The ‘homely’ shift in Malayalam cinema

However, a home may not necessarily be this ideal paradise for everyone around us, in fact it may be a living hell for many. Many homes we see from outside may not be a comforting retreat. Incidents of domestic violence, marital rape, poverty and mental issues might be choking the inhabitants inside a home. In such cases, a home might just be a building that nurtures toxicity.

Many reports have come out pointing to the fact that domestic violence, especially violence against women, has increased significantly in India in the wake of coronavirus and subsequent lockdowns. Even children are at the receiving end of toxic parents and have to spend more time inside their homes as their only escape option of schools has been closed for the past two years. Though the real gravity of domestic violence post coronavirus hasn’t been completely studied or documented as the pandemic is still rampant across the world and we are yet to get a complete picture, it would be safe to assume that violence inside families has increased. In this way, every home has a different or contrasting story to tell and every home is distinctively unique. It’s interesting to know the system and power structure inside each home, and it’s a human tendency to peek into others’ lives. Though a home is part of a society, a home doesn’t necessarily have to follow the rules of society, in fact every home has its own system and unwritten rules in place. Inhabitants of every home work inside a power dynamics and in most homes, the most dominant person will be the father figure or a patriarch.

Also, another interesting aspect of home is that it is a private place and the law and order system usually doesn’t interfere with what’s happening inside a home unless a threat to society is noted or a crime is reported. A home in that way is the only place that is truly yours; a space where you can be the real you. You’re not judged inside your home or your room at least. The societal rules don’t apply here. Conspiracies for crimes also mostly start from home because of this privacy aspect, and we have seen this in many cases of murder, or criminal activities. Mohanlal starrer Drishyam is an example of using this angle of home. In that way, every home is a different world and holds different stories. Malayalam cinema, since the advent of Covid-19 pandemic, has shifted attention to this space.

Many widely discussed Malayalam movies released in the past two years have been plotted around what’s happening inside a home. They have looked at home as a character itself or reinvented the place called home as a part of the narrative. Take, for instance, the movie titled #Home. A touching film that focuses on the relationship between family members inside a home, #Home, directed by Rojin Thomas, was widely appreciated for its realistic portrayal of relationships inside a middle class family. The movie tells the story of Oliver Twist (Indrans), his wife Kuttiyamma (Manju Pillai) and their two sons Antony (Sreenath Bhasi) and Charles (Naslen). There’s also Oliver Twist’s grandfather, a very old man with symptoms of dementia. Most parts of the movie is shot inside a house which has a refreshing, free flowing and simple style of architecture. Many important incidents in the movie, be it the fight between family members, moments of affection, emotional meltdown and more happens inside this home and is framed realistically, keeping the home in the backdrop.

There is a scene in #Home where Kuttiyama, with a persistent back pain, has to walk a long way upstairs just because her younger son is too lazy to switch off the fan. The same Kuttiyama in a moment of sheer emotional breakdown silences her older son when he tries to embarrass his father in front of outsiders. The characters in that shot are placed in a realistic way where the male characters are talking in the drawing room, while women are having a chat in the dining room near the kitchen where Kuttiyama raises her voice to ensure her son doesn’t forget the hierarchy inside their home. The movie ends on a positive note.

If #Home was a feel good movie that showed us how the younger generation often gets irritated by their ageing parents’ difficulty to keep up with changing world, The Great Indian Kitchen, directed by Jeo Baby, was a hard hitting narrative about patriarchy inside families. The movie was widely discussed for its realistic portrayal of women burdened by gender roles. The film was a horror show of kitchen as a space and as a daily routine which is always considered as the responsibility of women in the house, especially in countries like India. It showed the dread and painstaking labour to cook food three times a day and keep the kitchen clean every day without fail through powerful and disgusting images of food waste and work areas of kitchen which most men wouldn’t even bother looking at. The Great Indian Kitchen in many ways was a movie that helped dismantle the image of a perfect wife, mother which is used as a patronising way to sabotage the freedom of women. It also exposed the toxic traits of patriarchy inside homes.

As mentioned earlier, there are movies which showed how homes may not necessarily be this ideal paradise, and Joji, directed by Dileesh Pothan, was one such movie which showed us all is not right inside the homes which outsiders think as privileged or fortunate families. Joji tells the story of a rich Christian family where a dominant patriarch named Kuttapan reigns over the family of four sons. The movie is loosely based on William Shakespeare’s Macbeth and has similarities to KG Goerge’s film Erakal. The film shows how Kuttapan’s third son Joji (Fahadh Faasil), who is ambitious yet lazy and has manic tendencies, kills his father and brother in an attempt to attain the wealth of his family. The movie is mostly shot in and around a huge bungalow surrounded by a vast rubber estate. The film shows the silently suffering inhabitants and their wicked transformations because of a dominant figure like Kuttappan. The shots of big vacant stair spaces blended with dramatic western orchestra during the shots where Joji goes upstairs to slow-poison his father are instances where the filmmaker uses space in line with the tone of the movie. The kitchen space where Joji and his sister-in-law share their common intention to kill Kuttappan is also one of many instances where space inside a home is realistically used by the director and writer.

Aarkariyam, directed by Sanu Varghese, is another movie which features a home as the setting. A slow burning movie, Aarkariyam unveils secrets surrounding a family. Sherley and Roy played by Parvathy and Sharafuddheen, respectively, return to Sherly’s father Ittyavara’s house. The movie unveils the mystery around the disappearance of Sherly’s first husband. The film is mostly shot around a familiar looking rural Christian household in Kerala. All the secrets are buried inside the house and in the climax, Roy’s character is left with an unpleasant secret about his father-in-law Ittyavara which he can’t ever reveal to his wife Sherley. That shot where Roy is burdened with this lifelong dilemma in relation to his wife Sherley is shot inside a bedroom where Roy and Sherley have to share space for the rest of their lives.

Rahul Sadasivan directorial Bhoothakalam, which recently premiered on SonyLIV, also used a grim looking house to successfully portray the mental issues of its inhabitants. The movie effectively uses an old and typical urban middle class house as a reflection of the psyche of a depressed mother and son, played by Revathy and Shane Nigam. The way the director conceives the house as a metaphor to a contaminated mind is brilliantly conveyed by the cinematography used in the movie. The stillness and the monotonous indifference of the house hit the viewers differently in the long shots of the house and in interior shots of the house where Asha and her son share the horror of depression.

Deliberately or not, many popular movies that were released post-Covid-19 used home and the power dynamics of the family members as a key narrative device. Kala, Sunny, Jan E Man are a few movies which followed this trend in Malayalam cinema and these films were well received by critics and viewers alike because of the relatable and realistic portrayal of the complexities inside our homes.