Chola

It is rather difficult to comprehend what Chola (Shadow of Water) tries to convey but on continued assessment to me it felt like a display of the brutally animalitic and exploitative nature of man, told through an eerie setting that is the hallmark of Sanal Sasidharan and ended with a startling climax. TN.

This story could be told with in 15 -20 mints. Spend remaining 1 hour to show the cinematographic skills and another half an hr for hero's unsuccessful attempts to convince heroine ( same dialogue, same actions, same reactions )

I thought Aparan & Joji & some more as well, are the darkest movies I have ever seen in Malayalam movie industry till date.

I was just blown off after seeing this movie.

Just 3 main characters, hats off to the director.

It depicts how human behaviour evolves/succumbs/adapts according to the situation.

The 2nd half was inhuman!!!!

I don't have the courage to watch it again.

Excellent screenplay.

An eerie depiction of the story of an innocent girl who sets about to enjoy the day with her boyfriend. Though predictable, it strikes hard on you. Cinematography and music are the key elements that glues your mind on the movie. They add greatly to the rawness. Not a movie for everyone. Strong theme.

What made me watch Chola was Sanal's terrific previous venture Ozhivudivasathe Kali (yet to see S Durga). Barring the solid performances of Joju George (as the molester) and Nimisha Sajayan (as the abused) and the stunning cinematography by Ajith Aacharya, I couldn't really take to Chola the same way I did with Ozhivudivasathe Kali. The transition from eerie drama to magical realism wasn't seamless and a random interjection of Stockholm Syndrome only made it worse. I like the way Sanal tackles the theme of oppression (this is the third in what one could call SOCU - Sanal's Oppression Cinematic Universe) but Chola takes things one step too far. This is one of the few films (in recent times) that makes effective use of its natural locales (Venu's Carbon is another). The ambiguity in (almost the entirety of) the second half and the climax left a bad taste in my mouth.