Shavam

Director Don Palathara's dull drama about death of a family breadwinner hits multiple points yet is an affair bleaker than death itself. Set in black and white to reduce post-production costs, Shavam describes the proceedings of a funeral by the dead man's family, friends, neighbors, and village society members who show nothing but insensitivity to the dead as well as the immediate kin. They talk about random things, engage in alcohol consumption, and share their insecurities all while having a dead man inside the house. The dialogues are good and perhaps the most Malayali thing you will observe in Shavam, but don't go in with too many expectations. Shavam starts and ends without a bang, mostly because of a lack of proper conflict and background. TN.

I watched SAVAM (should it not be spelled SHAVAM?) on Netflix. There is a revival of interest in this film due to comparisons which the film's director Don Palathara made with Lijo Jose Pellisery's Ee Ma Yau on social media. There were also allegations of plagiarism against Lijo.

Don Palathara and other intellectual polluters who spread their intellectual diarrhea on social media can get lost (IMDB does not let me use the f word). You defilers stole and bottled Romanov vodka (now off the shelves of Kerala state beverages corporation) in some fancy European wine tumbler; you took beef fry and served it with caviar; and then you drank and ate amongst yourselves, after which you proceeded to piss and excrete into each others mouths and said "aliyaah! nalla swayamban sadhanam mone!"

Lijo's film is unique naadan brew, that must receive its own special shelf at every Kerala state beverages corporation outlet. Well done and thank you Lijo Chetta and PF James uncle.

End of drunken rant.

Savam is a pretty good film. But why did it have to be made in Cinema Verite style (I did not even enjoy Wanda all that much)? Don Palathara basically steals every single scene and plot point from every single entertaining Malayalam commercial movie (the hysterical crying women, the men sneaking a few drinks before a funeral, arrival of the priest, men fighting over money and the general anomie that accompanies a funeral in Kerala) and injects dullness into them all. NS Madhavan called it "sookshmatha". I call it dullness.

But like I said, Savam is a pretty good film. But after a point, the finesse and the subtleties begins to grate on your nerves. You wish for flamboyance and genuine writing talent. But they are not there.

(7/10)