Paka (River of Blood)

Was fortunate to watch the international premier of PAKA at Toronto International Film Festival. Team Paka deserves a big round of applause. It's the story of feud... Though screens a family feud, it's beyond that. Well narrated, metaphors used were awesome, and connects with the audience of all generations.

Casting was excellent. Even though most of the actors were first timers, all of them marked their presence. Nithin Lukose, a sound designer tuned director, in his directorial debut, made sure that his movie should be noted for the magic of sound too.

PAKA should be experienced in a theatre, at least in a home theatre with surround sound. To get the real feel of the movie. Well done team. More and more festivals to go...Expecting more from the team.

Generally as a cinephile I used to watch atleast 1 movie per a day, recently i started watching underrated Malayalam movies and as a part of it I got to know about this PAKA movie and after knowing "Anurag kashyap" produced this movie i immediately downloaded and Started watching this movie. From the beginning onwards the film went so interestingly and the film was so good. The Nativity of that village the characters and the people all of them was so perfect,and the climax was also perfect,and the length of the film is also less so it was short and best movie,every cinephile should must watch this film.

The performances by the cast, a blend of amateurs and professionals, capture the everyday rhythms of the region even as the actors rise to the challenge of fleshing out characters who are caught in situations that are anything but ordinary.

This movie is a revenge story in a village backdrop with a natural and rustic looking and gripping screenplay. All Actors acted naturally. Director did the job as an seasoned/experienced though it is his first movie as a director. I really liked the screenplay and sound design.

I was privileged to watch this movie during its screening at TIFF. The story of this movie was built up on various real life events including an incident from the director's life. The beauty is, all the actors in the movie are from the same village where they shot.

The story line is based on two parallel tracks. One is Revengeful and the other one is love angle. The back drop voice of an old lady who narrates about the river is evocative. Though it's a revengeful story, I didn't feel much of a violence.

Over all the movie went like a smooth flowing river without any unwanted gushing effect.

The visuals and sound effects are the heart of this movie.

Though I do not understand Malayalam, I throughly enjoyed the movie.

• Krishna Komandla.