Rhapsodies have been composed around Malayalam movie star Fahadh Faasil’s eyes. After Kishkindha Kaandam, might odes be written for Asif Ali’s peepers too?
Ali’s expressive eyes have rarely been put to better use than in Kishkindha Kaandam. Ali marvellously plays a character stoically shouldering emotional burdens almost too heavy to bear. Much of Ali’s performance is conveyed through eyes that have seen more than they should have.
Dinjith Ayyathan’s thriller, based on a devilishly intricate script by Bahul Ramesh, has been all the rage since its release in Kerala in September. The box office hit is now out on Disney+ Hotstar, allowing non-Malayalam viewers to take in its slow-burning pleasures.
Like a Matryoshka doll, Ramesh’s story-screenplay is stacked with secrets and surprises. The film’s title refers to the mythic monkey kingdom in the Ramayana epic. Incidents from the past ricochet through the present in Kishkindha Kaandam. The simians in the forest near where the characters live play a role in the events involving the Pillai family.
The 125-minute film begins with the loss of a gun that belongs to Appu Pillai (Vijayaraghavan). An irascible ex-Army officer, Appu is harsh on his son Ajayan (Asif Ali) and Ajayan’s bride Aparna (Aparna Balamurali).
Ajayan has a back story that includes a former wife and a missing son. Aparna finds that she has entered a house of intrigue, which not only includes the mystery surrounding the boy’s disappearance, but also her father-in-law’s mental health. Appu appears to be on the verge of dementia. But does that sufficiently explain his obsessive note-taking, his tendency to frequently burn files and his evasiveness over the vanished weapon?
From missing gun to missing son, the movie takes grand leaps that are delivered not through gimmickry but with sobriety. Initially appearing to be a rambling Jeethu Joseph-style crime drama, Kishkindha Kaandam turns out to be something else altogether – a poignant examination of deception, repression and absence.
Director Ayyathan and Bahul Ramesh – who has also shot the film – keep a firm handle on an increasingly dizzying turn of events. The niggling question of why the emotionally wounded Ajayan remarries in the first place is eclipsed by the importance given to Aparna in the plot. As an outsider, Aparna plays a vital role in unravelling the riddle.
The entire cast, which includes Jagadish and Nizhalgal Ravi as Appu Pillai’s friends, is remarkably subdued. Even after the movie has spilled out its secrets, the mood isn’t one of triumph at having solved a puzzle, but melancholia at what has been discovered. Ramesh’s script superbly pulls the wool over the eyes, pulling it back to reveal an ending that is also a beginning.