2021, Malayalam, Amazon Prime, 7.9/10 IMDB, Directed by Manu Warrier
A petite daring sample that addresses the perspectives of the socio-political issues of the large population of the country. The home invasion thriller tauntingly questions and clarifies the beliefs, finding its parallels to the country’s long invasion history from where the issues had rooted many centuries ago.
The movie’s plot initially seems to house stories of the severed families of a tragedy. It reminds us of the recent monsoon floods that left buried 49 plantation workers of the God’s own country. When the director chooses to reveal the tragedy through minimal visuals, you are informed that its just a sub plot. The plot further narrows to the lives of the handful of families, who refuse to relocate and leave the ecologically fragile danger zones, only so they could cling to the memories of their loved ones.
The makers choose to narrate the story through distinct characterization, to make it veridical. Each of the tight closeup shots, justifies the character’s traits in reflecting the social setup and which larger sector each of them represents. Surprisingly it goes for the props even, as they seem to have character arc as well- for example the ‘wasp nest’.
The making reminds of Lokesh Kanakaraj’s in his movie Kaidhi, which is a similar invasion thriller. But the characters bearing the effects of the societal affairs makes ‘Kuruthi’ a different experience altogether. Again, the film doesn’t dwell on heroic moments, but lets one contemplate on whom to root for and even turns the viewers ‘Law Lords’, to pass a verdict of their own.
Roshan Mathews playing Ibru, through whom the narrative unravels and whose believes are the ones that are challenged by rest of the characters- his story seems to be the crux of the film. Until, Privithiraj playing Laiq appears out of nowhere in to the invasion scenario and steers the story. The soft-spoken Suma, the neighbour, choose to vent out her opinion on the killing of someone who desecrated her place of worship takes the steering wheel for a while leaving us ponder on the thought that while trying to stay true to the religious believes, we do chance upon such dilemmas as that of Ibru and Suma in the secular setup.
With every religious belief being given newer dimensions and interpretations, the viewers are made to sway on their own perspectives as well. The dialogues resonate those of the ‘TV time’ discussions in every household – the pros and cons of the policies and its impact on the people including the minorities. The film dares to highlight issues we don’t often speak on any forum. We even would tread with caution while speaking to the close circle of ours as we brand those ‘Sensitive’.
Since the storyline is about the religious animosity, in the corner of the mind one is surprisingly induced to correlate the actor’s real life beliefs and wonder how interestingly they are made to play characters that are extremely different from their own. The adroit casting of interchanging the actor’s own religion to the role that they carry on the screen is another strength of the movie and the viewers are made to witness each of the character, voice the grievance that isn’t theirs in the real life.
While the makers chose to ‘Tell’ using dialogues to substantiate what they intended ‘To Show’, it does end up becoming preachy in few instances. The cinematography becomes particularly difficult in home invasion thrillers especially when it is a small premise. But the color scheme and the visuals of the nature, balances the claustrophobic sequences.
The maker’s intention which is to bring out the perspectives of the people in conflict, succeeds to a great extent. A venture to unshackle the vicious circle that instigates fanaticism and extremism through personal agony, does derail with the indecisive ‘open ending’ of the climax leaving the viewers to make their own decision. It makes the film vulnerable to be misinterpreted as an approval for violence, as I feel I represent a minor group who might have visualized a positive ending – Young ‘Rasool’ might drop his weapon and spare ‘Vishnu’.
I was left with a wistful smile on my face as I was recollecting the metaphorical opening sequence of the little girl of Ibru begging her dad not to kill her pet ‘goat kid’ which has been grown with ‘love’ only for it to be ‘killed’ – explaining the title Kuruthi, which translates ‘ritual slaughter’.