Ozhivudivasathe Kali (2015) Reviews

• The Game of Life

  chemingineer2016-04-26

  On a rain-drenched polling day, five friends travel to an idyllic spot for a boozing session. After getting inebriated, their deep rooted prejudices start surfacing. And finally they play a game in which the players draw lots to be designated as King, Minister, Cop and Thief. The Cop identifies himself and then has to guess the Thief from among the other three. Saying anything more about the plot will amount to a spoiler. Suffice to say that the climax is chilling and deeply disturbing. But the film is not a statement against rampant alcoholism in Kerala, as some people thought during the post-screening discussion. Alcohol is a mere lubricant to bring the bigotries and duplicities out of the closet. It is a deeply layered film with metaphors strewn all over, perhaps demanding multiple viewing to understand them all. The film often cuts to a lovely pond after intense sequences; the director is apparently holding up a mirror to our face. Are we any different from those characters? Brilliantly done, I think. The film is based on a short story, but only loosely scripted according to the director. The characters are not played by professional actors and the dialogues reportedly evolved during shooting. This gives a life-like hue to the film. The camera becomes an observer, even an accomplice during the disturbing climax. Television news about the election provides much of the background score; music appears only towards the finale. Ozhivu Divasathe Kali is a brilliantly nuanced film, which makes for compelling viewing. It will haunt you for a long time.

• Haunting and fascinating at the same time

  shammualan2017-03-08

  Ozhivudivasathe Kali is the film which places the viewer inside the movie as just as a"viewer". Here every spectator was glued to the lens of the camera. For the first 15 to 20 minutes there is long range shot which is merely audible what the characters are saying. The whole frame is blurred coz of the branches and leaves. I was disturbed with that in first place. Eventually it is understandable that the director wanted us to be like that. We met a complete bunch of strangers, a group of 5 boozing in a bush near to the road. Sanal didn't followed the conventional methods by introducing the characters with a voice over or their conversations. When the movie eventually goes forward we get to know the characteristics of each person. It shows the sheer brilliance of the director. The performances of lead actors are realistic in such a way that we get lost whether we are in a movie or not. The only woman Geetha is representing the today's women who is oppressed by the male dominated society. The last scene of Geetha and the anger she showed by hitting the slippers in the ground represents the frustration of every women in the society. The journey of 5 budding friends to the arguments and fights which brings out the true colours of the conventional society. At last the game white sounds childish turns into the mishap which shows how power centered politics of our great democracy deals with oppressed in our society . It shows the hypocrisy of every human when they tore their masks of common man. Then the woman alone is just piece of flesh only differs whether we should seduce her or rape her. Then the black guy in the group is supposed to be a laughing stock for their racist jokes. Sanal also put the lights on how the judicial system bend the rules and how it deals with the different sects of people. Sanal deserves a standing ovation in the end . The technical side was so perfect even I didn't noticed that the second half of the movie is mostly shot in a single shot. The river shown in between every incidents, which really feels like it's a mirror he put towards us to understand what are we and what we've done. End note: There is no films in recent history of Malayalam cinema which had made an impact on me than ozhivudivasathe kali. its haunting and fascinating at the same time. Sanal Kumar sasidharan is the best invention in recent times of Malayalam industry.

• A Game with no rules-Another Masterpiece.

  anjoepaulkallody2016-06-29

  The movie starts from a scene where a group of people gather around a shallow and plan how they will be spending the coming off-day. Our view is obstructed by two small twigs and this shot continues for minutes with no practical movement. This block and difficulty in seeing completely what happens is central to the film. It is like the camera with the audience is spying them or trying to overhear them, something that should only reside among themselves. Their plan is about boozing up the coming day in a quieter place with no disturbance despite the fact that the general election to the state assembly is on its way. The group comprises people from all ages and all social divisions. There are representatives from the higher stratum of social ladder, from the lower stratum and also those who are in between them. It is evident that their group is formed on the basis of liquor and that liquor sets no difference between people on their social status. In this regard it is a unifier. However we will soon discover the role of liquor as a discord generator. The place they have decided to spend off the day is blessed for its enigmatic side and natural appeal. It is as if the nature herself conspires with the drunk to fly off in their fantasies. We see a capsized boat in the lake symbolizing a state the group will soon be in. The boat and the still water are two important stages in the life of an alcoholic; inebriety and death. Nature sometimes becomes the sole observer of their acts, like the omniscient God (Camera takes us so). An act they all set out to do just after taking a bath in the lake is the cutting of a jackfruit that they thought was ripe but found not. Previous to this scene we have seen that they already had arranged a man to help them with the place and a woman to cook food items (touchings in the local slang), especially chicken and tapioca. However what we see is that after they got the jackfruit, they are canceling their earlier plan and asking the woman to stop preparing the tapioca porridge but to prepare jackfruit. The language and way of talking tell us that they have had their earlier share of liquor. And with this thing (Jackfruit) we understand how fickle these people are and how senseless they really are. In fact the group have bordered the line between sanity and insanity. Nobody talks sense here. Nothing makes sense here. A helper they had arranged (a forest watchman or so) gets drunk with them and loses consciousness. He stays like that until the movie ends; like half dead and half alive. It is like one is dead but one is still alive; another state that liquor creates. The movie touches issues like security of women and role of women in the political system of the country. The woman, Geeta is marked by two of the men. They try to make sexual advancements toward her. However the woman knowing the danger fights back quickly; once with retorts and another time with a sickle. Earlier when someone brought her attention to politics, she replied "isn't that men's game sir?. Interestingly the flip side of liquor (discord generator) starts from an interesting scene where two among them (of course drunk) start talking about women. One holds onto the view that women should be subjugated physically and sexually. While the other holds that women should be let alone if they do not seem like enjoying men's sexual advancements. The two touch on personal issues where the one tease another on his lack of manliness and the other on his hypocritical stance on women when it touches his family (especially his wife). What liquor brings out here is the hidden workings (mostly philosophical and theoretical) of one's mind. At this point they begin to talk about one another's professional life and personal life. Bias and hypocrisy that they have previously suppressed easily come out with the help of liquor. It creates discord in the group. The differences of opinion leads one person to make the decision to quit the group. However a person (Dasan) (who will soon become a scapegoat, though he himself is not without blemishes) tries to reconcile him. Sooner the other two who crossed their words with the man also come and try to reconcile him. Reason for their desperate tries is needless to be discussed since it is easy to understand how quickly liquor erases memories (here, discords) and how drunkenness sometimes allows a flash of sense though we cannot tell when. From the non-animated eatable Jackfruit which they somehow conquer (cutting the jackfruit itself is a heavy task for them now) they begin to move onto hen; animated eatable. The problem is that nobody is willing to kill the hen. The responsibility is shifted from one person to another where it finally reaches the shoulder of Dasan, the youngest in their group who is also a lower caste. Dasan is also not willing to kill it. However as it is presently on his shoulder he has to do something. He decides to hang the hen! The hen is hanged and the camera moves onto an unmoving water body; symbolic of life and death. We also hear the dying hen's flutter.

• Not A Game. ♦ Grade B-

  TejasNair2016-12-25

  It took me more than six months to find a source and watch this highly acclaimed social drama. And once I finished watching it, I understood why people use so many adjectives to define it. On an election day in the Indian state of Kerala, a group of five adult friends decide to spend an entire day in a dilapidated building few kilometers away from the city hustle-bustle. Their aim is to engage in incessant boozing and revisit the good old times. However, once they begin and reach a point where debauchery (albeit without sex and other drugs) sounds like an understatement, things start to go south. The members of the group, in their own idiosyncratic inebriated ways, begin to share their opinions. Heated discussions ensue as the nature joins them, lashing out its unparalleled powers through a downpour. One thing leads to another and things get rocky, but eventually they calm down, only to next play a silly game. A game they used to play when they were in school. A game which they don't know is not as innocuous as it seems to be. The first thing that viewers are going to notice in the film is the terrible cinematography. All excuses of it being intentional goes down the drain because you cannot see anything. A bunch of people are conversing - that's all you will understand in the first 20 minutes. What they are talking about? Or who is presently talking? Nope. You will see leaves and barks in place of human faces. In the first 20 minutes, you will perceive it as five adults fooling around on an off-day just because they can. Ogling at that lady who is preparing tapioca and chicken curry for them or forcing the helper guy to consume uncontrolled amounts of alcohol is what they essentially do. Then they begin to talk about politics, the society, the concepts of rape and hypocrisy - and that's when the bitterness sweeps in. It's like the thunderous downpour brings a wave into the room where these people are sitting, igniting their selves to speak up and engage in debates. A lot of topics such as racism and caste discrimination are sampled here before the film crescendos to its final juncture where the subject shifts to that of "corruption in a democracy". The game they play is one that most of us have played at least once. But, the metaphoric perception the writers bring with it is remarkable. Unni R's story shines light into the natural state of a constitution and how corruption breeds in it due to the people and their outlooks. Sasidharan uses raw footage to convey the story and succeeds to some extent. He tries to embarrass the audience by showing them their own mirror images in the five protagonists as they set out. You cannot call the film entertainment because it has no qualities of being any. This is serious cinema and should be perceived as a strong message to the people at large who do not mind consuming chicken, but repulse at the thought of killing a hen. It's a film that is going to haunt you for at least a day. After that, you will forget about it because that's how we all are. Like dust in the wind which moves on and on. It is evidently made on a shoestring budget with heavy usage of improvisation. The dialogues and actions were allegedly spontaneous as Wikipedia tells me, and it may be true. The final long shot of more than 50 minutes is amazing to watch, along with the heart-rending climax. BOTTOM LINE: Sanal Saidharan's "Ozhivudivasathe Kali" is a disturbing film which speaks truth and nothing but the truth. Watch it today on Reelmonk! Can be watched with a typical Indian family? NO

• Overrated Movie

  codemator2017-03-05

  Come on man, please watch some good movies before putting your hand in direction.. I have lost 2 hrs of my life in earth..I had lot of expectations, but in vein.. Please come with some good content.. Every sh*t Unni R is spilling out is not so great.. Realize that.. Waiting for some good stuff from your end Sanal.. Giving rating 3 just because of the actors.. even though they were novice they did justified their roles