Malikappuram Movie Review:
How are our Gods and Goddesses completely different from the tremendous heroes we meet in comedian books and in superhero movies?
The reply is that our relationship with our Gods is without delay protecting emotionally in addition to deeply transcendental.
‘Superman’ could be nice leisure and may even impart values derived from American collective consciousness. However he doesn’t have the capability to develop with a baby, contained in the being of the kid after which information him by way of values that aren’t society-derived however are primordial and everlasting.
Solely a Hanuman can do this. As a result of Hanuman inhabits a non secular and civilisational universe, whereas Superman is an inhabitant of a fictional and a business world.
For a Hindu little one, the Deity is tremendous hero and past. That may be a dimension that has not been explored thus far – the bond that develops between a baby and a Hindu Deity.
Malikkapuram, written by Abhilash Pillai and directed by Vishnu Sasi Sankar, explores precisely that dimension. On this case, the bonding is between an eight-years-old lady, Kalyani (Deva Nandha) and Ayyappa Swami.
Ayyappan, by all accounts, appears to be a historic yogic-warrior who resonated so deeply with Sastha that he turned embodied in that transcendental and all-encompassing Advaitic reality of ‘Tat Tvam Asi’.
The film begins with a brief however efficient acknowledgement of the historic roots of Ayyappan.
The lady has two robust bonds in her life– one this-worldly and the opposite, the transcendental. The 2 bonds of affection intertwine fantastically within the story. However exterior, the world is full of mortgage sharks and little one traffickers.
A traumatic incident happens and her bond with Ayyappan turns into Bhakti. The kid is proven as gifted with reference to her drawing expertise, which in flip deliver out photos from her deep self: that of a superhero who transforms into Ayyappa Swami.
Unni Mukundan performs his position marvellously. Combining masculine fierceness with parental grace that may allure a baby shouldn’t be straightforward.
The struggle scenes are properly choreographed and have a allure hardly ever seen.
Qualitatively completely different, each in type and context, from the Kantara climax, the climax of Manikappuram reveals a deeper connectivity.
The film additionally reveals a granny – Muthaachi as they name her in Malayalam. The Grandma component is slowly disappearing from each our household and standard tradition. Her significance can by no means be overemphasised.
This film reveals what we’re slowly shedding even with out being conscious of it – the lap of a grandmother the place we relaxation our heads as she tells us tales from the Puranas. Sadly, tv serials have remodeled the grandmother who enjoys Vanaprastha in residence itself right into a grumpy mother-in-law.
This film reveals a glimpse of that grandmother who’s the primal root of tradition and spirituality in a family.
With extraordinary performing, if it may be referred to as that, the lady brings out what Bhakti is to the viewers and never a single pair of eyes among the many viewers was with out the mist of tears swelling up. The lady turned Bhakti-Bhava itself.
The mischievous boy who will get himself drawn into the sacred pilgrimage due to his assumed duty for the lady has additionally remodeled into the very character.
The storyline contrasts two worlds within the film. One is the world made from all good-hearted folks with an atmosphere of a divine tradition that animates it. Then, concurrently, there exists a merciless world that’s made from vanity, greed and sadism.
These worlds cross one another, leading to struggling. On the centre of this conflict of worlds, the film locations the tender Bhakti of Kalyani for Swami Ayyappan.
The film is a visible deal with as properly. The music is soothing, and flows with the story.
Within the struggle scenes, and even in any other case, the lady initiatives onto a mysterious character all of the attributes that she associates with Ayyapa Swami. In that luminal dimension between the supernatural and the pure, the Bhakti of the lady leaves an indelible mark on actuality for all involved.
It is a ‘household leisure’ film, a feel-good movie and a film that fills a void in us. In case you miss it then you might be lacking the start of a phenomenon.
II
Kerala for fairly someday has been de-Hinduising itself in its films. It has been a really worrisome improvement for the observers of Kerala cinema. The actors themselves could also be Hindus however the characters and story of many a Malayalam movie wouldn’t comprise a single Hindu character.
It’s at such a time {that a} movie like this explodes onto the Malayali standard tradition, bringing out robust photos of the collective unconscious of Kerala that has all the time been Hindu.
Usually, the Western and Westernised observers of Hindu society have written critically about ‘masculine’ Hinduism. Hindu Gods have instantly turn out to be aggressive, muscular and so forth. This film reveals the muscular Hindu Deities – Shiva, Vishnu and Ganesha, after which, reveals the Bhakti of the kid in comfy juxtaposition.
To the eight-year-old lady, the armed and muscular Hindu Deities are protectors. That is the dwelling Hindu expertise.
