In this episode of Start Action Cut, Swathi, Princy, and Padmakumar are analysing the Malayalam movie 'Aattam' directed by Anand Ekarshi and starring an ensemble cast with Vinay Fort, Zarin Shihab and Kalabhavan Shajon leading from the front.
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[00:00:00] Hi, welcome to Onmanorama movie podcast, Start, Action, Cut. Today we are decoding the Malayalam
[00:00:19] movie, Aatam, directed by Anand Hekarshi and starring an ensemble cast with Vinay Fort,
[00:00:27] Zarin Shehab and Kalabhavan Shahjohn leading from the front. Today, Prinsi and Swati are
[00:00:35] here to discuss the film. So as regards the subject, it's about a theater group.
[00:00:42] Almost all the members are from financially moderate background except for one or two like
[00:00:50] Kalabhavan Shahjohn's character, Hari, who is an unestablished actor, though he is not a
[00:00:56] hero in films. So when someone outrages the modesty of a woman, how it's dealt with by men, how
[00:01:07] men view it and deal with it, that's the subject. And Swati, how do you think Anand Hekarshi
[00:01:19] narrated the story, how he dealt with the story, with the making of this film?
[00:01:26] Padmogamma, what I felt while watching the movie was the subject that the movie talks about is
[00:01:32] quite fragile and it could have gone wrong in many ways. But the conviction the director had
[00:01:39] about executing this movie was amazing. It's even brilliant if I could say that because
[00:01:46] there's a very fine line of this subject going this way or the other way. So when
[00:01:51] it talks about when subject is such and when it talks about a woman's issue and a lot of men
[00:01:58] are involved and countless opinions of men are involved, it is very important for the director
[00:02:04] to make us understand what is really going on. So in the movie we see apart from this
[00:02:09] woman's perspective, all the other people, they have countless opinions of what must have
[00:02:14] gone wrong, whether she's lying or not or what are their ulterior motives. All of these
[00:02:20] are at play and even when all of these are going on, the director is able to make us
[00:02:29] understand that none of these men are actually bothered by the fact that something like this
[00:02:36] could have happened. They are bothered by who must have done it, if this is true or not
[00:02:41] or what are their personal benefits because in between all of this there is another
[00:02:46] opportunity that comes up to them and they want to take it. So there's a conflict.
[00:02:51] I think Ananthekar Sri, he tried to show us when something so fragile has happened
[00:02:56] or something so traumatizing has happened, how do men deal with it? It's so startling and for
[00:03:02] a woman to put ourselves in that woman's shoe and for me when I watched it, it was so
[00:03:08] appalling and was so traumatizing because we are dealing with a lot of opinions
[00:03:14] opinions that are not even necessary. They're commenting on it, they're like,
[00:03:18] how did this happen? Where did this happen? Did it really happen? And I think the men sort
[00:03:23] of had a sadistic pleasure also by asking her all these questions towards the end.
[00:03:27] I think Ananthekar Sri really was able to show us the real message of the movie and that
[00:03:32] is the brilliance of the subject also. Yes, it's a group, it's a theater group
[00:03:38] in which there is only one woman and they have been performing the shows for years
[00:03:45] and they have been like a family and they all treat this young lady as their own family member.
[00:03:53] So it's very tough to imagine that such a thing could have happened to her and this
[00:03:59] unfortunate incident happens in a resort when they are out there to celebrate their success.
[00:04:07] So the detailing is in the movie. And Prinsy, when you see that there are so many movies
[00:04:15] where men deal with such subjects, there are chances that they go hayward or they are not
[00:04:21] accurate in dealing with men's emotions or female emotions and how it should be dealt with.
[00:04:29] So how far do you think Ananthekar Sri was able to do justice to the subject?
[00:04:37] Movies and drama troupes like Atam or like previously we had films like KG Dorjas,
[00:04:42] Zee Avinika, they're all excellent settings for good stories and Atam too in this way is no
[00:04:47] exception. So the film starts by showing all these artists coming together to stage a play
[00:04:52] and all of them have different professions and all that. So by showing two professions that
[00:04:58] each person has two professions, the director is also trying to show that these people,
[00:05:04] many people have two sides which is often covered in a mask. And in that way,
[00:05:11] Ekar Sri has done an excellent job in trying to analyze the emotions from both sides,
[00:05:18] from the male and the female side. And he's done the subject because the subject is crucial
[00:05:23] just like Swati said. Despite the progress that we claim to have made, society almost often looks
[00:05:31] at the abused women with skepticism. They kind of try to put blame on the women even if the
[00:05:39] woman is a victim there. So Ananth has done a really good job in portraying the subject
[00:05:45] sensitively. As I said, they're not actually having two professions. They are for sustenance,
[00:05:53] they do a job and theater or this drama or play is their means of satisfying their artistic
[00:06:03] thirst or their artistic attitude. But now I think what I like most in this film is how
[00:06:11] he has done the detailing in this movie. From the very beginning itself, when we are shown
[00:06:18] the characters, they are seen going away, winding up, wrapping up a play and going back home. And
[00:06:28] in the, while the cast, I mean credits are playing, you see their conversation,
[00:06:35] you hear their conversation which are actually very naturalistic and very realistic. So
[00:06:43] I think that part, every detailing, even the sound or their actions,
[00:06:50] that detailing which is close to the real life scene scenario, that's what I mean captured
[00:06:58] my interest the most. So could you say something about that Swati?
[00:07:04] So Patanpumar, what I felt was the film is, it is a dialogue heavy movie and it's almost
[00:07:12] an investigative procedure that's happening. But at the crux or at the center of it is a very
[00:07:17] fragile issue and the way it progresses, it's like a very layered structure slowly unraveling
[00:07:24] because there are so many aspects to this, so many characters and their perspectives are at
[00:07:31] play. So from the beginning we start to understand or realize how these people lie
[00:07:38] because all of their opinions come into play when it comes to taking a decision for the woman.
[00:07:45] And for them, it's like taking a decision on her behalf or what should they do? What should
[00:07:50] they do with this information that they have? So if you look at from a very societal perspective,
[00:07:58] for me, when I was thinking about how this woman would be feeling to come to them,
[00:08:04] even though they are people who she has known for many years, it would be really a traumatizing
[00:08:11] thing to even narrate the whole ordeal that she had to go through. But they
[00:08:15] sort of think that it's very important for her to say what happened. It is sort of becoming
[00:08:20] like a moral policing thing there because they are claiming that they need to find out what's
[00:08:25] really happened or who is the actual culprit. But like I mentioned before, for everybody,
[00:08:33] suppose there are 10 people there, all of them have their own ulterior motives. All of them have
[00:08:37] their own agenda behind revealing the truth or even keeping it a secret because some of them
[00:08:44] suspect people but they do not want to act on it because for obvious reasons they have
[00:08:49] their own personal gains or they need to go to Europe. It supersedes the fact that
[00:08:56] somebody was hurt or somebody was traumatized, somebody they know very closely.
[00:09:02] And I think like I mentioned before, it's like unraveling several layers. It's like an onion,
[00:09:07] the story is like an onion where you slowly peel out different aspects and perspective.
[00:09:12] And at the core, it's a very important message that it doesn't matter who the culprit is but
[00:09:17] this is how the society is going to view a woman's problem. This is how a woman is going
[00:09:22] to be victimized because the second, the fact that she has a relationship with Vinay,
[00:09:27] that fact gets out. All of their perspective changes and they try to become the superior
[00:09:32] people there or their moral, they start doing the quote-unquote moral policing there.
[00:09:38] Most of them, the majority of the group was afraid of their repercussions if she goes out
[00:09:45] to complain. They are all worried about the prestige of the group or their inbending, I mean
[00:09:51] their prospective monetary benefits they are going to gain. So there is no person,
[00:09:57] there is no man out there who is actually worried about the girl's situation. So that's how
[00:10:05] realistically this director has shown. So that was a brilliant take on the subject by
[00:10:12] Anand Akarshi. Now coming to the characterization, most of them are I think maybe theater
[00:10:20] artists or they are not so well known actors or someone like that. There are only a few of them
[00:10:29] like Vinay Fath or Kalabhavan Shahjohn or there is one more, I mean Zarin Shihad or but rest
[00:10:39] of them are all from maybe theater backdrop. So even then each of them were very meticulous
[00:10:46] and the character we see here are people in the real life. We can see them around us
[00:10:54] and their way of behavior, their approach are all conforming to the real life situations.
[00:11:03] Padma Kumar, I think what really worked for us all who were watching this movie is how
[00:11:07] realistic it seemed you know and we were all talking about the situation that felt real,
[00:11:14] scenarios, those seemed real and even the characters all of them do feel just like those
[00:11:23] kind of people who are around you know. You have people from different professions who come
[00:11:27] together to pursue their common passion and Anjali is just one among the all-male drama
[00:11:33] troupe. Why I said the characters all feel real is like so when you look from the point
[00:11:40] of view like the main character Anjali, you have she's representing the many women who are
[00:11:47] out there in the world and they're you know you're trying to make yourself comfortable
[00:11:52] among people. You have a lot of men around you whom you think are like family and you
[00:11:59] trust all of them because they kind of form a bond with each other but then something bad
[00:12:06] happens and then you start doubting. There's a lot of clarity issues like we suddenly start
[00:12:14] we have this guilt, we have doubts, we don't want to really speak about it. You scare the
[00:12:19] ramifications of what happens when you speak out and all these things and then there's also
[00:12:25] this trust issue that happens so that has been caught brilliantly by Egor Shree and also
[00:12:33] the movie uncovers ego. You know the issues that happen because you know for example if
[00:12:38] you look at Vinay Fod's character he's got an issue with Hari played by Kalabavan Sharjan who
[00:12:45] you know who always most often gets the lead part in the play so he's unhappy with
[00:12:52] the director's decision to cast Hari again as a hero of the play and his hurt ego gets
[00:12:57] the better of him. When his girlfriend and theatre artist Anjali reveals she is molested
[00:13:05] he takes hasty decisions and he comes to a conclusion. He kind of starts tackling this
[00:13:11] in his own way and that uncovers the ego that exists in people. In that way every character
[00:13:21] which is part of the play they kind of connect well with you and that has to be because Egor
[00:13:28] Shree has made an attempt to give them a proper character arc. I'd like to agree to what Prinsa
[00:13:35] said where she said all of them they seem very real. It was as if we are peeping into
[00:13:43] their world and seeing what's happening and it didn't feel like they were actually actors or
[00:13:48] theatre artists performing. It was so real that it actually seemed like a real thing happening
[00:13:53] and a real issue is happening and how people would react just normally. I think that is the
[00:13:59] brilliance of the director as well as the actors like Padma Kumar mentioned before. They're not
[00:14:04] like very famous actors apart from Vinay Fod or Kalabavan Sharjan. I have not seen any of
[00:14:10] them before I guess but all of them they all gave excellent performances and when it comes
[00:14:16] to the characters I think Anthea Kashi was able to pull off the double standards, the selfishness
[00:14:22] and the insecurities of all of these characters very effectively. My personal favorite has to be
[00:14:28] Serine Shihab who played Anjali and there's a growth that you can see within the character.
[00:14:35] She seems to be a very confident young woman and from that point when the movie reaches
[00:14:42] its ending she's still that person but she goes through a lot of emotional trauma, turmoil. She
[00:14:49] grows as a person and the last she kind of laughs towards the end and that smile even
[00:14:55] that laughter even talks volumes because you know from everything that she's gone through
[00:15:00] the despair the character went through it was very visible and of course Kalabavan Sharjan
[00:15:06] as the scene artist he was also brilliant. The rest of the cast which include many theater
[00:15:13] artists were pretty real very real with the performance like I mentioned before.
[00:15:17] I particularly liked Vinay Fod you know he he started New Territories as an actor and he
[00:15:22] delivers an exceptional performance as this insecure person exactly like Swati Koin but
[00:15:29] insecure and Uptight you know Boyfriend and Autumn and it feels like Vinay has found a
[00:15:34] comfortable space between commercial and arthouse movies with this with Autumn and
[00:15:41] Serine Shihab I'd spoken to her and you know before prior to the film's release and
[00:15:48] she was extremely confident about her role in this movie and she has brought that confidence
[00:15:53] on screen delivering an ex- delivering exceptional performance. She is able to embody
[00:16:01] Anjali's trail piece and strength with a certain ease that is so refreshing to the eye.
[00:16:06] The rest of the actors including Kalabavan Sharjan they shown on screen the way they
[00:16:12] play their characters. Yes like Swati mentioned earlier about the climax I mean towards the end
[00:16:19] there is a laughter by Serine Shihab's character Anjali in fact that tells a lot about
[00:16:27] how men view a woman's problem especially this kind of a problem like we know that we see that
[00:16:34] Vinay has been supporting Anjali all along and he was the person who we feel that standing
[00:16:43] he is standing by her we feel that he is going to help her and find a solution in fact not
[00:16:50] solution to be with her till the end but the moment he utters things which convince
[00:16:58] us audience as well as Anjali that he too belonged to the same ilk so that moment she
[00:17:06] lost and that is the theme I mean the central core element of the film and in my opinion
[00:17:15] the director should have made that as the climax that she walks away into the darkness
[00:17:23] and he is standing there hapless wondering what was meant by her laughter or her gesture so that
[00:17:30] could have been a wonderful ending because the audience could have a lot of things to I mean
[00:17:38] ponder but in fact maybe that's a director's choice and when I discussed this with some others
[00:17:44] they found that the way the film ended that was the right thing to do so that's one thing and
[00:17:50] another thing that I found was at certain places their characters were having some I mean
[00:17:57] for long for a long time they were having the conversation in the naturalistic way at
[00:18:02] some point their dialogues became bookish so these were a couple of things that I found
[00:18:09] something I mean didn't match up to the to the quality the film was having so far so what do
[00:18:16] you say Prinsi? Padma Kumar I would like to you know I think Egar she has actually brought the
[00:18:23] right conclusion towards the end you know he actually does not arrive at any conclusion
[00:18:28] it's quite open-ended you know you understand the emotions are out there and you understand the
[00:18:34] what exactly that woman that young woman has gone through and she is actually faced it's out
[00:18:39] there and you can form your own kind of conclusion but I liked how Egar she actually
[00:18:44] pinpoints in the right direction this is how you can think and that was brilliantly done
[00:18:51] one of the arguments that I heard about the movie while I was reading many reviews about
[00:18:56] the movie was the fact that some people had the opinion that this is a male bashing movie
[00:19:02] but I don't know where I don't even want to you know go into that perspective because
[00:19:07] you know I think the clear message about of this movie was how a woman stands up
[00:19:13] to these many men and she speaks her truth they have countless opinions about her but
[00:19:18] she shows the courage and a society like ours no matter how progressive that we claim that we
[00:19:24] are a woman shows the courage to stand up to men and tell her tell them what happened to her
[00:19:30] and that is the end goal of the movie and that is the that is what the director also puts forward
[00:19:34] but to say that this movie you know was male bashing I don't know how that argument even
[00:19:39] came up and I think the only explanation would be those who claim such stuff they did not get
[00:19:45] the crux of the movie or the message of the movie yeah I agree with Princy when she says
[00:19:51] the film is open-ended so that's how this film should have been I think there is no need to
[00:19:56] pinpoint a person actually even the character Anjali she even says that she doesn't want to
[00:20:02] remember as if it had ever happened to her so in fact in my opinion I don't know how
[00:20:09] Swathi heard about the male bashing thing but anyway this is how the real society the real
[00:20:17] world exists in fact in my opinion all the men out there are culprits in this issue so
[00:20:25] every other aspect of this movie is brilliant like the music by Basil CJ cinematography by
[00:20:30] Anurudha Anish and even the sound department was exceptional in this movie so that brings us to
[00:20:37] the end of this episode thanks for listening to start action cut produced and hosted by me
[00:20:42] Patmogumar and with technical production by idea brew studios follow www.onmanorama.com for
[00:20:49] more podcasts or movies and be sure to come back for the next episode of start action cut
[00:20:54] that will be out on next monday thank you