Ayyappanum Koshiyum - the next cult classic in Malayalam cinema
Usually I am not a fan of mindlessly violent films. They leave me disturbed and wasted.
But then there are some films that are a class apart for their message and the way they are made without glorifying violence.
In 1989 came one of the all time cult classics of Malayalam cinema - a movie named Kireedam (meaning Crown) starring Malayalam cinema's pride possession Mohanlal who celebrated his 60th birthday just a few days ago. Kireedam was then remade in Hindi by Priyadarshan as Gardish starring Jackie Shroff and the late Amrish Puri in a son-father role with Mukesh Rishi as the villain.
That movie was all about a duel between the straight, good and righteous Sethumadhavan and the villainous Kireekadan Jose. It was a straight-forward film with characters who were black and white in what appeared to a relatively black and white world.
31 years later comes this movie Ayyappanum Koshyium (Ayyappan and Koshy) which is so much more layered and nuanced.
While I can sit and write a treatise on this movie and every aspect of it, I will just share the following here.
Besides it being a film on class differences between the rich and poor; the city bred spoilt brats drunk on the power of connections and those surviving even without the bare essentials; the influential and the ones without it; the characterisation in the story of this film written and directed by Sachy triggers three important quotes/ proverbs for me.
One of them is title of the English movie The Good, The Bad and The Ugly.
Find out who is which in this movie.
Is Koshy the Bad or the Good or does he have elements of the Ugly as well as or is the Ugly someone else who has made him a messed up character with elements of all the three.
Is Ayyappan Nair the Good or is there a sleeping Bad in him just like all of us?
The other two things that came up in my mind as I watched portions of this movie on YouTube over the last one month and then finally the whole movie day before yesterday are the following:
One, it is said by Friedrich Neitzsche that, "Whoever fights the monsters must see to it that he does not become one in the process."
We can see ample evidence for this in the two primary characters of this movie - Ayyappan and Koshy.
Watch the movie to discover the legend of the Mundoor Madan (the Vampire of Mundoor) and his redirection to the righteous path, derailment and final redemption.
Second, there is a story from the Red Indians of the USA.
It goes that one day a Red Indian grandfather took his young grandson to the forest for hunting. There he told the young child, 'Son, there are two wolves inside each of us. The white one that is virtuous, righteous, kind, wise and the good one. The black one which is full of hatred, anger, foolishness, venom, jealousy and all the other bad qualities and they both are fighting with each other all the time for domination.'
The young child thought for a moment and asked a simple question: "So which one wins eventually?"
The wise grandfather's answer was simple and profound: "The one you feed."
You will remember this metaphorical message as you watch this film. Watch it to discover which wolf woke up in who and which wolf finally won in who.
In a parallel throw back that die hard Kireedam fans would remember, there is a final fight to the finish between the two central characters in an open market.
As I watched the final all out fight between Ayyappan Nair and Koshy Kurian in the open market, I kept remembering the quote by Rumi: "Out beyond the ideas of right doing and wrong doing there is an open field. I will meet you there."
And I kept wishing that these characters of Koshy and Ayyappan meet in such an open field instead.
But do they meet in such an open field out beyond the ideas of right doing and wrong doing?
Watch the final scene of the movie to find out if they did.
As with many of Sibi Malayil's movies, Kireedam and its sequel Chenkol end in tragedies.
Watch Ayyappanum Koshiyum to see if it is also a heart-breaking tragedy.
It's an amazing film and for the reasons cited above as well as all the other amazing aspects of it making from story, scripting, characterisation, casting, screenplay, direction, acting, cinematography, music, action, editing, sound effects and more, I give it a full 5* rating.
This movie will become part of the all time cult classics in Malayalam cinema and I hope there is a director with good depth and grasp to remake it in Hindi and other languages.
I am not sharing the regular trailer of the movie here but this song Kalakkatha which has since gone viral and has not left my lips for the last many days even as I don't understand the language in which it is sung.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhPatETdVwo
In it you will also see a parallel trailer of the movie and the breathtaking location in Kerala where it was shot - Palakkad.
I have shared the photo of Nanjiyamma who sang the Kalakkatha song with the two characters from the film. She is as much the spirit of the film as these two characters.
How could I ignore her and insert a photo of just the two stars of Malayalam cinema?
The movie had such a powerful impact on me that I got inspired to break my lazy exile from my film blog and write this piece here.
Enjoy the movie now on Amazon Prime - ak Ayyappanum Koshiyum.
But then there are some films that are a class apart for their message and the way they are made without glorifying violence.
In 1989 came one of the all time cult classics of Malayalam cinema - a movie named Kireedam (meaning Crown) starring Malayalam cinema's pride possession Mohanlal who celebrated his 60th birthday just a few days ago. Kireedam was then remade in Hindi by Priyadarshan as Gardish starring Jackie Shroff and the late Amrish Puri in a son-father role with Mukesh Rishi as the villain.
That movie was all about a duel between the straight, good and righteous Sethumadhavan and the villainous Kireekadan Jose. It was a straight-forward film with characters who were black and white in what appeared to a relatively black and white world.
31 years later comes this movie Ayyappanum Koshyium (Ayyappan and Koshy) which is so much more layered and nuanced.
While I can sit and write a treatise on this movie and every aspect of it, I will just share the following here.
Besides it being a film on class differences between the rich and poor; the city bred spoilt brats drunk on the power of connections and those surviving even without the bare essentials; the influential and the ones without it; the characterisation in the story of this film written and directed by Sachy triggers three important quotes/ proverbs for me.
One of them is title of the English movie The Good, The Bad and The Ugly.
Find out who is which in this movie.
Is Koshy the Bad or the Good or does he have elements of the Ugly as well as or is the Ugly someone else who has made him a messed up character with elements of all the three.
Is Ayyappan Nair the Good or is there a sleeping Bad in him just like all of us?
The other two things that came up in my mind as I watched portions of this movie on YouTube over the last one month and then finally the whole movie day before yesterday are the following:
One, it is said by Friedrich Neitzsche that, "Whoever fights the monsters must see to it that he does not become one in the process."
We can see ample evidence for this in the two primary characters of this movie - Ayyappan and Koshy.
Watch the movie to discover the legend of the Mundoor Madan (the Vampire of Mundoor) and his redirection to the righteous path, derailment and final redemption.
Second, there is a story from the Red Indians of the USA.
It goes that one day a Red Indian grandfather took his young grandson to the forest for hunting. There he told the young child, 'Son, there are two wolves inside each of us. The white one that is virtuous, righteous, kind, wise and the good one. The black one which is full of hatred, anger, foolishness, venom, jealousy and all the other bad qualities and they both are fighting with each other all the time for domination.'
The young child thought for a moment and asked a simple question: "So which one wins eventually?"
The wise grandfather's answer was simple and profound: "The one you feed."
You will remember this metaphorical message as you watch this film. Watch it to discover which wolf woke up in who and which wolf finally won in who.
In a parallel throw back that die hard Kireedam fans would remember, there is a final fight to the finish between the two central characters in an open market.
As I watched the final all out fight between Ayyappan Nair and Koshy Kurian in the open market, I kept remembering the quote by Rumi: "Out beyond the ideas of right doing and wrong doing there is an open field. I will meet you there."
And I kept wishing that these characters of Koshy and Ayyappan meet in such an open field instead.
But do they meet in such an open field out beyond the ideas of right doing and wrong doing?
Watch the final scene of the movie to find out if they did.
As with many of Sibi Malayil's movies, Kireedam and its sequel Chenkol end in tragedies.
Watch Ayyappanum Koshiyum to see if it is also a heart-breaking tragedy.
It's an amazing film and for the reasons cited above as well as all the other amazing aspects of it making from story, scripting, characterisation, casting, screenplay, direction, acting, cinematography, music, action, editing, sound effects and more, I give it a full 5* rating.
This movie will become part of the all time cult classics in Malayalam cinema and I hope there is a director with good depth and grasp to remake it in Hindi and other languages.
I am not sharing the regular trailer of the movie here but this song Kalakkatha which has since gone viral and has not left my lips for the last many days even as I don't understand the language in which it is sung.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhPatETdVwo
In it you will also see a parallel trailer of the movie and the breathtaking location in Kerala where it was shot - Palakkad.
I have shared the photo of Nanjiyamma who sang the Kalakkatha song with the two characters from the film. She is as much the spirit of the film as these two characters.
How could I ignore her and insert a photo of just the two stars of Malayalam cinema?
The movie had such a powerful impact on me that I got inspired to break my lazy exile from my film blog and write this piece here.
Enjoy the movie now on Amazon Prime - ak Ayyappanum Koshiyum.
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