By Rwita Dutta
The Malayalam film industry has always enthralled us in home and abroad with their fascinating range of contents, forms and cinematic innovations. From stalwarts like Adoor Gopalakrishnan to maverick G.R. Aravindan to enfant terrible John Abraham, the list is unending. In recent years, another breed of filmmakers started dominating the scenario often engulfed by the star phenomenon. Since the 90's, content is king and besides the star kids, an array of films have been produced with new actors, even with non actors. Besides Dilquar Salman, Fahadh Faasil, Roshan Mathew (Moothan, Choked fame), small budget films and their actors also steal the show. One must mention last years' “Biriyani” (Directed by Sajjin Babu) selected in Moscow International Film Festival, 2020) “Chola” (Directed by Sanal Kumar Sashidharan, 2019, selected and nominated in the Best actor category in Orizzonti in Venice), “Jallikattu” (Directed by Lijo Jose Pellissery, won a National award along with a grand premiere in Toronto International Film Festival and participation in Busan). “Moothan” (Directed by Geetu Mohandas, premiered in Toronto International Film Festival,2019)
Besides these artistic films, even the popular commercials are creating wonders. With the line between the hardcore commercial and avant garde being blurred and cinema is adorning more fluidity akin to it,. Therefore, the astounding juxtaposition of myriad kinds of films is a feast for eyes. And they are not aiming the pan-Indian audience, also their international counterparts, too.
Everything seemed glitzy before the deadly virus appeared in our lives. Nevertheless, any kind of catastrophes invoke technological and aesthetic innovations of an altogether astounding nature. Same happened with the new Malayalam film released in the Over the Top platform which is an out and out lock down film, shot virtually and extremely edgy and featuring a serpentine script. The film revolves round Jimmy Kurien (Roshan Mathew), a banker based in Abu Dhabi, who works in a bank and chances upon a girl in dating app Tinder, approaches her, and ends up sending a marriage proposal to her in a video meeting with his mother and cousin present. The girl Anumol Sebastian (played by Darshana Rajendran) complains of abuse by her father and escapes to his house to seek refuge. They stay together and Anu suddenly leaves his home and goes missing. Kevin Thomas (a brilliant Fahadh Faasil, also the producer of the film along with his actress wife Nazriya Nazim with his friends), Jimmy's brother hacks her account, as requested by his family. And the gory truth is revealed. The film does deal with the extremely pertinent global issue of violence and human duress. There is no intention to spill the beans any further. The film is highly recommended and available in Amazon Prime.
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The story is simple and with loads of incredible twists and turns. But the exquisite technique the director has used by shooting the entire film in Fahadh's flat and in a 20 days span is something Indian cinema had hardly explored ever and that too, during the deadly pandemic. In that way, it's a gem. The entire film has been shot in an iPhone. A smart phone has great potential. They have taken advantage of its features and shot intelligently. Editing was savvy so is the minimalist background score.The film uses almost all the virtual platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Google Meet and also hacking a computer system to probe the fake identity of a girl. In most of the scenes, the actors were not required to even meet each other. They maintained the protocol of social distancing, yet created such a wonderful film. The statement at the outset states that humankind is engaged in a strong battle against Covid all over the world now. This feature film was shot adhering to all safety protocols imposed by the Government of Kerala during the lockdown period. While the lockdown pushed Malayalam cinema to a standstill, this film helped provide wages to a bunch of workers whose only source of income is cinema. Now that opening statement reminds of the recent book published by Slavoj Zizek on the pandemic who wondered aloud that “a new form of what was once called communism” is needed to avoid this pandemic. He talked about global solidarity and mentions “if one group is affected, the other will inevitably also suffer”. This solidarity is also evident in this statement.
Surveillance, even in the virtual world can work wonders sometimes. Caught in a spiral cob web of lies, deceit and abuse, the film cracks open the fluid word of the web world, where romantic possibilities can be deleted with a push of a button. (Zygmunt Bauman: Liquid Love). As the days of permanent commitments are over, a life dominated by the virtual world entails dangerous liaisons. “C.U. Soon” was released during the auspicious days of Onam and take us for a ride into the unreal make believe world where the distinction between reality and unreal remains transient. Yet the eternal faith in humanity perpetuated throughout the film restores our zeal for life even during the ongoing paranoia.
Rwita (Also Rita) Dutta is a Professor, Film Critic and Editor. She teaches Political Science in a college under Calcutta University, She is also a member of International Film Critics' Association i.e. Fipresci. Presently she is editing a book on Indian Regional Films. She is the Editor of the International film journal “FilmBuff” . She is working on her doctoral thesis titled ‘City and Cinema'. She has visited many International film festivals worldwide as a Juror in Cannes, Busan, Kiev, Cairo. Delivered lectures in Almaty, Poland, East Europe, China, Brazil and a few other places.
