New Indian Cinema: Bramayugam, LSD 2, and Maharaja
Catching up with some new titles of note...
This week was a bit slow, and while I tried to otherwise keep busy, I also mostly played catch-up with this year’s movies. Most of what I liked was from India, though Viggo Mortensen’s wistful rom-dram western The Dead Don’t Hurt also stood out. I did not, however, care for Twisters. Because it is bad.
Anyway, let’s get into the good stuff.
Bramayugam: Malayalam-language Indian cinema has been having a moment for a couple of years now, as fans of both Jallikattu (2019, on Prime Video) and director Lijo Jose Pellissery (Angamaly Diaries, on Netflix) can tell you. At least four of this year’s best Indian exports have been from Mollywood, the Malayalam-language speaking Indian film industry, including Pellissery’s mythopoetic romantic-adventure Malaikottai Vaaliban (on Hulu) and the oneiric cave rescue drama Manjummel Boys (also Hulu). The other two movies that I have in mind star the Malayalam-speaking idol Mammootty, whose recent performances have been most noteworthy whenever he’s working within the Mollywood production system.
In early January, the Mammootty-led courtroom/divorce drama Kaathal—The Core was quietly released on Prime Video. It caused some controversy when it was released theatrically in India last November…I don’t think that it screened in America at all. In any case, Mammootty plays a closeted politician in Kaathal, which is soulful and engrossing whenever it’s not just beautiful to look at. Mammootty produced Kaathal, just like he produced Pellissery’s outstanding Nanpakal Nerathu Mayakkam, one of my favorite movies of last year. That’s enough to make me wonder if, despite its generic premise, I should also check out Mammootty’s Kannur Squad, a cop drama that I see is already on Hulu, too…
My point being, I’m not surprised that Mammootty has scored again with Bramayugam, an eerie and often gorgeous black-and-white haunted house thriller. In Bramayugam, Mammootty plays a shifty-looking Brahmin who plays host to Thevan (Arjun Ashokan), an escaped slave—the movie’s set in Southwest India during the 17th century—in a cavernous, musty mansion. Being of a lower caste, Thevan is subject to the whims of Mammootty's Kodumon Potti, a gruff host who may or may not be a goblin. Potti’s cook (Sidharth Bharathan) fills out the cast of this old dark house-style chiller, first scolding and then eventually consoling Thevan’s character once it becomes clear that they live and die at their master’s pleasure.
Bramayugam’s currently streaming on SonyLIV and while I wouldn’t normally suggest that you go out of your way to subscribe to a streamer for one title, this movie’s exceptional. Mammootty delivers another commanding performance, and his refusal to play it safe with stock gestures and tics is pretty charming. I was also captivated by the filmmakers’ extensive use of master shots and long takes. (some other movies that came to mind while watching: Blood Bath, Kwaidan, and Onibaba) I had previously started watching director Rahul Sadasivan’s Bhoothakaalam (2022) , but my rental expired before I could resume watching. Now I know that I have to go back! Grade: A-.
Maharaja: Speaking of familiar faces—is Vijay Sethupathi the hardest working man in the Tamil Nadu film industry?? He was terrific in Merry Christmas from earlier this year (on Netflix), even if I didn’t get the sense that his performance in that manic whodunit was anything new for him. He’s still pretty good in Maharaja, a crazed revenge thriller that drags a bit (ok, more than a bit) until the filmmakers’ whip up a contrived, but still pleasingly bonkers third act twist.
In Maharaja (also on Netflix), Sethupathi plays the title character, a barber whose wife (Divya Bharathi) gets run over by a random truck that careens wildly into their family home. In the ensuing chaos (not pictured), an iron dustbin falls on top of Maharaja’s young daughter Jothi (Sachana Namidass), thus saving her from a similar fate. She’s obviously taken hostage later anyway when Sethupathi’s character is robbed by a group of crooks who are protected by some corrupt cops, led by the scheming Inspector Varadharajan (Natarajan Subramaniam). Varadharajan’s the type of bad cop that says things like “people must fear the police” before he’s outed as the most rotten apple in the bunch. So there’s a feeling of going through the motions in this doughy procedural, though it does regularly pick up thanks partly to Sethupathi.
In both Maharaja and Merry Christmas, Sethupathi seems like the kind of frumpy character whose main appeal is that at some point, you know he’s going to defy our loaded expectations. He often seems reluctant to speak his mind and when he does , there’s usually some throat-clearing involved or some other self-deprecating expression of inner turmoil. I like Sethupathi in both Maharaja and Merry Christmas; he exudes character actor energy even in leading man roles. It’s partidcularly easy to root for Sethupathi in Maharaja given how quickly his character is revealed to have Hulk-like strength that only comes out when he feels his daughter has been disrespected. And while there’s not a lot of action/fight scenes in Maharaja, there are some standout scenes, including a Sethupathi-less bar fight.
That said, beyond the twist ending, which will either exasperate or delight you, I don’t know that there’s anything in Maharaja that’s as thrilling as the bit where Sethupathi beheads a heavy with a machete, and then bellows, “I’ll chop his head off, just like I chopped yours!” There are a surprising number of beheadings in contemporary Indian cinema, but as usual, you don’t actually see the disembodied head fly off, since it’s censored modestly with some questionable mosaic processing. Maharaja’s still fun for the most part, if a bit drawn out. Grade: B.
LSD 2: Love, Sex Aur Dhokha 2: The one Bollywood entry in today’s newsletter is also by a filmmaker that I’ve been recently following with some interest. Director Dibakar Banerjee first became a name that I noticed after I caught up with the fantastic horror anthology Ghost Stories, all of whose segments are compelling, even if Banerjee’s is easily the best in show (Ghost Stories is on Netflix). I then backtracked to catch up with Banerjee’s Detective Byomkesh Bakshy! (2015, on Prime Video), a mostly solid penny dreadful-type detective mystery pastiche set in 1943 Calcutta. I also liked Sandeep Aur Pinky Faraar, Banerjee’s unpredictable, genre-hopping 2021 romantic-drama (available on Prime Video).
I’ve always associated Banerjee with portmanteau features since he also has shorts in two earlier Netflix-produced Bollywood anthology movies, Bombay Talkies (2013) and Lust Stories (2018). Banerjee also helmed two feature-length collections of vignettes on his own, the techno-themed LSD (2010) and its recent sequel, both of which are also produced and distributed by Netflix. I was initially put off by the LSD movies’ shared concerns with social media, omnipresent surveillance, and the Way We Live Now. Then I remembered that I hadn’t yet disliked anything I’ve seen by Banerjee. So I figured I’d give the queer-themed LSD 2 a shot, despite not having seen its narratively unrelated predecessor. LSD 2’s definitely worth a look, even if the first of its three segments is handily the best.
Most of LSD 2’s drama unfolds through found media, either screenlife-style live-streams or video chat exchanges, or sometimes televised broadcasts. In the first segment, “Love,” we follow Noor (Paritosh Tiwari), a trans singer competing on the reality competition show “Truth or Dance.” Being trans puts a target on Noor’s back and extra pressure on her to perform. She excels anyway, even with the added stunt of bringing her mother (Swaroopa Ghosh) onto the show with her. Unfortunately, Noor’s success predictably upsets the show’s organizers, because their sponsors see her as a threat. The kicker to this segment is actually pretty funny, though by then I was already won over by the ensemble cast’s performances and the filmmakers’ genuine-enough understanding of this type of reality show’s canned histrionics. “Love” isn’t the deepest media satire, but it is satisfying anyway.
LSD 2’s other two segments are sadly closer to what I feared this type of movie would be (conceptually interesting, but otherwise technophobic and dumb). The middle segment, “Sex,” about Kullu (Bonita Rajpurohit), a sexual assault victim whose job and reputation are threatened once word (and out of context information) gets out about her attack. Kullu’s also trans, by the way, so the threats and obstacles that she faces are cynical, contrived, and more than a little bald. But as with the first segment, the second vignette’s ironic, tossed off punchline is solid enough, especially given this short’s focus on the insidious nature of optics-minded, public-facing organizations who will inevitably only show you loyalty for as long as it’s convenient for them to do so.
Segment three, “Dhokha,” has the soggiest conclusion, which is mostly disappointing since that vignette has the most promise. Shubham (Abhinav Singh), an insufferable but popular YouTube gamer, gets big (as in millions and millions of subscribers) a little too fast after a mysterious follower embarrasses Shubham by leaking sexually explicit video footage of the young internet star. “That’s not me,” Shubham insists, but that line instantly becomes part of the ensuing memes. Eventually, Shubham suffers an emotional breakdown, followed by a dramatic revelation that’s not handled with either the grace or sensitivity that it merits.
“Dhokha”’s big finale presents the Metaverse (yeah) and its users as passive dupes. Which is…I mean, I suppose somebody will like that. I was more taken with Banerjee’s typical problem-solving ingenuity and knack for lyrical grace notes. There’s a scene in “Dhokha” where Shubham’s called into his high school principal’s office, and it’s presented largely from the principal’s point-of-view, even though she only appears as a reflection on her desktop’s powered-down black screen. I guess I should check out that first LSD now, huh? Grade: C+.
Oh, and just because this post was written on a Sunday, I thought I should include Amy usual list of my favorite music from this past week, with an accompanying playlist:
Armor, AFRAID OF WHAT’S TO COME EP
Dirty Three, LOVE CHANGES EVERYTHING
Benny Bleu, BANJO MEDITATIONS
Denzel Curry, KING OF THE MISCHIEVOUS SOUTH VOL. 2
42 Dugg, 4EVA US NEVA THEM
Indus, NEGRA
Eiko Ishibashi, EVIL DOES NOT EXIST
Kokoko!, BUTU
Ponomarev Obrazeena Massacre, SONIC OBLIVION
Porta D’Oro, COSÌ DENTRO COME FUORI
STEFA*, BORN WITH AN EXTRA RIB
Yetsuby, B_B EP