A Tale of Acceptance
Movie: Kaathal - The Core
Dir: Jeo Baby
Kaathal is both emotionally draining and uplifting at the same time. Almost every major character in the film exhibits a face filled with pent-up emotions waiting to burst out into uglier forms, which surprisingly doesn't happen. But the beauty of the film is that when the emotional blast does come towards the end, it arrives with rather kinder tones of acceptance, letting go and setting everyone free. Both Mathew played by Mammoty and Omana by Jyothika are portrayed as a stone-cold couple who talk very little and emote very little shades of delight in their faces. Their physical self doesn't loosen up from the rigidity till the closing scenes of the film when they have found the closure they've been yearning for.
While Great Indian Kitchen was about setting oneself free from oppression when patriarchy tried its best to pin down the woman of the story, his subsequent film Sreedhanya Catering Service showed the triviality and sloppiness of men when they were left alone in their own company. With Kaathal Jeo Baby seems to have managed to include a deeper emotional core that organically manages to convey what the story actually wants to communicate. The film is never loud and is at no point trying to force the audience to adopt a certain ideology. Jeo's main concern here surely is to tell the story they've created with utmost sincerity and he does that with terrific clarity and wisdom. It is as if the film in itself is hopeful that people will accept what it is trying to convey, like the people of the local area who voted for Mathew and aided in his big win in the elections.
Mammoty, Jyothika and the actor who played the 'Thangan' character knew what they were doing; and I haven't seen anyone breaking down on the screen with such intensity as Mathew did a couple of times towards the end of the film. I don't think anyone has or can portray the Indian household scenario as precisely as Jeo does. There's even a scene in the film when Mathews cuts open a coconut and leaves it for Omana along with the rest of the work as he dresses up to go to work, which calls us back to the milieu of the Great Indian Kitchen. It was only after she had finished the household chores and put the food down on the table for Chachan to eat, that the woman of the house could leave for work. The filmmaker's eye for such details and his understanding of the whys and hows of societal functioning make his works very genuine. Kaathal is a sensible film with a certain political clarity deeply ingrained in human emotions. Keep them coming Jeo!
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