Aattam review: A compelling, necessary film on the bro code – Moneycontrol

Zarin Shihab as Anjali in Malayalam movie Aattam. (Display screen seize/YouTube/Pleasure Film Productions)

In Girish Karnad’s famend play Hayavadana (1971), a younger girl is pursued by two males who’re mates with one another and declare to be in love together with her. Padmini has to decide on between Devadutta of excessive mind and Kapila of a beautiful physique. The best man must be a mixture of the 2, however even when this duality is resolved via an accident, not one of the characters are at peace. Talking in regards to the play, Karnad had revealed that the thought got here to him from a dialogue on the which means of masks in Indian theatre.

That is the play that the characters in Anand Ekarshi’s Aattam are performing, with 13 actors – 12 males and one girl. However Anjali (Zarin Shihab), who performs Padmini within the theatrical manufacturing, is left grappling not with the query of an excellent artificial of various males however the reverse – is there any distinction between males in any respect, no matter be the mix of their qualities? In different phrases, behind their masks, are all of them the identical?

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Anjali belongs to a theatre group known as Arangu. After a profitable present, the forged is invited to a non-public get together. Within the wee hours of the morning, somebody molests Anjali. When she speaks her reality, nevertheless, the group isn’t positive how to reply to the allegation.

The premise of Aattam seems to be impressed by the American authorized drama 12 Offended Males (1957), the place a jury deliberates over the guilt of a youth accused of killing his abusive father.

However, there is a crucial distinction between the 2 crimes and the way society views the sufferer and the accused – in terms of sexual violence, it’s the complainant who invariably results in the dock. She has to show not solely the perpetrator’s guilt but in addition her innocence. This instantly makes Aattam and 12 Offended Males very totally different movies.

There’s a dynamic power to the screenplay, with the digital camera following the forged and the informal exchanges between them that tackle significance later. Everybody within the forged has one other job aside from that of a theatre actor. Totally different masks for various events. Anjali is an architect. Vinay (Vinay Forrt) is a chef. The 2 are a pair however the remainder of the group can not know of their relationship. Hari (Kalabhavan Shajohn) is a small-time film actor who has change into the star of the theatre group, a lot to Vinay’s resentment. There’s a plumber, a gasoline station attendant, a “home husband”, an entrepreneur, higher caste and decrease caste, wealthy, middle-class and poor – a different bunch from a cross-section of society. However the writing flows simply, by no means feeling strained or deliberate. The characters emerge as actual individuals, not bins to be ticked.

The viewer is a witness, drawn into the drama because it unfolds, with the dialogues sounding utterly spontaneous and never written down in any respect. The lads don’t know what to do with the data that they’ve acquired. One makes use of it to additional his ambition; one other desires proof for the allegation; yet one more ponders if a gaggle of artists should method the issue like laypersons. All of them care about Anjali, however is she actually so freed from blame? What about her garments? Her willingness to drink with the lads? Why didn’t she discuss what occurred instantly? Can her phrase be trusted? It isn’t solely the 12 males who’re judging Anjali, the viewer might be doing it too.

The group’s opinion swings like a pendulum, with the lads more and more changing into irritated with the “inconvenience” that the allegation has prompted. Vinay and Zarin are excellent – the scene on the bus cease when she bursts out laughing is particularly sensible – and so is the remainder of the forged. A lot of the movie is only a bunch of individuals speaking, however there isn’t a second of boredom. The background rating is minimal and permits the dialog to take centerstage with out attempting to govern our emotions in any specific path.

Although Aattam will be seen as a whodunnit, that isn’t the purpose of the movie. Its focus isn’t a lot on who dedicated the crime than who enabled the perpetrator. It’s a portrait of the bro code, chilling and darkly humorous in its accuracy. A compelling, vital movie for our occasions.

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