“Kumbalangi Nights” is a compelling narrative, set in the beautiful village, Kumbalangi on love, life and hope. The movie narrates a story of four half-brothers and how a handful of situations test their sibling dynamics. The movie challenges the notions of status, open-minds and masculinity.
Direction/Screenplay:
Madhu C Narayanan’s debutant direction was exemplary and promising. He filmed a tale of numerous characterizations of simple people, like the ones living around us in the most inspiring way. He won the audience’s heart by depicting genuine emotions shared in relationships at different levels in various scenes. He made sure everything was on point and brought the best out of the actors on screen. The first half of the movie is slow-paced, revealing the characters, and the film gradually picks up by the beginning of the second half, holding the audiences with curiosity. The climax is overwhelming, and it’s a delight to watch how the loose strings are tied. He has won the Gollapudi Srinivas National Award 2019 and the Best Director award in Mollywood awards 2019.
Scriptwriter:
Syam Pushkarn’s with sheer brilliance scripted a simple story about a dysfunctional family of four brothers in Kumbalangi. He also throws light on strings of patriarchy but also balances the script by showing how the female characters help the men finding answers to their lives. The story has so many elements involved in itself which reveal layer by layer in the movie. Syam Pushkarn cleverly tied every character in the story with one another, and collectively these characters are the backbone of his script. He has bagged the Best Writing award in Mollywood awards 2019.
Cinematography and Music:
Shyju Khalid, with his intimate cinematography, has made us fall in love with the village of Kumbalangi. Every frame is beautifully shot, and the colour palette is visually pleasing. He did all the justice in depicting the natural beauty of Kerala-god’s own country. The day and night sequences of boating in the backwaters were remarkably captured through his lens. The long shots of scanty and shots through the coconut tree fields are also an add on. He won the Best Cinematographer award in Mollywood awards 2019.
These beautiful scenes are uplifted by Sushin Shyam’s lovely, light and breezy background score and music, which perfectly blend into the storyline. The music is perfectly composed and sets the right mood for the scene. ‘Uyiril Thodum’ song has won over a million hearts and also won the best song award. Sushin has also won the award for best music in Mollywood awards 2019.
Cast:
Saji (Soubin Shahir), Bobby (Shane Nigam), Boney (Sreenath Bhasi) and Franky (Matthew Thomas) play the roles of half-brothers with the prominent characterization of simple men of a village. They live in a small house by the river, sharing love-more hate relationship. As the story develops, you see their characters flourishing beautifully.
Saji the eldest of all and is like the mother of the house. He cooks and takes care of everyone. He’s a sensitive one with no woman in his life. He has a friend whom he runs an ironing business. He doesn’t have any big-big dreams or aspirations; all he wants is to support his family with what he has. Saji wholeheartedly accepts his brother, Bobby’s love interest who belongs to a different religion and he agrees to talk, to the girl’s family about their marriage. As the movie unfolds further, we see him facing critical tragedy and his suffering from mental illness. He doesn’t lose the hope to live and sees a therapist. Saji with his innocence and kind-heartedness wins all our hearts.
Bobby is a care-free and aimless soul who spends most of his time with his friend loitering around the village. He falls in love with a girl, and things start to change. He becomes more responsible and takes up a small job at the fishery packing unit. Though he faces a struggle to work there, he does it for his love. Bobby shows all his emotions through his charming eyes, be it love or anger. He doesn’t have a great equation with his brother Boney, but as time passes their hate is replaced by love according to situations. Bobby’s erratic child-like behaviour transforms into a calm matured adult after he finds his true love BabyMol and understanding his brothers correctly.
Boney is a silent person who returns home after a very long time. He plays football with his youngest brother and doesn’t involve with any of his other brothers. He and Bobby always fight with one another. Boney has a special bond with Nylah, who is a foreigner staying at Shammi’s homestay. Boney becomes more loving after meeting Nylah, and slowly he becomes close to Bobby too.
BabyMol (Anna Ben), a beautiful girl who falls in love with Bobby and she happens to be the sister-in-law of Shammi. Anna Ben portrays the character flawlessly.
Shammi (Fahadh Faasil), his unique take on Shammi guilts us into laughing at his toxic masculinity while also making us conscious of the uneasiness in every scene he pervades. In his first scene, we see him in his bathroom, shaping his thick, ultra-masculine moustache and, with the same blade, scraping off a bindi stuck on the mirror. He doesn’t want even a trace of “femaleness” to interfere with his idea of a “complete man”. He is utterly distinct in every aspect compared to Saji and his brothers, as Shammi is pathologically neat and has strict behaviour. Shammi is also reluctant of BayMol’s love for Bobby. In the climax, Shammi loses his control and freaks out all the viewers. He is that perfect looking person from outside but rotten inside. Fahadh has skillfully played this unusual role with utmost dedication, making us question his impeccable craft.
What we take away from the movie?
Kumbalangi Nights points out the minor odds in personalities which cause disturbances in our lives. The movie shows us things can be fixed with love and hope. Altogether the movie is overwhelming and beautiful to watch
