A casual search for disaster movies produced in India threw up only 18 titles ! A search for disaster at the box office would most likely have thrown up 1800! Interestingly, the first one in the list was #YashChopra’s #Waqt (1965). Of course, there is #Malayankunju featuring #FahadhFaasil a couple of years ago but that was not in the same league. So yes this is one category that is underserved in the Indian market and therefore #2018EveryoneisaHero the large canvas effort to capture the heroism of the ordinary man during the Kerala floods of 2018 is laudable. The movie is streaming on #SonyLiv.
Director #JudeAnthanyJoseph and co-writer #AkhilPDharmarajan pay tribute to the exemplary courage and kindness of ordinary people from different backgrounds, and in particular the fisherfolk who played a stellar role during the rescue efforts. This triumph of the human spirit in the backdrop of nature’s untold fury is the perfect antidote for our sombre, gloomy times.
Anoop (Malayalam cinema’s own superhero #TovinoThomas) has quit the army and is trying to secure a job in Dubai. He is the subject of much ridicule but has a heart of gold. Then there is #AsifAli the son of a fisherman who dreams of being a social media model and detests the boat and the oar. His marriage runs into problems because of the background. Then there is the `gulf based husband whose marriage is in trouble. A righteous journalist tries to make sense of the tragedy and report with integrity, A diligent government servant tries to overcome the politics of the bureaucracy and put his best foot forward to try and save lives. There is the Tamilian driver who hates Keralites ; the reference is the contentious Mullapreiyar dam issue. A Polish couple land up in Kochi looking forward to their holiday in God’s own country. In summary, this is people from all walks of life from Kerala. The floods of August 2018 brought them together in a twist of fate and drove them to become super heroes.
#2018EveryoneisaHero boasts a stellar cast. #Lal continues to amaze me with his ability to portray intense characters; I would say he is perhaps the most underrated actor today. #AparnaBalamurali and #KunchackoBoban are fine actors but do not have much meat in their roles. #VineethSrinivasan, #Kalaiyarasan, #Narein and #TanviRam make up the rest of the cast. Whats interesting is that in the initial set up where the director introduces us to the characters, the rains in the backdrop are almost romantic in their appeal. As the sluice gates are opened and the water let out, they turn a different hue and the natural disaster wrought is scary. Watch out for the first scene where the little town is set up; the drone shot from the top has the cross atop the church in the foreground almost as if Jesus is there to save his people. Much later in the movie, #TovinoThomas navigates his raft and the water levels have risen to a level where the statue of Jesus is almost at eye level!
The film begins with the quote “Every calamity is just news, until it hits us”. The calamity that impacted 14 districts of the coastal state leaving 500 dead and 15 missing ranks as one of the worst in the country. There is mention of the ‘great floods of 99’ - this is reference to the Malayalam year pertaining to 1924 when the Munnar hilly region was submerged and the first monorail project in the country was destroyed.
The movie stands out for its large canvas drone shots, extensive VFX work of excellent quality and some terrific performances. Made at a measly budget of 300 million Indian rupees, the movie attempts to stoke the goosebumps with the shots of the pregnant woman being air lifted with support from Anoop, the blind man ( #Indrans in an effortless role) who is ignorant of the swirling waters and is rescued from his abode in almost Titanic style. However, what the film lacks is nuancing and while the immense feel good factor is more than welcome, this lack of sub tracks and detailing renders it a little hollow. The production design by #Mohandas and the quality VFX as well as the editing by #ChamanChacko stands out. The sound by #Vishnu could have been better; the incessant background score as the disaster scales is jarring. There are shots of #Janardhanan as the Chief Minister but the movie perhaps does not do justice to the efforts put in by the State Government. You also reflect what would have happened if the film was crafted more in the style of a documentary but then i guess that was just not the plan. At the end of the day, you do leave the theater with an abundant does of dopamine ; it doesnt matter that the effects wear off too quickly.
