‘Ullozhukku’ movie is a brilliantly portrayed psychoanalysis of human minds by the director Christo Tomy.
Introduction
After watching the movie at CineQ, Freemont, CA, my mind was surprisingly very calm. But at the same time, I needed to digest this movie scene by scene to write about this experience. Read every review written and still could not find a review that explained the way I understood this movie. So decided to write about this for you all. I must get this out of my system to free up my mind and I am traumatized at times with the raw emotions I experienced, and my own life experiences started haunting my mind. So, writing this out is a way of getting this out of the system. The most important question that came to mind was where does this movie stand when we compare it to some of the greatest movies ever made in the Indian movie scene?
Is this the movie as everyone says that turned Malayalam movie after the release of a Malayalam classic called ‘Chemmeen’ in 1965? Is it the movie that dealt with raw emotions of human life with more tenacity than we have ever seen in any Indian cinema?
‘Chemmeen’ an epic movie directed by Ramu Kaaryat in 1965 was one of the first films in any Indian language that powerfully analyzed women’s psychology very elegantly. In ‘Chemmeen’, we have seen the raw emotions and undercurrents with such details through its lead character Karuthamma, a common fisherwoman. To date, this movie is considered a classic, that ever made in Indian cinema. It was a storytelling style by its director that we had never seen before.
Main characters and their emotional undercurrents: Brilliance by Christo Tomy
Leelamma and Anju are both emotionally trapped individuals by the societal customs that is so familiar only to India. The character building of Leelamma by the story maker is a thorough analysis of her mind scene by scene; where we all start wondering haven’t we all seen this woman amidst us? Thus, the director crafts every scene where he reveals slowly who Leelamma is. Urvashi who portrayed Leelamma in the movie has lived the character. Every scene where she is a mother to Thomaskutty is brilliant. One specific scene that captured my mind is the last scene at his funeral she is not crying aloud, but her face and emotions seeing her child that she gave birth at his last of life on earth; such tense scenes are portrayed by Urvashi in nothing less than world-class acting. I don’t even think the director told her what to do in all the scenes, but Urvashi had lived the character of Leelamma. This is just one such detail. Her interactions with her daughter-in-law, her relatives, and every detail of acting are such a pleasure to watch and so proud to say this happens only in Malayalam movies, actors in this industry are such gems.
The director, when portraying the character of Anju, made viewers go through her emotions scene by scene as well. Anju on one side can’t emotionally connect to Thomaskutty, Leelamma’s son whom she is forcibly married to. Her detachment from this man, and very soon she becomes his caretaker, and her mental status is for the viewers to see and know; we see Anju’s world rapidly change; the scene after the wedding in a small boat the couple posing for a photo to very soon somewhat a nurse to her husband’s needs; director says all these not much through any dialogues, but scene by scene simply take viewers through incidents; he is telling brilliantly the story of Anju’s mental agony. Leelamma on the other side only sees the happy side of Anju and thinks she is providing all the support as an understanding mother-in-law.
Anju’s dressing style, her every movement is so believably portrayed by this mature actress Parvathy, we wonder will any actress from another movie fraternity be willing to take down all the glamour of makeup to become the character. We had Shabana Azmi, Smitha Patil, Deepti Naval and a few others like Kareena Kapoor of younger generations have shown the same dedication to roles given to them. Parvathy’s contribution in many other reviews written so far, had been limited to one sentence. Here we really want to put her performance at par with Urvashi. Her boldness to go that extra mile to give this character of Anju everything she can by putting a lot of thought into each scene is commendable.
Music plays a key role in bringing this movie to life. Very carefully done and skillful Sushin Shyam did an excellent job. Here are a few scenes from this movie’s trailer.
There are many world classics where the background scores have become as popular as the movie. Sushin Shyam is unknowingly doing some world-class work in this movie. The background scores by Jerry Goldsmith for ‘Alien’, Maurice Jarre for ‘Laurence of Arabia’, James Horner’s Apollo 13, and Hans Zimmer’s Pirates of the Caribbean are good examples; I picked some varied theatrical themes here because good music director must know the basic theme of the story well to make a background score that stands as good as the movie. Here in Ullozhuku Sushin’s low volume but especially slower use of various pitches of string instruments, that very slowly build up to the emotional outbursts of characters have come out at such synchronous timings that it really helps build up the emotion in its right quantity. I think we are seeing a genius in action here. The background score by Sushin really represents the director’s vision of each scene, not an ounce less or more, just perfect in its measure. Kudos!
The emotional drama when Anju realizes that her own mom and Leelamma hide the fact that Thomasktty had brain cancer before her marriage was one of the most difficult scenes in my mind to picture without losing the viewer’s attention and sympathy for Anju. Sushin’s background score makes even splash of water in these scenes as a part of the story when Anju hurriedly walks towards Leelama who is sitting near the dead body of her son. Not a single detail has been flawed. Another scene so memorable is where Anju’s character asks Leelamma “How can she do such cruelty to her?” Leelamma doesn’t have an answer, but her face tells volumes and the background score as well. Urvashi looks very confused because in her mind she never can imagine her son could die; in a very early scene the mother and daughter-in-law exchange a conversation after a late night sick episode where Thomaskutty had an Epileptic attack and recurrence of his cancer symptoms; Leelamma is sitting sadly near prayer room, realizing that every scary dream she had about her son’s illness is becoming a reality. She genuinely believed God would take care of her son’s illness when she arranged a marriage for him. Later conversations of the mother and daughter-in-law is a well-thought-out psychological analysis by the director that helps viewers better understand both these main characters that Christo wants us to know through his brilliant storytelling.
Anju started sneaking out secretly to meet with her real love interest, Rajeev; after her husband became bedridden in the very first few weeks of marriage. We see her disgusted face when she gives a hot towel to Thomaskutty to wipe his genitals. I was analyzing why her character was portrayed this way. In the 1967 Chemmeen movie Karuthamma went to meet with her lover Paree Kutty, when her husband Palani went to the Sea. It may be a coincidence of these two stories but the emotional roller coaster that the character of Anju goes through and her reaction to it was a brilliant analysis of the situation. Anju is bold and knows what she really wants in her life; when her life turns only a bad face to her, she goes in search of that safe place that she always knew before her marriage. She repeatedly asks Rajeev ‘why can’t he take her with him? I am carrying your child. But at the end as a man of fault, he says the sentence that hurt Anju enormously. In the scene where Rajeev says, “I accepted you back even when you lie down with another man”. This comes out of his mouth even when he realizes every bit of his girlfriend’s situation in her marriage. The end of the movie shows the strength of sisterhood and motherhood and its complex nature that no man can ever understand. A man’s lack of thought starts from the day of his ‘first sin’ in paradise and continues till date. When God asked him why did you eat that fruit from the tree that I told you not to eat? His reply was “It was this woman who tempted me to eat it”. The story of this movie brings many thoughts that is never been told directly.
To a small credit, Anju’s parents, her dad, and her mom are portrayed very well by the actors. The Sister Aunty, and Thomas Kutty’s sister characterization, where not a word or a scene flawed in any manner. Everything happening in the movie is extremely realistic and dealt with extreme care and craftsmanship.
When 2024 reaches its half-year mark Malayalam movies have seen an enormous thrust in the quality of movies produced so far. It is partly from the rise of young talents who really want to do good films, and many know very well the thin line between commercial success and good movies. The times when Malayalam’s world-class directors like Adoor, Bharathan, and Padmarajan were making movies, we had such a spring season in our small movie industry. I am very happy to see the young movie directors of today dare to touch subjects that are challenging and can still capture the attention of viewers. Very hopeful about the future of this small film fraternity from the southern peninsula of India and we all are fortunate to be able to live in a time when the rejuvenation of good films happens not only in Malayalam but Hindi cinema as well. Let us hope the Malayalam industry along with all other major industries in this country continue to make good movies. Thanks for reading. Ciao.
