Aattam

 

Again going with Sreeram's Review.  When Sreeram Sundaram has written a movie summary - am sure cannot write any better. 

Anand Ekarshi directs - "Aattam" - that recently concluded its theatrical run after earning accolades and awards at multiple film festivals. 

"Aattam" is about the 13 actors in a drama troupe called Arangu. The troupe completes a show to thunderous applause and inspired by their performance, a foreign couple invite the entire team to stay the night at a resort owned by them in the outskirts of Kochi. Loads of fun, eating, drinking and making merry follows and couple of days later, the sole female actor in the troupe - Anjali (Zarin Shihab, confidence personified) informs her co-actor and boyfriend Vinay (Vinay Forrt, Excellent as usual) that she was molested at the night in the resort by Hari (Kalabhavan Shajohn), the star of the troupe and the only movie actor in the troupe. 

Barring Anjali and Hari, the remaining 11 actors meet at Madan's residence to discuss the matter. As soon as the matter is introduced to the 11 actors, each of them start looking at it and interpreting it differently thereby revealing their prejudices, biases, patriarchal mindsets, opportunism and the like making the audience wonder as to how this group could perform together on the stage. Through their interactions, the audience realizes that the "aattam" that they put up on stage is nothing compared to the drama artists that they are in their real lives. 

After a lot of deliberations, hesitantly though, they come to a conclusion but a twist in the tale makes all of them rethink the decision that they took few moments back. Anjali is called into the meeting so that they can communicate their final decision to her but with additional twists thrown in by some actors in the group, the discussions go haywire and Anjali realizes that anyone of them could have been the culprit, had they landed an opportunity to grab her. 

This is one of the strongest statements in Malayalam cinema that talks about this issue from a woman's point of view and shows us how patriarchy is so deeply rooted in our mindsets that a woman who behaves normally with men, dresses up the way she likes and joins drinking session with the men is almost always looked down as easy prey and of loose character. For most of its running time, Anjali is not physically present on screen but her presence is felt throughout since she is being extensively discussed in the group. How some men try to hit back at others to feed their ego by compromising on the need of the hour is also expressed clearly through the verbal exchanges. 

This is a movie that leaves you questioning yourself as to what you could have done differently had you been one of those 11 men and therein lies its victory. The only hitch is the extensive talking in the movie that sometimes borders on excessive - not much focus is given to facial expressions or conveying emotions through silences. The writer - director's theater background could have been a reason for this but this is just a minor issue with an otherwise perfect script. 

All 13 actors perform well and Vinay Forrt and Kalabhavan Shajohn being known faces, score slightly better. The star of the enterprise though is Zarin Shihab who conveys multiple emotions - happiness, pain, love, shock, helplessness - with panache. 

Cinematography is non-intrusive and editing is sharp. All other technical departments are aligned with the vision of the filmmaker