Express News Service
After coming out of the screening of Vichithram, I started thinking about the last Malayalam film with horror elements that made a striking impact on me. I counted two—Bhoothakalam and Rorschach. Another thing that hit me while reflecting on these films is what they have in common, the most notable being a well-written mother character and her conflict-stricken relationship with her children. There is a mother in Vichithram, too—with five sons, all of varying qualities and temperaments, to deal with. Interestingly, the last two are twins. There could be a Mahabharata reference here.
While on twins, the imagery becomes a recurring thing throughout the film—in different ways, a factor that lends richness to the visual aesthetic of Vichithram, which makes sense considering the presence of a sapphic love story at its core. The film opens with a man putting a stray rabbit back in the cage with its mate. The analogy becomes increasingly evident later, after a particularly unpleasant incident. The ‘twins’ are also two little birds in a nest sheltered in a relatively much safer space, unlike the rabbits’ cage.
But not everything that’s trapped subscribes to the dual symbology. There is a butterfly trapped inside a glass case, and it gets its freedom at a crucial juncture in the film. Again, this is another beautiful demonstration of visual parallels.
I went into Vichithram without knowing anything about it beforehand. I didn’t even watch the trailer—a choice that’s not always possible when you are a film journalist. So I wasn’t prepared for what was about to unravel before my eyes. For a while there, I thought it was a family drama because it begins like one.
And it takes enough time to establish, with much clarity, the trials and tribulations of Jasmine (Jolly Chirayath) and her family—which comprises her and her five adult sons—who are going through a rough patch. I liked how the screenplay also clearly tracked her connection with an ageing, reclusive patriarch Alexander (Lal), holed up in a large mansion that bears all the characteristics of a haunted house. Long story short, the mother and children become forced into a situation where they have to move to this place after the unexplained demise of Alexander.
The film is not in a rush—another quality that impressed me. Just like it did with the family’s previous home, the film takes its time to introduce us to every nook and cranny of the second one. There is also space for some humour, courtesy of Balu Varghese playing an “Instagram celebrity” who creates cringe-inducing content. The character is incredibly annoying, but deliberately so. Whenever Balu appeared terrified, I remembered Innocent from Manichithrathazhu. The funniest scene—where the brothers end up sleeping in the same room—precedes one of the film’s darkest sequences.
If you ask me if the horror elements outweigh the family moments, I would say it achieves a nice balance between the two. But, if you, like me, come away feeling like you have just witnessed a story about people who understood the true meaning of ‘home’ after they broke out of the one they were born in, then I would say you should run with it. Like the fantastic Bhoothakalam, the film steers clear of most of the usual ghost movie cliches. Moreover, Vichithram shares with that film the belief in achieving a lot with very little—for instance, employing shadows to induce scares. Although some splendidly staged scenes gave me the chills, I eventually realised that the ‘ghosts’ in Vichithram are not ones to be scared of but with whom we are supposed to empathise.
I mentioned earlier the analogous imagery of trapped rabbits and butterflies. Like the exotic butterfly set free in the poignant story of two lovers (Kani Kusruti and Ketaki Narayan), the unique narrative treatment of Vichithram liberates it from any preconceived notions that usually accompany most Indian horror stories. And as in Rorschach, the film ends with an ambiguous image open to different interpretations.
Film: Vichitram
Director: Achu Vijayan
Cast: Shine Tom Chacko, Balu Varghese, Jolly Chirayath, Kani Kusruti
Rating: 4/5
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