit. The supporting cast playing their relatives and associates are competent. But the scene stealers in this film are Dhanya Ananya as Suma and Saran Jith as Kannan, the former managing to impress although she gets much less screen time than the latter.

Unlike the recent Sathyam Paranja Vishwasikkuvo?, one does not end the film wondering why on earth this woman likes this no-hoper. By the end of Nalpathiyonnu, we know.

Dhanya Ananya and Saran Jith along with S. Kumar’s cinematography – aimed not so much at showcasing Kerala’s beauty as at capturing the ruminative mood of the narrative – are the USPs of this film.

If Nalpathiyonnu does not have the fire and grit that would be expected from an exploration of such a potentially powerful theme, it is largely because of what comes across as a hesitation to truly critique the irrationality of faith. If Jose and Prageesh were afraid they would be accused of lacking objectivity, they could have additionally examined the insensitivity that some atheists direct at religionists, but both groups are spared an unsparing microscope.

This reluctance combined with loose editing results in a film that works only in parts, is thoughtful but just not enough, lacks punch and ends up being ambivalent. It makes you wonder why a filmmaker would pick such a subject in the first place if the intention was not to go the whole hog.

Rating (out of five stars): **1/2

CBFC Rating (India):	U
Running time:	134 minutes )

This review has also been published on Firstpost:

https://www.firstpost.com/entertainment/nalpathiyonnu-41-movie-review-lal-jose-takes-a-communist-to-sabarimala-but-plays-it-safe-from-then-on-7629691.html 

Visuals courtesy: https://www.facebook.com/LaljoseFilmDirector/