English

Lijo Jose Pellisserry’s Jallikattu made regional, national, and international headlines upon its theatrical release in 2019. It was praised for having demonstrated human bestiality in the backdrop of the chaos prompted by an escaped buffalo in the (savagely) wild setting of rustic Kerala. Such commendations –rather luckily for Malayalam cinema– came not just from regional and national confines, but from the broad vistas of world cinema, particularly that of the West (read white). The distinguished Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) had selected Jallikattu as one of its entries to Contemporary World Cinema, calling Pellissery a “… bold new voice in Malayalam cinema…” and the film, the “…portrait of a remote village… [in] a frenzy of ecstatic violence.” Although TIFF’s
appreciation (apparently) stems from Jallikattu’s effective illustration of man’s bestiality, it is possible that the depiction of “ecstatic violence” in/of the East thrilled them more. Jallikattu is peopled with a set of characters who have unleashed their bestiality in the pandemonium caused by an
escaped buffalo. But, problematically enough, the actions preceding the buffalo’s escape do not show the humaneness – repressed or otherwise – of these individuals to notice a difference: their actions are always barbaric. So, what Jallikattu offers the (Western) world is a panoramic view– generated using state-of-the-art cinematic device of the dark and exotic socio-cultural spaces of the Orient, similar to Conrad’s portrayal of Africa. The fact that Jallikattu was India’s official entry to the
93rd Academy Awards reveals the Orient’s yearning for validation from/by the West (even at the cost of its modernity). The paper reflects on these subaltern concerns while juxtaposing Charles Marlow of Heart of Darkness with TIFF as they seem to share the same kind of awe while perceiving the
Other.

Lijo Jose Pellissery, noted for his work in Malayalam cinema, is often credited as one of the new (read dissenting) voices in filmmaking who couples an engaging (and obscure) plot structure with advanced filmmaking devices. His 2021 directorial Churuli-a bold venture next to Jallikkattu-stays true to his oeuvre by setting itself in an intricate narrative with shades of science, fantasy, and mythology-ultimately showcasing the inherent bestiality of human nature: his recurrent theme. The paper surveys Pellissery's Churuli, the eponymous village in the film, concurrently with Jorge Luis Borges' notion of the labyrinth and Mikhail Bakhtin's concept of the carnivalesque. A labyrinth-which symbolizes a sense of inescapability-when coupled with the carnivalesque, interestingly, becomes liberating. Churuli is beyond the temporalities of the world around/outside it. Its inhabitants, mostly felons and convicts on the run, lead a bohemian lifestyle in the absence of any formal law. What they have is a temporary (although timeless) abode wherein they are allowed to explore their chaotic side by showering abuses on each other and engaging in physical violence, thus questioning all conventional forms of decorum.

Mukundan Unni Associates (2022)-A Metamodern (?) Replica of The Tragedy of Macbeth highonfilms.com/mukundan-unni-associates-2022-essay/ Mukundan Unni Associates (2022): A discussion of Shakespeare adaptations isn't exactly a "thing" right now, thanks to his oeuvre covering most (if not all) plot points and the fact that few films aren't Shakespearean in some way. We have reached a point where a film's (or any text's) similitude to one of his plays falls flat. Now it is easy to overlook-for lack of a better word-the late British playwright's (whose authorship is still contested by conspiracy theorists and obstinate Marloweans) influence on popular culture, of which cinema is an indispensable part.

A vector virus with the potential to modify the human cell's genome rendering the human body infertile might sound like a frightening possibility and yet interestingly plausible. Dan Brown, the master code maker, creates a series of codes, deciphering which the readers are introduced to a ticking genetic bomb, human population.