Moothon: A tale of twos

Moothon, directed by Geetu Mohandas, is a film about a boy going in search of his elder brother. The film is set in two locations, Lakshadweep and Mumbai. The film tells two tales. The film takes place in two timelines. There are two endings. (At least the way I look at it.) The siblings’ transformation in terms of their character only adds to this sense of duality. Also, the film is bilingual. Dialogues switch from Malayalam to Hindi and vice-versa.

If the parts that were shot in Lakshadweep and parts that were shot in Mumbai were given to us separately, it would be incredibly hard for us to guess that both are from the same film. That’s how contrasting it is. Lakshadweep is filled with wide-open shots, the ocean, the beach, the trees and whatnot. Sometimes, the parts that were shot in Lakshadweep looked surreal. There’s a mermaid too in the film. When the sunlight directly hits the ocean, the water almost looks like milk, the sand almost looks like salt. That’s how soothing it is, that’s how beautifully it is shot.

This is juxtaposed with Kamathipura in Mumbai. While Lakshadweep is vast, Kamathipura is cramped up. While sunlight in Lakshadweep is soft, sunlight here is harsh. The clean air is juxtaposed with cigarettes and other drugs. While there were hardly any people on the island, Mumbai has an abundance of it. The sound of waves, trees and birds is replaced with cries, vehicles and violence. And finally, while Lakshadweep is mostly boats and bicycles, there is a car chase sequence in Mumbai.

This is not to say that Lakshadweep is all petals and Mumbai is all thorns. Along with everything mentioned above, Lakshadweep also has ritualistic religious violence. Kuthu Ratheeb, a Muslim ritual, is where a few men whip their bodies with knives and blades, while other men recite hymns. The entire village witness this act as an audience. While identifying one’s own sexuality is termed selfish in Lakshadweep, Mumbai seems to have a place for everyone.

With so much going on in the film, I think it was adventurous of the makers to show it all under two hours. I felt a few more minutes could be dedicated to both the stories. By doing so, the happy coincidences could have also been avoided. The climax as well felt rushed to me. The film deserved a longer run-time. The sense of satisfaction was a bit incomplete. However, this might not be a problem for everyone. This could only be me.

The performances in this film are as good as the cinematography by Rajeev Ravi. (Really, the Lakshadweep part might as well be a tourism advertisement.) While everyone does a fabulous job, it is Nivin Pauly who takes away your breath. There’s a lot which can be spoken about the performances but unfortunately, I can’t. Character revelations play a crucial role in the tale that Moothon is trying to tell. So, I can’t speak much about them because they could be potential spoilers. If you do not care for everything that I have mentioned above, you could at least watch the movie only to look at Nivin Pauly. I have seen him in a lot of films, this could be one of his finest. He is both innocent and arrogant, someone with full of life and a lifeless drug addict, a coming-of-age youth and a seen-it-all rugged adult. It’s jaw-dropping.

Geetu Mohandas has written a brilliant story. Though people escaping their hometown to end up in Mumbai is a cliché, this film is not so much about escaping to Mumbai. The younger sibling, Mulla, goes to Mumbai in search of his elder brother, Akbar. He has no idea where Akbar is. Heck, he does not even know whether Akbar has made it to Mumbai. All he has is a phone number. However, the story is not only about the search for a brother. The story is also about searching and identifying one’s own sexual identity. Along with sexual identity, there’s also poverty. Such stories, even though important, have always remained as the blurry background. This isn’t a revolutionary film. However, it’s a film which shouldn’t be ignored as well.

Moothon was screened at Toronto International Film Festival in September 2019. The Hindi dialogues are written by Anurag Kashyap, who is also one of the producers of the film. It was theatrically released in November 2019. During the time I didn’t get a chance to watch the film. It has been a long wait since then. Now, one can access the movie on Zee5. Moothon is undoubtedly one of the best that has been released on OTT recently. With so much mediocre content getting released every week, this could be a life-saver.

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