Mayanadhi Analysis

Mayanadhi

Directed by: Aashiq Abu

Written by: Syam Puskaran, Dileesh Nair

The best part about this film is that, it doesn't box itself into a genre; just like life. Genres are just convenient ways for audience to decide if that's something they'd like to watch or not. It comes out of fear of watching bad content and if the content is good, the genre of the film won't matter, everyone wants to watch great stories. Mayanadhi has a crime and mystery element to it, from Maathen's character and it has a slice of life underdog story with Aparna's character and once in a while we see a Richard Linklater-esque scenes with they just spending time with each other. None of this feels forceful, everything flows seamlessly in the narrative. This film is giving me the confidence that while writing, you need not worry about rules/genres.

The film doesn't shy away from the nuances of reality, Maathen calls Aparna a prostitute at an instance and yet the filmmakers don't judge him, they definitely acknowledge what magnitude of mistake it is but should she leave him for that or not, they leave it to the character's choice to make. I'd probably straight away leave him, but she doesn't and her actions felt consistent to her character. There is an extraordinary subplot of a supporting character, who is a successful actor but when her navel shot appears in a film, her brother comes to her place and takes her with him. I think this subplot affected me more than the plot of the main characters. Are we rooting for Maathen to get away? I wasn't. But was I rooting that he get caught? I wasn't either. It's a complex spot the writers put us in and I'd love to be in such morally ambiguous places while watching films. It felt like an Asghar Farhadi's world where your senses of right and wrong are constantly challenged.