In any mystery movie, there is an unspoken agreement between the viewer and the writer.
Kishkindha Kaandam is, perhaps above all else, the story of a father and son weighted down by secrets. For those who missed it in theatres, the film is due out on Disney+ Hotstar on November 1.
The writer will try to keep the viewer from guessing the who and how of the whodunit. Meanwhile, the viewer will try to crack the case ahead of the characters in the movie.
Despite this central contest, the screenwriter’s real victory lies not in outwitting the viewer, but in drawing them so deeply into this fictional world that they become immersed in the labyrinth of the plot, and will willingly ignore even those details that don’t necessarily add up.
Cinematographer Bahul Ramesh does this with admirable flair in his debut screenplay, for the Malayalam film Kishkindha Kaandam (2024).
Directed by Dinjith Ayyathan, the quiet thriller unfolds in a bungalow that sits in the buffer zone of a forest. It begins with a seemingly trivial formality: Elections have been announced in this remote part of Kerala. Consequently, all those who possess firearms are required to surrender them to the local police.
Retired Army officer Appu Pillai (Vijayaraghavan) has lost his licensed pistol, much to the embarrassment of his son Ajay (Asif Ali). To their mortification, the police arrive to search for the weapon just as Ajay is bringing his new bride into the family home.
The police turn the house upside-down but find nothing, which doesn’t seem to bother anyone at first. But the question of what happened to Pillai’s pistol becomes a vice that tightens around the audience with every passing minute of Kishkindha Kaandam.
Secrets trickle out to reveal a trail of clues. This leads the new wife, Aparna (Aparna Balamurali), to raise questions that have haunted Appu and Ajay for years, weighing the father-son relationship down with repressed guilt and grief.
Towards the end, a flashback holds key revelations. It includes a loophole that would unravel the tapestry of Kishkindha Kaandam if we pulled at it. It is not the only detail that sits askew in this film. But so compelling is Ayyathan and Ramesh’s storytelling that we would rather follow the twists they have laid out, than take the obvious exits.
The credit for this goes to Ayyathan’s masterful direction, the subtleties of Ramesh’s script, his elegant cinematography, and the performances of a stellar cast.
Vijayaraghavan as Appu Pillai is a force unto himself: Restrained enough to feel realistic, prickly with angularities, and rich with subtleties that let the audience know there’s more to him than meets the eye. The relationship between him and Ajay becomes a fascinating portrait of the prisons in which men confine themselves so they won’t lose face in a conservative society.
Aparna is often a stand-in for the audience, investigating questions that we want answered. She is also a disruptive force in the fragile status quo that Appu and Ajay have built out of denial and silences. She barges past the obstacles before her, but also gets pushed around and sidelined. The film does a wonderful job of depicting how a rigidly patriarchal society views a woman who is intelligent and defiant.
“The truth that is of no use to anyone may as well burn to ashes,” says a character trapped in a Sisyphean cycle of burying and uncovering the truth. It is a heartbreaking moment in the film and one that nudges the viewer to think about their own relationships with honesty, silence and repression. What would we rather turn a blind eye to? How do we protect ourselves from the horrors that threaten our peace of mind?
Does the truth really set us free?
Kishkindha Kaandam is an expertly executed work of noir fiction, and has far exceeded expectations at the box office. Released in theatres last month, it is now one of Malayalam cinema’s biggest hits of 2024.
It has none of the gloss and glamour that is supposed to woo theatre audiences, and yet they came in droves, lured by that eternal bait: the promise of a story that will outwit its viewer.
For those who missed it in theatres (and even those who didn’t; the film certainly lives up to multiple viewings), Kishkindha Kaandam is due out on Disney+ Hotstar on November 1.
(To reach Deepanjana Pal with feedback, write to @dpanjana on Instagram)
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