International Film in focus: The underrated gem Kishkindha Kaandam(2024)
Written by Ashley D Costa on 7th October 2024
- Country: India
- Language: Malayalam
- Run Time: 123 minutes
- BBFC Rating: 12A
- Genre: Drama, Mystery
This small film from the Malayalam-speaking South Indian state of Kerala has garnered rave reviews from critics and audiences worldwide. It had a limited release outside of its native Kerala and was released in a few selected theatres in the UK.
Kishkindha Kaandam’s initial release on September 12, coincided with bigger releases such as Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (2024) and Speak No Evil (2024), and it went unnoticed in the UK theatres.
But word-of-mouth publicity has worked in favour of this film and its final screening at Cineworld, Newcastle on September 26 was met with a good audience rush.
The gripping screenplay is written in such a manner that the audience is not spoonfed any information forcefully, but rather it presents itself gradually.
As each scene progresses, new details come to light, but a mystery still lingers over the viewers, only to be unravelled in the final scene.
The story revolves around Ajaya Chandran (played by Asif Ali), his wife Aparna (played by Aparna Balamurali), and his father Appu Pillai (played by Vijayaraghavan).
Chandran is an officer for the Kerala Forests & Wildlife Department and lives with his wife in an ancestral home they share with Pillai.
Their home is situated nearby a nature reserve filled with havoc-causing wild monkeys, that often steal random objects from the family.
CONTAINS SPOILERS FROM THIS POINT ONWARDS!
The film opens when the Police enforces licensed firearm owners to submit their firearms, due to an upcoming election in the constituency that is notorious for its Naxalite activities.
The newly wedded couple Chandran and Aparna, just a few hours after their marriage, returns home to find the Police questioning Pillai about his missing gun.
As a usual routine, the initial suspicion falls on the wild monkeys dwelling in the trees surrounding the house.
As Chandran leaves for work, Aparna finds some of Pillai’s mannerisms as strange and mysterious.
Pillai, a retired army officer, has a constant arrogance and spends most of the time confined to his bedroom, which he forbids others from entering.
A bored Aparna’s curiosity unravels more details about her husband Chandran and father-in-law Pillai.
Chandran, whose first wife Praveena succumbed to cancer two years back, is still searching for his missing son Chachu for the past three years.
Aparna finds out that Pillai suffers from memory loss, a fact he hides cleverly from the outside world.
The film which began with a missing gun gradually evolves itself into a missing child and a missing memory.
Aparna concludes that Pillai chooses the memories he forgets and his grandson might be a memory he intentionally chose to forget.
She finally unlocks the memories that are kept hidden inside the forbidden doors of Pillai’s bedroom, only to find that Pillai is not the only person hiding memories.
Aparna’s search for the truth behind the missing gun, the missing son, and the missing memory forms the core of the plot.
Dinjith Ayyathan, in his second feature as a director, has skillfully worked and presented the screenplay penned by Bahul Ramesh.
The movie which was made on a budget of 7 Crore Indian Rupees (approx. £635,000) has collected about 70 Crore Indian Rupees (approx. £6,350,000) from its worldwide theatre run.
Kishkindha Kaandam is playing in selected theatres in the UK.
Watch the trailer of Kishkindha Kaandam.