Jeethu Joseph is among the last names that come to mind when thinking of films with decent — or at least half decent — visual quality. After all, he has always been about trying to impress audiences with a twists-laden story. The filmmaker has been as inconsistent with the visual quality of his films as with the storytelling. A few films in his filmography stand out for their atmosphere. Memories, Kooman, and the 12th Man... There is evidence there that Jeethu and his frequent cinematographer Sathish Kurup actually put considerable effort into the way their latest film looks. Valathu Vashathe Kallan (The thief to the right) seems, for the most part, like a film where some thought went into how it should look, even though it's not on the same level as anything conjured up by David Fincher.
To begin with, there is not a single sunny scene in the film. It's all muted colours, diffused lighting — a colour palette that doesn't overwhelm with its amber and cyan tones as most thrillers made in South India do these days. There's an attempt to work with some highlights, shadows and contrast as befitting a story of this nature. There's a reason the entire film feels drained of colour, because Biju Menon's character, Antony Xavier, is a cop leading a colourless existence. Will the sun ever appear in his life?
It will — at least a hint of it, but the context is not one we would normally associate with such an image. But revealing that would be spoiler territory. There's a lot in Valathu Vashatha Kallan that cannot be mentioned. Because it's basically a darker reimagining of what Jeethu Joseph did in Drishyam. The idea seems to be born out of the question: What if Drishyam is looked at with a different, darker perspective, but with different characters?
This is a film driven strongly by biblical iconography and themes. Exodus 34:7 (the sins of the father...) figure heavily into the narrative. The film opens with a son (KR Gokul of 'Aadujeevitham') and a father (Biju Menon) visiting the same therapist in succession on the same day. Mention of some unresolved trauma and a fractured relationship between the father and son. What wrong did the father do? Does it have anything to do with his profession as a police officer, soon revealed to be of the dubious variety? Or does it have something to do with what happened during the boy's childhood, or did it all start way before his birth?
The answers are all revealed in due time. Meanwhile, there are multiple casualties, perhaps linked directly or indirectly to Antony. It then tracks another family, a happy one, comprising Joju George's Samuel, his wife, Theresa (Lena), and daughter Irene (Vyshnavi Raj).
Without giving anything away, every grave (pun intended) event in this film is caused by the actions of men, due to various reasons. The far-reaching ramifications of one past incident reach out to haunt two families, causing tragedy and mental distress. Sound familiar? But VVK is no Drishyam. Here's the thing about Drishyam. Its existence, I think, is both a boon and a curse. Blessing, because it pushes future writers to come up with smarter, more challenging ideas — aside from, of course, the fact that it has spawned multiple sequels and remakes, offering opportunities to many across industries. Curse, because when someone else, even its own maker, tries to attempt something different with the same concept, it doesn't generate the same excitement.
Again, it must be clarified that VVK and Drishyam are two different films with two different intentions. However, they both share thematic similarities. I guess it would be better to call VVK a "thematic spin-off". There are a few solid ideas here, and it helps that they are being presented through two of Malayalam cinema's finest actors with enough tricks up their sleeves that even when VVK operates with a weakened energy, we are willing to continue watching, at the risk of being drained of energy, which it does eventually. And that has to do with some of the confusion caused by the multiple misdirections in the film.
After a point, the surprise revelations don't feel organic enough — not to mention the artificial-sounding and occasionally comical delivery of lines made out of familiar buzzwords like 'feminism', 'toxicity' and 'male chauvinism' — because the characters, both good and bad, aren’t compelling enough to make us care. That’s the difference between George Kutty and any of the characters in VVK.
By the end, we also feel deprived of a true sense of justice, even when one central character decides to take on the burden of "poetic justice" in the end. Despite its imperfections and lack of overall impact, I was relieved to see that VVK was nothing like Jeethu's last film, Mirage. But that’s not supposed to be a compliment.
Film: Valathu Vashathe Kallan
Director: Jeethu Joseph
Cast: Biju Menon, Joju George, Lena, KR Gokul, Vyshnavi Raj, Irshad
Rating: 2/5