Kappela Analysis

Kappela

Written & Directed by: Muhammad Musthafa

Starring: Anna Ben, Roshan Mathew, Sreenath Bhasi

Streaming on Netflix.

Spoilers Ahead. This is a film which doesn't at all seem like a film which needs this disclaimer - it has similar tonality as the other Malayalam films where they build the setting, depict the milieu and introduce the world of the characters for a good chunk of the film. This film feels so predictable - Jessy falls in love with Vishnu over a phone call, she is brought up in a strict and conservative household - so she elopes with him. This feels like a counter-culture, anti-authoritarian film but when we get to the ending - it shatters our entire expectation of the film. When Vishnu turns out to be someone who he doesn't seem to be, we feel as scandalized as her. The film goes on normally till the scene we see Roy, played by Sreenath Bhasi from where I should say the script gets high on drugs. They cut to his story and show us who he is, the writers make us, the audience, judge him by his body language and because he says that they'd steal. In a matter of some time, the hero and the villain swap their roles and it happens so seamlessly - I was taken aback when I came to know that the person who we were thinking she'd be safe with turns out to be a predator. I felt a bit cheated but I realized that we never got to see his true self, we only saw how he behaved in front of others, and how he behaved with her. The other person, we are the ones to blame - we judged him and since we took Vishnu's side, we hate him too. The last time I felt this cheated or messed up about my senses of right and wrong was when I watched Asghar Farhadi's A Separation and The Salesman; I'm guessing the filmmaker must've definitely been inspired by these films.

The unpredictability of the film is added by that scene where Roy finds Vishnu's phone and he meets her like he is pretending to be Vishnu - athough he returns the phone; Roy still seems like a threat. The plot makes us think that the rest of the film will be Roy cheating Jessy and she finds out later and the drama that unfolds there - but the direction that the film takes is brilliant. As we see in other Malayalam films, the cinematographer here too takes good advantage of the beautiful landscapes. Roshan's transformation in the last scene, from trying to convince her to outright assaulting her - is beautiful acting.