Would you think twice about watching a movie where the leading character has a frozen expression for most of the time and does not emote at all? Think again folks ; here comes a stunner from Malayalam cinema that is guaranteed to leave you stunned!
#SaudiVellaka on #SonyLiv is on the face of it a realistic take on the pendency of cases in Indian courts and a clarion call for reforms in the judicial system. But on an altogether different level, it is a story of ordinary human beings, their ego and their empathy, told in a manner that almost seems like a throwback to some other era. There is one dialogue from the movie that is almost slipped in unobtrusively that leaves you emotional. One of the characters asks of another in the film “Didn't you ask me if this is all humans are? This is how much humans are!”
#TharunMurthy’s second film after the standout #OperationJava starts off like a thriller when a cop lands up at Abhilash Sashidharan’s (#LukmanAvaran) house and asks for him. The scene is set in a locality called Saudi near Thoppumpady in Kochi. In his childhood, Abhilash was beaten up by an old Muslim woman Ayesha Rawther (#DeviVarma in a spectacular performance). This led to the filing of a case which then runs on for more than a decade. #TharunMurthy’s focus is not the nuances of the legal system, nor the sufferings of the old woman but rather on how this impacts the lives of countless people who are impacted by this.
Most of us have been touched by legal cases in some manner and are not wholly unfamiliar with situations where cases drag on for years. In most cases, people often forget where it all started. The concept of the ‘hostile witness’ is something all of us read about; I think the moot point is that justice delayed is justice denied! More importantly, an inefficient judicial system makes a mockery of basic human emotions and empathy towards each other.
In #SaudiVellakka, there is of course the travails of the old woman Ayesha who is made to repent for her action in the heat of the moment. She is, however, quite sanguine about the problems she has to bear. All she wants to do is to meet the boy and apologize to him. When she recounts this to Abhilash many years later, that scene chokes you up. Ayesha’s son Sattar (#SujithShankar in another characteristically brilliant essay) is an auto driver who battles his own emotional health. The daughter-in-law Naseema (#DhanyaAnanya) is embittered with all that's happening and her rebuke leads to Ayesha leaving the house and Sattar running away. A local trade union leader ( played with elan by #BinuPappu) comes forward to help Ayesha and a lowly lawyer (#Gokulan) both spend a lifetime working on the case! A host of characters put in amazingly realistic performances that will leave you stunned. The second half is, to put it mildly, haunting and in every sense a cathartic experience.
#SarathVelayudhan’s cinematography juxtaposes the beautiful scenery of Kochi against the cauldron of emotions that boil over during the decade. Music by #PaleeFrancis stands out. #TharunMurhty chooses to eschew big names either in front of the camera or production banners but manages to extract superlative performances from all his cast. Watch #SaudiVellakka for an amazing insight to how human beings put emotion and empathy over justice and penal awards. The latter are systems put in by man and the former are imbued in the human being by the Almighty !
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