Film- Bayamariya Brammai
Director- Rahul Kabali
Cast- JD, Guru Somasundaran, Sai Priyanka Ruth, Harish Uthaman, Vishwanth, John Vijay, Vinod Sagar, Jack Robinson, Harish, Divya Ganesh.
The story opens as a conversation between two men. One is Kabilan a writer of novels, the other Jagadish a brutal killer, incarcerated for the several murders he had committed. As the conversation progresses different layers in their respective characters are exposed. Jagadish who considered his murders as an art, expresses his apprehension on how he would be portrayed by Kabilan. Whether, it would be from the writer’s perception of him, or from the perspective of Jagadish himself. Kabilan responds that the readers would interpret it each their own way. This paves way for an unusual narrative structure, where multiple actors get to play the same character.
Directed by debutant Rahul Kabali, the film is experimental and unconventional in its narrative style. The screenplay is divided into various chapters, as the plot unfolds into Jagadish’s past and to the various murders he had committed. It works on the premise, that, as a reader gets involved in the novel, each would put themselves in the character’s shoes, and interpret it according to their own sensibilities. So we have Jagadish being played by varied actors. An interesting one being the epicene Jagadish played by Sai Priyanka, the scene well structured.
While this narrative tool may be an intriguing, unusual one, its likely to disorient a common viewer who may find the whole exercise distracting and at times incomprehensible. Also, getting different interpretations of the same character, one neither understands it nor relates to it.
An early moment where the body of the victim brutally killed is stacked in a corner, and a young Jagadish is shown drawing motifs with the victim’s blood, is a chilling one .Some past moments are revisited as it gets retold from different perspectives. Like the sequence where Jagadish driving with his friend and stopped by a cop who hurls expletives at them, unleashes his fury on the cop. This moment would have a milder version on a revisit.
‘Bayamariya Brammai’ (88 mniutes) is not an audience-friendly film. Experimental in its take, the film is for viewers who can find themselves on the same page as the director.
Malini Mannath
Malini Mannath 