Even though I am not a professional movie critic and do not possess any quality to be one like that I am attempting to write a parallel note on two new movies which had influenced my thought process.
The Theme of #Kammatipadam which was directed by Mr.Rajiv Ravi and Mr. Sanal Kumar Sasidharan’s #Ozhivudivasathe Kali are sharing same thought process even though those are plotted on totally different story board and story back ground. Both the movies are new Malayalam movies which are running successfully(Though the success is a very relative concept and cannot be judged on same grounds!) in theatres. #Kammatipadam is a big budget commercial movie with lot of Star value whereas #Ozhivudivasathe Kali is a low budget film with no star value.
What I found interesting in both these movies are the similarity of the base story line of those movies. Both the movies are trying to depict the fateful and sidelined lives of backward classes , financially as well as caste wise, and the exploitation of the rich and upper classes on them by taking undue advantage of their situations and ignorance.
#Kammatipadam revolves and develop around two friends, Ganga(Vinayakan) and Krishnan (Dulquer Salman) and their elder brother Balan (Manikantan) who are the goons of the liquor turned land mafia of Kochi. They themselves believe to be the loyal and faithful servants of their masters and risks their life, family and dignity to serve them day and night. When the movie progresses through their childhood, adolescence and youth , we will visibly notice the prosperity and progress happening at the end of the Lords and the deterioration and damage incurring in the life of the central characters. But they were unable to identify those changes and continues to be the faithful ‘dogs’ of their masters. This situation resembles the life of the present political martyrs (so called) who are sacrificing the life to protect the comforts of their political Gods . We can only with lot of agony in our heart, mind and the eyes watch the progress of the story which is beautifully and symbolically depicted through the shrinking pathways to the house of Ganga. When their masters are literally becoming Lords, possessing immense wealth and other comforts of their life and claiming high social stature , the goons remains as goons to see their life style conditions becoming worse , poorer and pathetic.
#Ozhivudivasathe Kali is maintaining a different story line which is progressing through a get together organized by Five close friends in a remote and dilapidated old building located inside a dense forest and the situations, camera and the characters of the film are more realistic and pricking our mind with lot of thoughts. When the story progresses to next level, we could feel the hypocritical attitude of men towards women, social, political and Governmental systems and many a times, the veil which they are maintaining in their social lives are getting uncovered in a very natural manner. Out of the Five friends, one is black in his skin tone and seems to be from a backward class, even though the story is completely silent and non narrative about those aspects we will be able to draw clear lines towards that fact. The friends who are on a very badly drunken stage are discussing many social issues, quarreling themselves, abusing and even fighting each other at certain stage showing the depth of their friendship which they are maintaining superficially. Those situations are handled by the director in a satirical and humorous manner.
When their discussions progresses , a reference made by the others about the color and shortened physic of the friend had irritated that person and the story is taking a turn by lighting the torch towards the caste system which is deep rooted in our heart, even if we are pretending otherwise. In a mood of grief the person who had been alleged for his caste and color is reciting the following poem. Even though the poem is not clear in the picture we could feel the mood that is creating in the thought of others .
When I born, I black
When I grow up, I black
When I go in Sun, I black
When I scared, I black
When I sick, I black
And when I die, I still black
And you white fellow
When you born, you pink
When you grow up, you
white
When you go in sun, you red
When you cold, you blue
When you scared, you yellow
When you sick, you green
And when you die, you gray
And you calling me colored?
The story ends with a tragic note and on the last shot of the movie we will feel the depth of the movie in true sense and the previous scenes which went unnoticed will rush to your mind and haunt your thoughts.
Both the movies are sharing the social stigma facing by sidelined classes of our society and the directors of both the movies deserves great applaud for their effort to bring up the story beyond the expectations the viewers. # Kammatipadam is a very straight approach and telling the facts in a far direct manner whereas the story line of #Ozhivudivasathe Kali is very subtle, thought provoking and often disturbing. Both the movies had shown justice to the characters and the Viewers and I would like to congratulate the cast and crew behind those movies.