Jio Mami Mumbai Film Festival: Malayalam film “Aattam: Masks coming off human faces…”

Every person wears not one but many masks on their face. Even a man who calls himself modern and progressive has many masks on his face, which others do not immediately realize, but one day or the other this mask definitely falls off his face. Filmmaker Anand Ekarshi has brought one such thought-provoking film “Aattam”.

Basically, it would be wrong to call the Malayalam film 'Aattam' as a normal film. The Asian premiere is being held at the 'Jio MAMI Mumbai Film Festival' running from October 27 to November 5 in Mumbai. Whereas it has also been officially selected for the International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK). Not only this, this film has won the Grand Jury Award for Best Film in 'IFLA 2023'. This film has been selected as the opening film of Indian Panorama at the 54th International Film Festival of India.

Anand Ekarshi's debut film 'Aattam' revolves around a 12-member drama troupe, all of whom are men except Anjali (Zareen Shihab). But for Anjali, there are no enemies here. Anjali never realizes that she is in hostile territory because she has so many allies in this circle in which she has literally grown up. Apart from this, Anjali has Vinay (Vinay Forte) with whom she is in a relationship. Every member of this group is working. Everyone has a daily job to run their family, because neither can they feed nor run their family due to their passion for drama. Female actress Anjali is an architect, Vinay is a small chef, one person works in a gas agency, and the other one works as a plumber or electrician. One member is a former newspaper editor and is financially well off. His financial background comes to the fore at a crucial point in the story, when his resolve to do the right thing is tested.

But, all is not well within the troupe, as there are bruised egos and some internal politics to contend with. A scandal erupts within the group that threatens its existence and also shakes the alliances among the group members. In fact, after a party in the theater group, actress Anjali becomes the victim of a crime by one of the twelve men in the group. An immediate meeting is called between everyone except the accused. While trying to reach a consensus, stories get tangled, doubts emerge, and chaos begins.

The beauty of the two-hour and twenty-minute long film 'Aattam' is that director Ekarshi's script constantly makes us question our assessment of each of the characters, most of whom appear to be harmless creatures living in an unequal world. Are struggling for. The equations among the group constantly change, and words spoken some time ago acquire new meanings in the light of new revelations.

‘Aattam’ is a Malayalam word which has two popular meanings. One is – ‘drama’ and the other is ‘speaking’. Both are relevant in the context of this film. Anand Ekarshi, the director of the film himself, says, "Having acted in theater for over a decade before taking up film production, it feels like destiny that my first film should be based on the backdrop of a theater group and the theatre. To be presented by actors whom I have known for fifteen years as stage actors and friends.

The collective dream of bringing a film based on parts of our lives has been the most exciting part of this journey. Before we finalized the script, all the actors and I would gather twice a week for rehearsals and blocking. Those three months of rigorous rehearsals leading up to the final shoot helped the budding actors ease into what would otherwise have been an intimidating environment. When most of us started our journey with this project, I realized that the biggest challenge would be to win the trust of a production house to invest in our project. I filmed a fifteen-minute pilot scene before talking to the producers. While doing this, I felt that there could not be a better way than this to explain my film to any person. Our thinking was successful.

Because of the pilot, I didn't need to look back. I got Dr. Ajit Joy as a producer for my first film. Dr. Ajit Roy provided us with all the facilities we required. Dr. Ajit Joy not only completely trusted my vision, but he also believed in the talent of all the newcomers in the film. The film has been made using the best equipment like Lectrosonics for sync-sound and Red Monstrous for photography. The idea in terms of the making of the film was to keep it simple and avoid the presence of any cinematic elements that could distract the audience from participating in every scene."

The director further says – “The idea of the film ‘Aattam’ suddenly evolved from a fleeting thought a year ago. That was whether 'justice' is the value of an individual or of the collective. This thought excited me so much that within a year we came together with the film. ,

'Aattam' may be Anand Ekarshi's first film as a writer and director, but he has been interested in theater and acting since the age of ten. With time, his passion for filmmaking also increased. He credits his roots in storytelling to the Kochi-based theater group Lokadharmi, where he was a part of many performances across India for over a decade. He also made some short films. He is a graduate in Communicative English and a postgraduate in Psychology. Perhaps this is why he gets inspiration to solve the complexities of the human mind through stories.

Director Anand Ekarshi says, “Our film underlines the fact that if a woman does not have the courage to stand up for herself, then even the friendliest place can become hostile for her. Committing to a character gives us a sense of comfort, but we're not particularly aware of it until that rare event comes along that not only unsettles us but sweeps us off our feet. It also pulls the ground below. The same is the case in our film. In the film, Anjali is suddenly questioned about her past conduct, her attire, and even her casual comments. “Not only this, it is used as a weapon to delegitimize their legitimate concerns.”

The producer of the film, Dr. Ajit Joy, is basically a nuclear surgeon. As a nuclear surgeon, Dr. Ajith Joy has been the CMD of DDRC SRL, Kerala's largest diagnostic network. Currently, he owns several business companies, one of which is one of his early ventures – DDC Group of Laboratories established in 1983, Dr. Joy's med store, and Dr. Joy's Mammographia. The welfare of Dr. Joyce Sportz and Dr. Anand. An affluent investor and businessman, his empire extends to Netrasemi, a micro-chip firm, Aramis, an AL-based medical imaging and analysis software firm, DDNMRC Group of Nuclear Medicine and Therapy Centers, and several companies in the areas of real estate and agricultural plantations. Other business. With his latest venture, Joy Movie Productions, and its sister companies Studio Iris, Joy Music, and Iris Pixels, he has ventured into the film production business to focus on creating 360-degree movie-making experiences.

Directed by Anand Ekarshi, the lead cast of this film includes Vinay Fort, Zareen Shihab, and Kala Bhavan Shajon.

- Shantiswarup Tripathi