Athiran
People have always been intrigued by stories that show the dark side of human nature. And when these stories come alive on screen with a dash of suspense, drama, mystery, and action, they applaud it and throng the theatres to see it again and again, with the expectation of coming up with a different deduction each time. This is the pull that good psychological thrillers have, and the reason why some recent examples clicked with the audience. Though a significant number of psychological thrillers were made in the past, Malayalam cinema has seen an increase in their numbers lately.
Perhaps, the first Malayalam film to successfully experiment with the genre was P Bhaskaran’s Iruttinte Athmavu (1967), in which the late Prem Nazir portrayed ‘Bhranthan Velayudhan’, the protagonist. In the golden ’80s, K G George’s Irakal and Sreenivasan’s Vadakkunokkiyantram belonged to the same genre. However, it was Fazil’s instant classic Manichitrathazhu, which perfectly blended a psychological theme with popular cinematic elements.Malayalam psychological thrillers often depict the antagonist as a character with a heavy psychological background. When asked if this is done to make it easier for the audience to understand the cause of the villain’s actions, Athiran scriptwriter PF Mathews disagrees. “A background is not needed to justify the actions as the audience is mature enough to understand the character. Hollywood films of this genre don’t usually make use of a background,” he says.
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On the other hand, psychiatrist Dr. CJ John believes that any character has to be psychologically scripted. “Every character — be it the hero or villain — has to have psychological elements to support their actions,” he says.
Malayalam psychological thrillers also play a role in influencing the social stigma surrounding those with psychological disorders. “Psychologically affected characters are usually portrayed as villains who commit heinous crimes or as comical and irrational individuals. This leads to false stereotypes that may pose as obstacles for those who want to seek help and will only increase the stigma,” says Dr. John. Mathews believes that the increase in psychological thrillers helps in breaking the stigma. “People’s narrow-minded views are publicly acknowledged through these films,” he says.
So what is so appealing about these thrillers? Dr. John believes that the human mind is always a fascinating subject as everybody is curious about others’ minds. “Intellectual people will always look at how well a story has been psychologically scripted,” he says. Fazil emphasizes that the story of a film is equivalent to the grammar of a sentence. “A psychological thriller should be made in such a way that it is convincing and connects with the audience,” he says.
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While the Tamil film industry has always released psychological thrillers on a regular basis, it is only now that we have seen a considerable increase in Malayalam psychological thrillers. The latest addition is debutant Vivek’s Athiran. “There is a clear shift in trend. Over the years, people demand changes in what they want to see. Currently, people are more accepting of the new changes in cinema,” says veteran director Fazil.
Anjam Pathira
Anjaam Pathira Movie Review: A decently engaging crime thriller
Story: A serial killer is on the loose, murdering policemen. Psychologist Anwar Hussain helps cops investigate the case and find who the culprit is
Review: It’s said that evil can manifest in anyone, if you are in the wrong place at the wrong time. Anjaam Pathira by Midhun Manuel Thomas shows how a wave of violence gets kicked-off, with certain unfortunate turn of events that happened in someone’s life. And how such scenarios might sometimes create unforgiving killers.
Psychologist Anwar Hussain (Kunchacko Boban) gets introduced to the murder case of a policeman by his friend and cop Anil (Jinu Joseph). As he tries to connect the circumstantial clues, the situation gets complicated further with more deaths, puzzling both Anwar and the police department. How they nab the culprit and the backstories of the events form the turf of Anjaam Pathira.
Murderous psychopaths lurking in the shadows and the reasons that made them so sinister have always fascinated both movie makers and audience alike. Anjaam Pathira gets most of the elements right to tell such a tale in the most engaging fashion – disturbing yet curiosity-triggering murders, a killer who employs gruesome techniques on victims, an ace psychological investigator, creepy masks, the dark descent in someone’s life that makes them a killer, simple, yet suspenseful development of events and a dimly lit atmosphere in which the tale unfurls. A genuine attempt to make the story as novel yet relevant in the current scenario is also evident.
Kunchacko Boban gives the right demeanour to Anwar Hussain, as do the rest of the cast. The performances of Mathew Thomas and Indrans, though just in a few scenes, are also arresting enough for one to feel uneasy and so is the portrayal of the bad man by another prominent actor, whose name is best kept under wraps so we don’t let out any spoilers. The portrayal of the gruesome acts of the murderer are also shown without traumatising the viewers too much.
At the same time, the intro portions, which was probably woven into the larger plot intending to give us a better understanding of the developments, doesn’t seem to add much to the story. The climax sequence also isn’t as hard hitting as one would expect, going by how the story tightens its screws till big revelations are made. Certain critical questions viewers might feel within are only answered painting word pictures, making their effect on the story trivial. The stifling, yet enjoyable, tension that should bind one till the end in such a story is also lost, just about half an hour before the movie wraps up.
The film ties together a handful of gruesome killings to tell its story and those who have the stomach for it can find Anjaam Pathira a movie worth its running time.
Forensic
I went to see Forensic only hours after hearing in the morning news about a missing girl’s body being discovered. This happening on the release day of an investigative thriller which actually revolves around missing girls gives the film’s opening portions a sense of verisimilitude.
But once you get past that, Forensic is an evidently cinematic thriller whose main objective is to provide escapist entertainment, which it successfully manages to do.
This is a film that is better appreciated if comparisons to Anjaam Pathira or Raatsasan are avoided. It has now become a habit for some to compare any serial killer film to Raatsasan, as if it established some kind of benchmark. It really didn’t, and such comparisons are unhealthy, in my opinion. Each film must be analysed for its own merits. When viewed independently, Forensic has a lot of positive qualities that elevate it above the run-of-the-mill thriller.
One difference that I found between Anjaam Pathira and Forensic is that the latter is more clear about how it got to the killer instead of being slightly vague as the former did. I’m not necessarily saying that one approach is better than the other, and some may dismiss it as spoon-feeding. What worked for Anjaam Pathira may not work for Forensic as the latter is much more intricate than it appears to be.
There may be loopholes —even the best thrillers have them—but Forensic kept me so invested in the process that being distracted by a small doubt about the previous scene is not something that I wanted to do for a film of this nature.
Forensic brings to the table some familiar as well as some unfamiliar elements. There is more of the latter, really. The film is essentially Malayalam cinema’s answer to CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (or its spin-offs)—those popular, multi-episode shows which took enough time to show the fascinating methods employed by forensic experts to solve a crime. And given that one of the main characters in the film is a medico-legal advisor named Samuel John Kaattookaran (Tovino Thomas), it’s only fair that we get some idea of his working process.
Though there is not much character development here —I’m not sure the film even needs it —Tovino brings the necessary class and ‘mass’ to his role. This is a character who is supposed to simply appear smart, confident, and carry off a fight/chase scene well. In effect, he has every trait required for an ideal, uber-cool sleuth.
And as Rithika Xavier IPS, the officer in charge of the investigation, Mamta Mohandas carries an air of haughtiness enough to annoy Samuel. The two characters share a past, not the romantic kind, which I found quite refreshing. In fact, there is no time for romance anywhere, even when a possibility arises in the form of an intern (Reba Monica John) who shows up one day to work with Samuel. Where is the time for romance when a serial killer is out there wreaking havoc? Saiju Kurup, who plays Samuel’s brother, conjures up some light-hearted moments when things get too serious.
The film takes delight in throwing multiple red herrings at you before it takes you to the actual killer. Though I was able to predict who it was, I liked the way the revelation was made and the way Samuel explained the reason why this killer managed to remain elusive for so long. The film makes use of two good actors —I refrain from revealing their names or gender as it’s spoiler territory—in sufficiently chilling negative roles.
If you, like me, went to see some satisfying revelations, then Forensic has an ample amount of them. It makes you think the main killer has been revealed just seconds before the intermission, but then it comes up with more surprises in its second half. And do I really need to say how good Jakes Bejoy’s background score is? Forensic is another decent addition to the growing roster of thrillers in Malayalam cinema this year.
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