A surprise

Unfortunately due to my early experience with acclaimed, read ‘art’, movies (from the age of five on), I tend to view them with a jaundiced eye.

There would be that opening shot, let’s say a close, unflattering view of a pair of feet walking… slowly… across the room, down the stairs, across the courtyard, across the road, across many acrosses till my eyes crossed.

Or the moody heroine lying in bed, fully-dressed, handbag to one side, staring up fixatedly at the revolving ceiling fan as it lazily went round and round and round… hypnotizingly depressing!

So, when I first heard about the National-award winning movie ‘Adaminte makan Abu’, I put in my list to watch it later (much later… somewhere in my dotage :P).

But I got my opportunity sooner than I thought, at the Kala Ghoda festival. Seated in the fourth row in a small packed hall, viewing the screen (framed by two heads in front of me), it was a uniquely funny experience. I was prepared for a dry or draining art film but was pleasantly surprised.  

Lush, green views of Kerala, lovely shots, idyllic light, calm pace, dry humour, natural acting and a beautiful, if idealistic, story, unfolded. What more could I want? When I came out of the screening, the day was brighter, sunnier, warmer and inexplicably more beautiful…

Kala Ghoda: Image Courtesy: Moi 050401, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons