KALAMKAVAL (2025) / Jithin K. Jose

 

The movie is making waves in theatres and everyone are all praise for it. Including ordinary cinegoers and reviewers. And justly so… its pure class.. script written by the director Jithin K. Jose in collaboration with Jishnu Sreekumar, technical side, Faisal Ali’s camera, BGM and scores… plus, masterclass performance from all the actors, especially, the leading duo of Mammootty and Vinayakan. This one is definitely going to be remembered in the annals of Malayalam cinema history as a class apart.

The scripting had a huge challenge before it: to treat the bulk of a horrendous case, the details of which are in the public domain, with a sharp eye on characterization, and without losing the grip over the audience, and it was further complicated by the logistics of movie making: to present the greatest ever Malayalam actor as an arch-villain without celebrating evil… no small feat that the script and direction has achieved with elan… the way the script has done away with needless ‘back-story’ building and excuses for the demon’s moral entropy was really fresh in Malayalam cinema, something not even masters like M.T. didn’t dream of doing (recall ‘Uyarangalil’ (1984) by I.V.Sasi, for instance).

But yet, some have raised objections, and most of them are for the very wrong reasons that the movie never warrants…

The ‘one-time watchable’ narratives hinged on how the script lacked unpredictability… I think this is unwarranted: for two reasons. Basically, ‘one-time watchable’ thesis applies to plot-driven movies where the question is always ‘what next’ or ‘how the tension would mount’. In a character-driven or theme-driven story, it’s the opposite… its rather a slow-burn process and doesn’t care for sudden thrills of adrenaline rise. Again, when the movie is about known, public-domain stories/ incidents/ characters, ‘what next’ has nothing to do with the script. Its rather about how layered the characterisation/s is/are, how performative the roles are, and how thematic layers are revealed. I think the film has done well, keeping the necessary mystery elements and avoiding spoon-feeding at the same time. The heartiest example for this subtility can be seen in the clues about the genesis of the S.I.’s metamorphosis as ‘owl’, his nick-name.   

Kalamkaval’ does it all fine.

Another objection was from some generally sensitive viewers who found fault with Vinayakan’s performance and languid and exhausted, lacking the dynamic personality that the character demaded.

I think these critics miss out the very essence of that character.

That seeming vulnerability and lack of heroic bravado are the very essence of that character. He is no movie-version cop of that alpha male type. Rather, he is a quite ordinary, plain, police officer with is own insecurities and anxieties. But beneath the veneer of such fragilities, he is what his second name is – the owl who abides his time and, when it presents itself, doesn’t budge. His strength is not ‘spectacle’, but real, rooted and interiorised.

And Vinayakan was just perfect with his new avatar.

Among the female leads only a few had screen spaces to impress enough on the audience, though none were just decorations, but maybe it would take a second watching to fully grasp their contributions. Of them, Gayathri Arun, with her sensitive face and fragility, did carry her role with elan. So were Shruthi Ramchandran with the trusted abandon of a devoted lover, Rajisha Vijayan with her wounds craving burial, Nisa with the hard-earned self-assurance of a struggling daily-bread-winner, Dhanya Ananya with the expectant anticipation of the beguiled, naive one, ... among others.

Gibin Gopinath and Azeez Nedumangad do it again with their nice performances. Biju Pappan too had a good job to do and did it fine.

Mujeeb Majeed made sure that his music didn’t stand ‘out’ but did what it was expected to do.. to carry the movie through, with tempo, cadence and silences as it demanded. On an impish note, yes, the Ilyaraja echoes were indeed brilliant and… timely…

Some say the cat-and-mouse game in the second half could be a bit more protracted for impact… of this, I am not sure but not sure either way… However, the movie is already of decent length with its 144 minutes run time. And I do think that the man, the 'Owl', has had his own share of 'cat-and-mouse' inwardly, that is, within himself, before catching up with Stanely in that final showdown.

This is a movie experience one cannot afford to miss… It’s the paradox of art that despicable predators can find their way to excellent screen avatars… It’s the paradox of art that despicable predators can find their way to excellent screen avatars…