sudarshanviji

Set in the coastal village of Kerala, this film wonderfully portrays the events that unfold after the death of an aging patriarch with the right mix of emotions and black humor. Coming to the technical brilliance, the film is mostly shot either at night or under a dull skyscape with sea drenched in the rain which represents the grief that surrounds the family of Vavachan Mestri(who dies in the course of the film) after his death. There are many unbroken shots like in the director's previous film Anagamally Diaries where the actors single-handedly dominate the scenes. Also, the course of death is beautifully shown when the old man(Vavachan Mestri)carries a bag that contains a duck where its fate is already known and so is him. Before his death, he and his son(Eeshi) have a casual conversation and Eeshi promises him that he will conduct his father's funeral like a king. But what makes the film gripping are the events that happen after Vavachan's death and the funeral doesn't go according to the plan. Other supporting characters, let it be Vavachan's wife, daughter or daughter in law have played their roles up to perfection. There is one scene where Vavachan's wife cries just because she has to thereby reciting to those who visit the dead Vavachan and this happens like a cycle and at one point she is awakened by the parish clerk's rose-water and she again resumes her lamenting and this is where the director brings in the content of black humor. Like this, there are so many scenes where grief and humor are rightly balanced. Also, the character(Ayappan-friend of Eeshi) played by Vinayakan depicts how true and helping a friend should be in times of misery. Both Eeshi and Ayappan just don't play off their characters but are stubborn with their own thoughts and decisions. Fate decides everything in this film right from the unruly happenings at the funeral thereby not providing a moment of peace to Eeshi to mourn his father's death to the final 20 minutes of the film where Eeshi is driven mad as a result of the failure in the promise he made to his father. Finally, the old man is denied of an extravagant funeral and meets the fate like the above-mentioned duck and the one buried by the priest. So what stands apart in this film is the unconventional storytelling method adopted by the director to portray the sad truth of life along with a blend of humor. Ee.Ma.Yau- A Cinematic Brilliance of Indian Film Industry.