Kumari Movie Review: An impressively mounted creature feature

Those who felt alienated by the attempt at making a Hollywood-ised Malayalam action thriller in filmmaker Nirmal Sahadev's debut, Ranam, should find the relatively more grounded setting of his second feature, Kumari, more comforting to their sensibilities. If the two films are placed next to each other in front of someone who has no clue as to the person who directed it, there is a chance they might get surprised at being told it's the same person. Ranam was on par with a Hollywood film in terms of technical finesse. I don't know the complete story behind its making other than the information that the Prithviraj-starrer was supposed to look way more ambitious, a plan eventually curtailed by budgetary constraints. 

However, Kumari gives the sense that Nirmal and his team got to exercise their creative freedom in a way they couldn't on Ranam. I say this because Kumari seems -- to me at least -- a more wholesome work. Beginning with the voiceover opening narration that sets up the back story for the whirlpool of events about to unfold, Kumari engaged me through the ferocious climactic battle between -- well, I'm not going to spoil it for you.

Director: Nirmal Sahadev

Cast: Aishwarya Lekshmi, Shine Tom Chacko, Giju John, Tanvi Ram, Swasika, Shruti Menon, Surabhi Lakshmi

Powered by a heavily folklore-influenced narrative that bears elements of a gothic horror story or a monster feature, Kumari is one of those films with all its departments well-balanced. There is no attempt from one to overshadow the other. I see Aishwarya Lekshmi's titular protagonist as a Malayali version of the main character from Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca simply because she is married off to a family tormented by a dark history. When Kumari first arrives at the front gate of her spouse Dhruvan's (Shine Tom Chacko) ancestral mansion, it is nighttime, and the place, although abundantly lit, exudes an air of menace. And once you realise that this is the same place where something terrible happened a while back -- an incident depicted in the film's prologue -- you anticipate many chilling eventualities. It's just another patriarchal household where newlywed women get a warm welcome and have no clue about the overwhelming darkness that will soon engulf them. 

Interestingly, Kumari -- which swirls around dark magic and chathan seva (demon worship) -- comes out at a time when another film based on Hindu myths and rituals (Kantara) is running in theatres, aside from the fact Kerala recently witnessed an extremely unsettling case of human sacrifice. Kumari's central idea fits comfortably in the numerous scary stories our mothers and grandmothers had narrated to us. Some of us grew up believing them, while others grew up to realise that they are just stories. I belong to the latter. (Yes, one can be an atheist and still enjoy these stories.) And Kumari is a very effective one at that. It's rich with details, revealing more intriguing characters and back stories as it progresses. 

Take, for example, the whole subplot involving Giju John (playing Shine's cocky elder brother), his wife (Swasika), and his paramour (Shruti Menon). The entire thing has a Shakespearean flavour. Shruti doesn't show up often in the film, but her Lady Macbeth-like influence becomes responsible for a fair amount of damage later on. While on Shakespeare, Shivajith Padmanabhan, who starred in Jayaraj's Malayalam adaptation of Macbeth (Veeram), makes a small but crucial appearance while Tanvi Ram plays his doomed spouse. In the meantime, we get a Vidheyan-like oppression angle with farmers reliant on the mercy of the elite. 

Interestingly, we find subservient characters even in the upper-caste household, which includes Dhruvan. When we first meet him, he is seated on the floor next to his father's feet. He is like a pet that, one fine day, becomes its owner's pride after the latter realises that it can produce an heir -- in this case, to continue the legacy of the tharavadu. But every male character in Kumari who believes he is in charge becomes as vulnerable here as the powerless, given the presence of sinister forces in the background.

But Kumari is ultimately driven by the tumultuous conflict between Dhruvan and Kumari. Shine demonstrates yet another delightfully bizarre turn that doesn't strike one as repetitive. The actor employs his entire physicality to produce a performance that evolves from timid and tender to deranged and violent. His aberrant behaviour gets a backstory that's not entirely clear. That's where one of the minor quibbles I have with the film lie -- the incoherent delivery of some of Shine's dialogues. I wonder if it's deliberate -- you know, to add a sense of mystery? Is this approach similar to what Christopher Nolan did with Tom Hardy in The Dark Knight Rises? 

On the other hand, Aishwarya lends Kumari the necessary amount of grace, adventurous spirit, maternal traits, and steely determination. I liked how the melodrama is kept to a bare minimum, even when she encounters the most tragic circumstances -- and this is a story with enough scope for melodrama; fortunately, the team behind the film seems to have a clear idea of where to draw the line. Aishwarya's is not a performance marked by excess theatricality, unlike that of Shine, for whom it makes complete sense. I cannot imagine anyone else in Dhruvan's role now. 

I must also add that it was refreshing to see Rahul Madhav playing a good guy for a change. The staging of his final confrontation with Shine is sufficiently intense. And Surabhi Lakshmi is nearly unrecognisable in a performance that oscillates between chilling and motherly.

As with Ranam, the most impressive aspect of Kumari is its visual texture heavy with ominous foreboding. Cinematographer Abraham Joseph's painterly frames, which chiefly rely on available light, recall the work of Santosh Sivan in Perumthachan or John Alcott in Barry Lyndon. Gokul Das' art is devoid of gaudiness. Jakes Bejoy's background score is quite effective except in that underwhelming introductory song with Aishwarya. I must credit Sreejith Sarang's seamless editing for ensuring that I was not bored even for a second throughout the film. 

The special effects-heavy finale is reminiscent of the impressive B-movies of the 80s, particularly that of John Carpenter, of whom I'm a huge fan. The choice of revealing the monster(s) only in the third act follows the tradition of Steven Spielberg (Jaws) and Ridley Scott (Alien). 

In escapist stories of such nature, I always seek that immersive, time-travel-like experience, which is just what I got from Kumari.