Review for CHURULI:
• Language: MALAYALAM
• Duration: 120 Minutes.
• Genre: Science Fiction Mystery Drama.
• PREMIERED ON: 25th International Film Festival of Kerala.
• REVIEW BY ARUNJYOTHI.R.VALIYAVEETIL.
•POSITIVES:
1: Direction.
2: Screenplay and Dialogues.
3: Performance of actors.
4: Cinematography.
5: Editing.
6: Sound Design
•NEGATIVES:
1: Predictable Ending.
2: Little exaggeration.
•ONE WORD: An adventure journey into a mysterious loop, worth a watch.
•DETAIL REVIEW:
Churuli portrays the story of two undercover policemen who are in search of a criminal. To find the culprit both makes a journey into a deep nomadic hilltop place, in search of the criminal both the policemen have to come across various doubtable mysteries associated with the place they are going into, the rest of the story tells the mysterious journey to find the criminal and will they can achieve their mission.
Lijo Jose Pellissery who is well known for his unique film making is back with a new different film that Malayalam film industry has never experienced before. Directed by himself and teams up with Vinoy Thomas and S.Hareesh for the story and screenplay. Churuli comes under the production of Movie Monastery and Chembosky Motion Pictures which is undertaken by the director Lijo Jose Pellissery and Chemban Vinod Jose. As far as the movie is not yet released in theatres, the premiere of the movie was held at the International Film Festival of Kerala, which I occurred to watch.
First of all, I would say Churuli is a kind of film which will be something new to the industry of Malayalam Cinema. It’s a movie that is inhabited with the presence of adventure, horror, loop, and mystery, therefore, uncommonly I am sure that Churuli will offer an unforgettable and unique cinematic experience that will be cherished for a long time. The director Lijo Jose Pellissery had taken the whole movie into a new different level and modern phase of filmmaking and it’s evident in his unconditional making so while watching one can surely proclaim that Lijo Jose Pellissery is a passionate filmmaker who loves to bring up new concepts and varied filmmaking. In Churuli the excellence of an aspirant filmmaker was seen all over, the quality of making was having predominant-upper hand and also never felt anything was compromised, the entirety of the film was genuine as per the genre. As the movie is filled with several types of genre there was no diversion or complication, the steady making was having equal momentum without getting off-balance as per the story and screenplay.
The engaging story is another highlight, every scene from the story and screenplay will let the audience to have fascinating stares at the screen, it’s because wonders and mysteries are shown from the scene by scene. By the well-written plot and screenplay, the job of Lijo Jose Pellissery in making was quite easy because the incidents and the various event in the writings have a proper manner of explanation, even though it’s a fantasy served writing the admittance to accept those particular fantasies are convincing and satisfying. Nothing gets absurd, the ongoing path was accurate as per the plot and the interesting continuous scene related to the previous events are peerlessly equivalent to set the upcoming scenes.
The writer and director also deserve special mention on implementation, from the writing of a story to the making everything was as per the thoughts, ideas and imagination of both the writer and director, the ideas of the writers and the concepts of making by the director had a perfect tally on each other so the complete theatrical viewing experience was incredible which will contrive the audience till the end to know what’s the actual mystery lies behind the climax. The various elements that are blended in the screenplay were also adequate to set the whole scenario and premise of the film, such as building the mystery to generate what is next, the situational humour, making the curiosities on present and to next ongoing circumstances, creating the anticipations on making one to think what’s happening and other forms of deception and suspicions etc were written and executed radiantly by both the writer and director without any means of disorders.
The only drawback I found in the film was the introduction, on an animation which tells what the story is going to be, it lends to have a remembrance from the beginning so when the movie travels to the core of the plot till the end this particular opening strikes at multiple times. So when eyeing the inner story while waiting for one can easily get the targeted climax of the makers, it’s quite manageable to catch, it happened to me. As mentioned above, the opening scene was a great spoiler for my viewing experience but haven’t affected much, credit goes to glorifying making held by the director. It may or may not be a spoiler, all depending on the standpoints of each viewer, makers could have brought another angle to it. A form of an uncommon language was also used throughout, it was phenomenal to match the advancing outlines, felt like a perfect matching to set the rural environment of the premise but when these dialogues get faster in oral it gets complicated to understand and recognise what it went to mean, even tough with subtitles I found little problematic to digest. Also when thinking deeper to get into the world of Churuli is complicated, it’s a place where no signal is found for the network, the phone or telephone doesn’t get work, television doesn’t exist, rare use of newspaper etc forced me to think the shown presumption doesn’t relate and an exaggeration of reality was exhibited.
Another interesting positive factor I found was the cinematography undertaken by Madhu Neelakandan, truly no words to describe it was marvellous. What the film demands for its visuals were caught flawlessly, every single frame was eye-catching. It’s a movie exclusively happening inside a forest so the demanding visuals of this forest were taken genuinely according to the plot and the script. No unfair frames were found, what the scene demands the visuals are fair to justify the scene so the impact was fantastic for the eyes to get into. The splendid shots of the hilltop, inner forest and outward forest were taken drastically which can deliver the feel that one like we are just a part of its territory. The close-up shots and the changing focus into other subjects were also catchy and the stunning lighting techniques used in the indoor shots were unbelievable. The distinct remarkable camera movement was also amazing, for example like the shots of a character running faster, the shaking visuals of central characters travelling in bus and jeep, the rotating shots etc was felt natural and realistic. Here the mastery clever skills of cinematographer are truly evident because capturing the visuals and making the viewers contrive to its frames need a special talent, so here Madhu Neelakandan had done honestly did that, he took the extraordinary frames and offered the right feel, tone and atmosphere of the plot. To be precise a forest, it’s various climatic conditions, inner and outer areas, darkness when getting into nighttime, bizarre feel while walking into the deep forest etc will took the audience to give the sensation that they are just a part of the shown visuals, the cinematographer was simply dominating on each frame and shots.
The next wonderous element is the sound design, the whole team deserves a huge applause. I was shocked at how they had picked up every natural sound happening in a forest. Every single sound when we enter into a deep forest can be felt in Churuli, simply outstanding work. The accurate placing of these sounds was also terrific, for example, there are many scenes of characters walking in and inside the forest so during the scenes the sounds of footsteps, small crawling of birds and insects, flowing sounds of winds, oozing sounds of leaves etc was magically grabbed which more realistic appeal for the viewing experience. Another is the sound undertaken when the characters travelling in vehicles, there is an opening scene of two central characters travelling in a public transport bus and a jeep. During this scene, the focus will automatically be on their conversation, acting and their performance but due to the powerful, seize of various pitches arousing from these junk bus and jeep can make a diversion to think how good they have made an effort to catch these originally. Next, the Editing of Deepu Joseph, it was excellent with the perfect cuts. The entire editing was sharp and I couldn’t find any sort of mismatching in the work. The cuts to the next scene, the transition to the upcoming scene, adding the effects etc were crisp and perfect. The Background Score tuned by Sreerag Saji was groovy, the influence of building doubtfulness, mystery and curiosity were matching to set the scene. The team behind the VFX department also deserves special mention, the visual effects were superlative in all means especially the VFX at the climax, the quality was prior which doesn’t give any feeling of unbalance and was convincing to believe.
Looking into the casting, Lijo Jose Pellissery had done an incredible job. The casting comprises Vinay Forrt, Chemban Vinod Jose, Jaffar Idukki, Joju George, Soubin Thahir and Geethi Sangeetha. Everyone had given their best, the main two central characters of undercover policemen were played by Chemban Vinod Jose and Vinay Forrt. The whole performance by both of them was natural till the end. The dialogue delivery of Chemban Vinod Jose was brilliant, as per the situations his change of tone in delivering was great to watch. Vinay Forrt, he was the right personalities and proper integrity of a spy police officer, expressions of innocence and his mysterious doubt was classy. Jaffar Idukki was also exceptional, his specific qualities for the character was carried out naturally. Joju George and Soubin Thahir come with a cameo performance which is crucial and both did their best as usual and Geethi Sangeetha’s did total justice to her supporting character, also loved the way she dealt with the dilemmas on her character.
Therefore to conclude, I had enjoyed watching Churuli in all aspects, how the movie began and how it ended was delightful, surprising and wonderful to watch. It’s a movie that has the pure signature of veteran director Lijo Jose Pellissery, as we know whenever he comes with a new venture he promises to deliver something unique and fresh, the promise is once again kept and delivered without any fault. So ‘Churuli’ in all aspects is possessed with its charm, eternities and instants which will hold the viewers to believe and realize what actual mystery it intends to show.
ADVICE: WHEN RELEASING ON THEATRES PLEASE DO WATCH THE FILM ON A THEATRE THAT HAS THE BEST SCREEN RESOLUTION AND SOUND QUALITY.
• VERDICT: RECOMMENDED
• RATING: 3.5/5.
