BRAHMAYUGAM

 

The film that gave Mammooty his best actor award .

I am reposting my post last year after this film was released

Brahmayugam ...review 

First of all Iam giving NO SPOILERS for I want every one of you to see this film in its nitty gritty and go through what each one of us in theater did today 

In that sense this is an unconventional review 

Malayalam movies are known for thier horror genre ,from Bhargavi nilayam ,Ezra ,Rahul Sivadasans Boothakaalam ,Vayanaadan thambaan ,lisa etc many were impressive unlike  comedies labelled as horrors in some other languages .

One reason could be the stories kerala spurned in its mediaveal and even later periods of old haunted houses palaces black magic satan worship which even to this day persists in temples in Trissur dt .

Of course Manichitrathaazu would get the price for a horror film taken so slickly with great actors like Shobana ,Mohanlal and Suresh Gopi it almosts cheats one to think its a happy colurful family drama which ultimately it ends to but not withput taking all for a ride into the supernatural .

Now lets talk of Bramayugams megastar Mamooty 

Mamooty is I feel taking the ideal path a succesful senior superstar can and should take , but most  wont take ,as they are stuck to thier imprisoned grooves and fear to venture out .

Last few films  Mamooty had shown us his forays into non comfort zones and doing it extremely well too 

Amitabh Bhachan probably is the only megastar who has similarly experimented and suceeded .

Look at kamal Rajni of course they all are thier older versions but still not beyomd what thier fans have been used to seeing while Mamooty surprises one in most of his films these days .

Brahmayugam ( its the part of kaliyugam described as age of madness )  rightly described is a black and white film that brings the grey of horror into ones soul  through its 2.30 hours of unrelenting forebodes .

Unkempt mansions ,satanic laughters  ,blood curdling sounds,cannibalistic witches cauldrons ,all not stilted or unreal but plausible in mediaveal kerala where black magic or Durmanthravaatham ,Chaathan seva or satanic worship ,and yakshis erotic captures of susceptible young men are part of the tapestry of stories of this part of the country .

A  smiling calm Mamooty  just puts one off gaurd only to suddenly punch  us into revulsion by his chameleonic changes ,

The pouring rains in the pitch dark forest or clouded daytime in leaking mansion  ( till interval there was no rain and  I was wondering how the Director left rain alone with a mansion perfectly suited for it to instil more dread and then he gave us rain in abundance post interval telling us well you asked for it have fun )

 There are only three actors in the film all males  other than the female yakshi who appears in just a scene ,( a lesson to some films from other languages and Hindi spending ten to hundred times the 27 crores spent with less than one hundredth of the punch this film would leave you with ) 

Each actor did thier job best but it was Mamooty   who takes  away the crown and if as an actor if  this film doesnt fetch him a national award I wonder which other actor would deserve it more then him !

I have given no spoilers but to say it s a period film in 16th  century during the Portugese colonisation 

It  is based loosly on a Namboothiri illam or an  ancestral house inside a forest where evil happenings take place and redeemers attempts turns awry .

Director Rahul Sivadasan

Actors 

Mamooty 

Arjun Asokan 

And Siddharth Bharatan 

Christo xavier music 

Photography.. hats off by Shehanad Jalal 

I assume the mansion was somewhere inside Malayatoor hills and all marks to the ones who scouted it out .