Bramayugam Review – Rediff.com movies
Mammootty is towering because the unflinching enigma that forestalls Bramayugam from being a middling style train, observes Arjun Menon.
Bramayugam is the third directorial function by Rahul Sadasivan of Bhoothakaalam (2022) fame, and the movie cements the younger film-maker’s penchant for the psychologically weird and macabre materials.
The movie, set in 18th century Kerala and shot in black and white, follows a cat-and-mouse recreation of caprice between dying and its closely-hunted prey. The movie is a direct descendant of umpteen entries falling below the ‘monster film’ and ‘haunted home’ sub style of supernatural cinema.
However the dearth of effectively constructed horror movies in Malayalam makes this Mammootty starrer a winner and it shines for its technical finesse and conceptual ingenuity.
Arjun Ashokan performs a anonymous plantation slave on the run from his captors. After a lethal encounter with a ghostly presence, he finds solace in a barren mansion known as the ‘mana‘.
The stranger is greeted with open arms by Kodumon Potty (Mammootty), the final remaining inhabitant of the mansion, the place the remainder of the movie unfolds.
The momentary state of reduction nonetheless, nosedives right into a paranoia-fuelled nightmare imaginative and prescient when ‘Potty’ begins to work together with the unnamed visitor, belonging to a decrease caste, relegated to being singers of folks songs within the king’s service over generations.
A way of dread begins to mount as ‘Potty’ slowly begins to usurp his dominance over the clueless visitor in additional methods than one.
The movie additionally finds one other main participant within the type of Potty’s home assist and caretaker (Siddarth Bharathan), who doesn’t take effectively to the intruder. He represents the unknown, a helpless frequent man dominated over by unchecked energy.
In an allegorical sense, the unusually desolate ‘mana‘ in Bramayugam features as a portrait of society the place energy corrupts and by no means lets go, trampling the lifetime of the anonymous within the course of.
Bramayugam is primarily about how an absolute sense of energy slowly mutates right into a stasis, the place exploitation and ill-treatment turn out to be the norm and the subjugation is outlined by one’s social id, on this case, caste.
Bramayugam features as a chamber piece, heavy on banter and starch dialogues becoming the period it’s set in.
It additionally attracts on German expression-inspired imagery and the interaction between mild and shadows as a part of its visible panorama, protecting issues visually charged.
There are apparent callbacks to Francis Ford Coppola’s model of Bram Stoker’s Dracula, with the usage of imposing shadows, auditory suggestion and wall to wall sound design, enhancing the ever altering character dynamics.
Shehnad Jalal’s digicam finds fascinating methods to make the black and white imagery look delicate, not often calling consideration to itself. The shadows and shrouds of darkness simply exist within the deep pockets on the edges of the body, and the film-maker’s use the only location to drive residence the claustrophobia of being caught in a spot.
The rousing musical rating by Christo Xavier is pulsating and provides life to the movie’s not-so-hurried pacing and atmospherics.
Few of the leap cuts and smash reduce decisions by Shafique Mohammed Ali add to the intrigue of the movie’s tone.
Mammootty is towering because the unflinching enigma that forestalls Bramayugam from being a middling style train.
There’s authority and panache in his interpretation of evil.
There’s seldom a false notice in his grandiose surroundings chewing, a facet that the position calls for by advantage of the character design.
The actor lifts the movie from the occasional lulls by means of his electrical charisma that sells probably the most outrageous of traces and character moments with aplomb.
Arjun Ashokan can be effectively solid because the clueless stranger, pressured to confront his wildest nightmares.
There’s deft attract to the way in which he compliments Mammootty’s larger-than-life persona, with a extra toned down method.
Siddarth Bharathan too seems to be comfy navigating the hellhole with a lived-in high quality and world weariness in the way in which he shifts his loyalties and affiliations.
Amalda Liaz will get the shorthand of the deal as the only feminine performer, confined to only two main scenes within the film.
Rahul Sadasivan reworks the staples of Muthassi Kathas and Ghostly Folklores from our tradition, the place Goblins and Black Magic reshape destinies.
The director achieved the same impact in Bhoothakaalam, the place he took a dysfunctional household drama into realms of elevated horror to handle the idea of shared trauma.
Bhoothakaalam triumphed on its minimalist storytelling decisions and you’ll see the same narrative financial system in Bramayugam the place the sense of scale and expanse is conveyed by means of a limiting setting.
There are makes an attempt to discover the problems of caste-based suppression and cycles of oppression that linger on in our society, over the ages in several types.
However the movie is just too invested within the interaction between the three main characters to offer any actual underlining weight to the social commentary angle after a degree.
Bramayugam is a courageous star automobile, facilitated by the assembly of two distant voices in Mammootty, a star identified for his late profession successful streak of experimental outings and a director in stable management of his thematic concepts.
There’s a lot to chew on on this audacious tremendous star automobile that subverts all expectations, albeit in a novel method.
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