Dr Khusi Pattanayak
Martin Scorsese once said, cinema is a matter of what’s in the frame and what’s out and Purusha Pretham is an engaging reminder of that. Purusha Pretham (Malayalam, 2023), a satire on police investigation, revolves around an unidentified corpse.
The movie is set in a period that is pre-pandemic and precedes the devastating Kerala floods (2018). It depicts an imperfect world that is filled with imperfect characters. In this Krishand (director and cinematographer) film supercop legends are manufactured in the local pubs; senior cops spend time wooing audience through acting skills and clicking selfies; prosocial endeavours keep police so busy that they barely find time to handle actual cases.
The movie presents us with everyday policemen, who are not evil perse but they are overburdened, bone-weary and limited by resources, power and knowledge to execute anything in a manner that goes by the rulebook (or even remotely appears to be reasonable). The cops are not herculean figures rather they are made fun of because of their incompetencies and are hated by civilians; and just because the movie is about cops it is not exclusively about a testosterone dominated brotherhood. Women are everywhere, not just as token presence, but as real (and sometimes flawed) counterparts to the male characters.
The name, Purusha Pretham, translates as ‘male ghost’ in English language. But the movie is not about ghosts. Rather it is a technical jargon used by Kerala police to refer unidentified male corpse (the end credits mention this term has recently been replaced with more accurate nomenclature).
Ajith Haridas and Manu Thodupuzha (screenplay / writer) did a great job in creating a noir which is laced with sublime dark humour. The humour is consistent and gets conveyed through dialogues and unexpected plot twists; thankfully no loud over the top slapstick comedy. Infact the film smartly makes a commentary or two about caste discrimination and abuse (depicted in many forms) without distracting the audience from the primary plot line.
The script is elevated by some strong performances. Darshana Rajendran as classic femme fatale keeps the aura of mystery intact with her nuanced delivery; Alexander Prasanth in his career defining role is top-notch; every actor, irrespective of the length of their role, whether the celebrated Jagadish Kumar or the unnamed extra who tries to escape police interrogation is brilliant.
In most of the frames one can see a camera covering as much of the surroundings as possible, while human characters hang around in margins. It is almost as if the film maker is insisting that context is more important than the case! The end credits show actual footage of experts who share their views on why it is difficult to preserve unidentified dead bodies and how police are essentially crippled by lack of training, flawed system, and apathy of authorities to handle such situation.
Despite the unconventional (probably one of its kind) premise Purusha Pretham refuses to take itself too seriously and reminds us often that it is a work of fiction – the movie begins and ends with a shot from television serial and offers us a protagonist who loves spinning stories blurring the line of reality and fiction. I am sure the filmmakers were paying their homage to the school of absurdism when they decided to introduce the subplot of lemonade and orange juice; or got a cop transferred to traffic duty to tackle Vit D deficiency problem!
If you do not mind watching a fairly executed experimental movie that could have been shorter by 20 minutes (certain segments felt repetitive) then do feast on Purusha Pretham available on SonyLiv.
(Author is an internationally published writer & corporate communication specialist. Views are personal)
