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സമൂഹത്തിനുള്ള ‘അറിയിപ്പ്’; റിവ്യു

Published: November 25 , 2022 12:37 PM IST

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മലയാളത്തിൽ കലാമൂല്യമുള്ള സിനിമകളുമായി തന്റേതായ ഇടം സൃഷ്ടിക്കുന്ന സംവിധായകനാണ് മഹേഷ് നാരായണൻ. അദ്ദേഹത്തിന്റെ കഥ പറച്ചിലിനു സാധാരണ മനുഷ്യന്റെ വിയർപ്പിന്റെ മണമുണ്ട്. ‘ടേക് ഓഫ്’ ആയാലും ‘സീ യൂ സൂൺ’ ആയാലും തന്റെ കാഴ്ചപ്പാടുകളോട് ഒരു വിട്ടുവീഴ്ചയും ചെയ്യാത്ത ചലച്ചിത്രകാരനായി മഹേഷ് നാരായണൻ നട്ടെല്ലുയർത്തി നിൽക്കുകയാണ്. അദ്ദേഹത്തിന്റെ ഏറ്റവും പുതിയ സിനിമയായ ‘അറിയിപ്പും’ സമാനമായ ഒരു പ്രസ്താവനയാണ്. എന്താണ് സമൂഹം തന്റെ സിനിമയിലുടെ ഏറ്റെടുക്കേണ്ട സാമൂഹിക പ്രതിബദ്ധത എന്ന കൃത്യമായ ബോധ്യമുള്ള ഒരു സംവിധായകന്റെ സൃഷ്ടിയായി അറിയിപ്പിനെ അടയാളപ്പെടുത്താം. ഡിക്ലറേഷൻ എന്ന വാക്കിന്റെ മലയാളമാണ് അറിയിപ്പ്. ഐഎഫ്എഫ്ഐയിൽ പനോരമ വിഭാഗത്തിൽ പ്രദർശിപ്പിച്ച ചിത്രം ഐഎഫ്എഫ്കെയിലും വരുന്നുണ്ട്.

വടക്കേ ഇന്ത്യയിൽ ജീവിക്കാനായി ബുദ്ധിമുട്ടുന്ന രണ്ടു മലയാളികൾ. പുകമഞ്ഞു നിറഞ്ഞ ഡൽഹിയിൽ അതിജീവനത്തിനായി പോരാടുന്ന ഹരീഷും രശ്മിയും. കുഞ്ചാക്കോ ബാബനാണ് നായകനായെത്തുന്നത്. ദിവ്യപ്രഭയാണ് രശ്മി. ഗ്ലൗസ് നിർമിക്കുന്ന ഫാക്ടറിയിലെ ഇടുങ്ങിയ ജീവിതസാഹചര്യം. ജീവിതത്തിൽ രക്ഷപ്പെടാനായി ഇരുവരും വിദേശത്തേക്കു ചേക്കേറാനുള്ള അധ്വാനം നടത്തിവരികയാണ്. കോവിഡ് കാലത്ത് മാസ്കണിഞ്ഞ ജീവിതം, ഗ്ലൗസ് നിർമാണ ഫാക്ടറി തുടങ്ങി സമകാലിക സാഹചര്യങ്ങളിലൂടെ ഒരു പരിധി വരെ യഥാതഥമായാണ് കഥ മുന്നോട്ടുപോവുന്നത്. തന്റെ അസ്തിത്വം നഷ്ടമാവാതിരിക്കാൻ പൊരുതുന്ന സ്ത്രീത്വത്തിന്റെ കഥയിലേക്കാണ് സിനിമ ലാൻഡ് ചെയ്യുന്നത്. 

‘ലിഫ്റ്റ് നൽകി വീട്ടിലെത്തിച്ച് ‘സൂപ്പർ നടൻ’ പീഡിപ്പിച്ചത് 3 യുവതികളെ!’ അന്ന് രജനിയേക്കാളും പ്രതിഫലം; കെണിയൊരുക്കിയത് മദ്യരാജാവ്?

2009ൽ ‘മീനു കുര്യൻ’; ഒരു ലക്ഷമെങ്കിലും മതിയെന്ന് 2022ൽ; മുകേഷിനെ രക്ഷിക്കുമോ ‘ലാ‌പ്ടോപ് സന്ദേശ’വും സിപിഎമ്മും?

‘അമ്മ’ ഞെട്ടും മുൻപേ ലോകത്തെ ഞെട്ടിച്ചവർ: അന്ന് നിർമാതാവിനെതിരെ 80 വനിതകൾ, ലൈംഗിക പീഡനത്തിന് കൊടുംതടവ്

മെഡിക്കൽ ആവശ്യങ്ങൾക്കായി ഗ്ലൗസ് നിർമിക്കുന്ന ഡൽഹിയിലെ ഒരു കമ്പനിയിലെ തൊഴിലാളികളാണ് ദമ്പതിമാരായ ഹരീഷും രശ്മിയും. വിദേശത്തേക്കുള്ള വീസ ലഭിക്കുന്നതിനായി വർക്ക് സ്കിൽ തെളിയിക്കാനുള്ള വിഡിയോ എടുക്കുന്നിടത്താണ് ചിത്രം ആരംഭിക്കുന്നത്. ഒരു ദിവസം ഫാക്ടറി തൊഴിലാളികളുടെ വാട്സാപ് ഗ്രൂപ്പിൽ രശ്മിയുടെ പേരിൽ ഒരു അശ്ലീല വിഡിയോ ആരോ പോസ്റ്റ് ചെയ്യുകയാണ്. 

ഇത്തരമൊരു സന്ദർഭത്തിൽ മിണ്ടാതിരുന്ന് എല്ലാംസഹിക്കാനാണ് സമൂഹം ഏതു സ്ത്രീയോടും പറയുക. ഇവിടെ രശ്മി തല കുനിക്കാൻ തയാറാവുന്നില്ല.

കെട്ടുറപ്പുള്ള തിരക്കഥയും ശക്തമായ കഥാപാത്ര നിർമിതിയുമാണ് സിനിമയെ ശ്രദ്ധേയമാക്കുന്നത്. ഉയർത്തുകയും താഴ്ത്തുകയും ചെയ്യുന്ന മാസ്കുകൾ സാധാരണ മനുഷ്യജീവിതത്തിന്റെ കാഴ്ചയായി മാറുകയാണ് അറിയിപ്പിൽ.

ഇൻഡിപെന്റന്റ് ഫിലിംമെയ്ക്കിങ് രീതികളോട് അടുത്തുനിൽക്കുന്ന ചലച്ചിത്രഭാഷയാണ് സിനിമാട്ടോഗ്രഫിയിൽ മഹേഷ് നാരായണൻ പിൻതുടരുന്നത്. എങ്കിലും കാഴ്ചക്കാർക്ക് വൈകാരികമായി സിനിമയോട് അടുപ്പം തോന്നുമോയെന്ന സംശയം ബാക്കിയാണ്. തന്റേതെന്ന പേരിൽ പ്രചരിപ്പിക്കപ്പെട്ട അശ്ലീല വിഡിയോക്കെതിരെ ഒറ്റയ്ക്കുപോരാടി ജയിച്ച ഒരു വനിതയുടെ ജീവിതം സമീപകാലത്ത് മാധ്യമങ്ങളിൽ ചർച്ചയായതാണ്. കുടുംബവും ബന്ധുക്കളും കൈവിട്ടിട്ടും ഒറ്റയ്ക്ക് പോരാടുന്ന ആ വനിതയുടെ കഥയോടാണ് സിനിമയ്ക്ക് ഏറെ അടുപ്പം.

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Ariyippu Movie Review & Rating: അതിജീവനത്തിനായുള്ള പോരാട്ടം; 'അറിയിപ്പ്' റിവ്യൂ

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Ariyippu Movie Review & Rating: ലൊക്കാർണോ ചലച്ചിത്ര മേള, ബി എഫ് ഐ ലണ്ടൻ ചലച്ചിത്രമേള, എഫ്എഫ്‌കെ എന്നിങ്ങനെ നിരവധി അന്താരാഷ്ട്ര ചലച്ചിത്രമേളകളിൽ പ്രദർശിപ്പിച്ചതിനു ശേഷം ഒടിടിയിൽ റിലീസ് ചെയ്തിരിക്കുകയാണ് മഹേഷ് നാരായണൻ- കുഞ്ചാക്കോ ബോബൻ ചിത്രം 'അറിയിപ്പ്'. നെറ്റ്ഫ്ളിക്സിലാണ് ചിത്രം സ്ട്രീമിംഗ് ആരംഭിച്ചിരിക്കുന്നത്. 17 വർഷത്തിന് ശേഷം ലൊക്കാർണോ ചലച്ചിത്രമേളയിൽ മത്സര വിഭാഗത്തിൽ സെലക്ഷൻ ലഭിച്ച ആദ്യ ഇന്ത്യൻ ചിത്രമെന്ന ബഹുമതിയും അറിയിപ്പ് നേടിയിരുന്നു. ഒരു സിനിമാക്കാഴ്ച എന്നതിനേക്കാൾ ജീവിതത്തിന്റെ ഒരു നേർക്കാഴ്ചാനുഭവമാണ് 'അറിയിപ്പ്' സമ്മാനിക്കുന്നത്.

മലയാളികളായ ഹരീഷും (കുഞ്ചാക്കോ ബോബൻ) രശ്മിയും (ദിവ്യ പ്രഭ) മെഡിക്കൽ ഗ്ലൗസുകൾ നിർമ്മിക്കുന്ന ഡൽഹിയിലെ ഒരു കമ്പനിയിൽ ജോലി ചെയ്യുകയാണ്. വിദേശത്തേക്ക് പോവണമെന്നും കുറച്ചുകൂടി മെച്ചപ്പെട്ട ജീവിതമുണ്ടാവണമെന്നുമാണ് ഇരുവരുടെയും സ്വപ്നം. അതിനായുള്ള ശ്രമങ്ങളിലാണ് ഹരീഷും രശ്മിയും. വർക്ക് ചെയ്യുന്ന കമ്പനിയിലെ സൂപ്പർവൈസർ അറിയാതെ രശ്മിയുടെ ഒരു സ്കിൽ വീഡിയോ ഷൂട്ട് ചെയ്ത് വിസ പ്രോസസിംഗിനായി അയക്കുകയാണ് ഹരീഷ്. എന്നാൽ ആ വീഡിയോ പിന്നീട് അശ്ലീലമായ ദൃശ്യങ്ങൾ കൂട്ടികലർത്തി വാട്സ് ആപ്പിൽ പ്രചരിക്കുന്നു. ഇത് ജോലി സ്ഥലത്തും ഇരുവരുടെയും ദാമ്പത്യത്തിലും അസ്വാരസ്യങ്ങൾ ഉണ്ടാക്കുന്നു. വീഡിയോയ്ക്ക് പിന്നിലുള്ള യഥാർത്ഥ പ്രതികളെ കണ്ടെത്താനായി ഹരീഷ് കേസ് ഫയൽ ചെയ്യുകയാണ്. രശ്മിയേയും കടുത്ത സമ്മർദ്ദത്തിലേക്കാണ് തുടർന്നുള്ള സംഭവവികാസങ്ങൾ കൊണ്ടെത്തിക്കുന്നത്. താനല്ല ആ വീഡിയോയിൽ എന്നു തെളിയിക്കാനായി രശ്മി നടത്തുന്ന പോരാട്ടത്തിന്റെയും വീഡിയോയ്ക്ക് പിന്നിലെ സത്യമറിയാനായി ഹരീഷ് നടത്തുന്ന അന്വേഷണത്തിന്റെയും കഥയാണ് 'അറിയിപ്പ്'.

കുഞ്ചാക്കോ ബോബൻ എന്ന നടനെയല്ല, അതിജീവനത്തിനായി പോരാടുന്ന ഹരീഷിനെ മാത്രമേ അറിയിപ്പിൽ കാണാനാവൂ. തനിക്കേൽക്കേണ്ടി വന്ന ചൂഷണങ്ങളോടു ചെറുത്തുനിൽക്കുന്ന രശ്മിയുടെ മാനസികാവസ്ഥകളെ കയ്യടക്കത്തോടെ ദിവ്യപ്രഭയും അവതരിപ്പിച്ചിട്ടുണ്ട്. പുകമഞ്ഞിൽ മറഞ്ഞുകിടക്കുന്ന ഡൽഹിയിലെ റോഡുകളും പ്രാന്തപ്രദേശങ്ങളും ഗ്ലൗസ് ഫാക്ടറിയുടെ പരിസരവുമെല്ലാം പുത്തനൊരു കാഴ്ചാനുഭവമാണ് സമ്മാനിക്കുന്നത്. നിറപ്പകിട്ടുകളൊന്നുമില്ലാത്ത ചിത്രത്തിലെ ഫ്രെയിമുകൾ ഒപ്പിയെടുക്കുന്നത് കഷ്ടപ്പാടുകളാൽ നരച്ചുപോയ ചില ജീവിതങ്ങളെ തന്നെയാണ്. സനു വർഗീസാണ് ചിത്രത്തിന്റെ ഛായാഗ്രാഹകൻ.

കോവിഡ് കാലത്ത് ചിത്രീകരിച്ച ചിത്രം, ഓരോ ഫ്രെയിമിലും ആ കാലഘട്ടത്തെയും ഓർമ്മപ്പെടുത്തുന്നതാണ്. മാസ്ക് ധരിച്ച അഭിനേതാക്കളും തൊഴിലാളികളുമൊക്കെയാണ് ഭൂരിഭാഗം ഫ്രെയിമിലും നിറയുന്നത്. ടേക് ഓഫ്, സീ യൂ സൂൺ തുടങ്ങിയ ചിത്രങ്ങളിൽ നിന്നും 'അറിയിപ്പി'ലേക്ക് എത്തുമ്പോൾ ചിത്രത്തിന്റെ എന്റർടെയിൻമെന്റ് മൂല്യത്തിനേക്കാളും കലാമൂല്യത്തിനാണ് മഹേഷ് നാരായണൻ പ്രാധാന്യം നൽകുന്നത്. ഏച്ചുക്കെട്ടലുകളിലാതെ, ചില യാഥാർത്ഥ്യങ്ങളെ/ മാനസികാവസ്ഥകളെ അതിന്റെ പരുക്കൻ രീതിയിൽ അവതരിപ്പിച്ചിരിക്കുകയാണ് മഹേഷ് നാരായണൻ. തന്റെ ചിത്രങ്ങൾ ഒന്നും ലിറ്റററി വർക്കുകൾ അല്ല, ചുറ്റുപാടും നടക്കുന്ന സംഭവങ്ങളിൽ നിന്നും കണ്ടെടുക്കുന്നവയാണെന്ന് മഹേഷ് നാരായണൻ അഭിമുഖങ്ങളിൽ വ്യക്തമാക്കിയിട്ടുള്ളതാണ്. ആ വാക്കുകളെ ശരിവയ്ക്കുന്ന ചിത്രമാണ് അറിയിപ്പും.

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• Kunchacko Boban, Divyaprabha, Kiran Peethambaran, Rohith Gupta, Anju Thakur, Athulya Ashadam, Kartikey Saksena, Saifudheen Starrer Ariyippu Movie Review Rating

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Movie review | Ariyippu: A declaration of war between conscience and survival

Before a tinge of light could hit the screen, Mahesh Narayanan makes the most important declaration about Ariyippu. He throws at us the numerous festivals this movie has run through, thereby almost warning the audience to not expect an edge-of-the-seat-thriller like his 'C U Soon' or 'Take-Off'. Yet, in more ways than one, Mahesh delivers his most satisfying film with Ariyippu. 

Reshmi (Divya Prabha) and Hareesh (Kunchacko Boban) are a couple from Kerala who works in a medical glove manufacturing factory in the National Capital Region (NCR). For them, the job is a stepping stone towards a life outside India. The movie opens with Hareesh shooting a 'skill video' of Reshmi, a prerequisite for acquiring a job visa. 

However, COVID decides to put a dampener on things, forcing the couple to hang on to their 'transit' job indefinitely. With almost all their money tied up with the visa agency, the couple begins to list their options. But, Hareesh gets into a scuffle with an employee at the factory, which leads to an edited version of Reshmi's skill video, spliced together with that of a woman engaging in a sexual act in the factory, being circulated in the organisation's WhatsApp group. How Reshmi and Hareesh navigate the challenges that follow this episode forms the crux of Ariyippu.

Kunchacko Boban-starrer ‘Ariyippu’ to screen at 75th Locarno Film festival

‘Ariyippu’ starring Kunchacko Boban to release directly on Netflix

The director's move to set the story in an industrial town, where life, much like the constantly running assembly line of latex gloves, is mechanical and pale, evokes a sense of monotony and the need to escape this circle as soon as possible.

Ariyippu holds a mirror to the morality and conscience of the human mind. It is a battle between doing what is right and the innate need to lead a better life, which often exposes the flawed morality of the most perfect race on this planet. 

Trust is another element Mahesh Narayanan toys with in Ariyippu. The video drives a wedge between the couple's relationship, with Hareesh being conflicted internally while wanting to believe it's not his wife in it. However, his patriarchial conditioning and society's general notion about such incidents pushes him to the dark side. Hareesh embarks on a silent mission to find out the culprits behind the video. However, he is often like a dog chasing a car. He has little to no clarity regarding what to do if he gets his hands on them.

While the movie may seem like an attempt to salvage one's image in society from the outside, Ariyippu, under all those layers, is a 'note-to-self'.

The sub-plot in Ariyippu does a decent job of complimenting and finally merging with the main theme.

Through his carefully-planned frames, Mahesh shines a light on the living conditions of migrants, especially from the south and the northeast, in states like Delhi. 

Ariyippu is equally a scathing indictment of the evils of the class system prevalent in this country, as it is an in-depth study of the human psyche.

The symbolism of Reshmi's ring to portray her shackles seemed a little too on the nose. Certain frames overstayed their welcome. But, for a festival movie, Ariyippu's editing is crisp. Then again, Mahesh Narayanan's technical prowess has never been in question.

Sanu Varghese's cinematography infuses realism into Mahesh's seemingly simple narrative. He has beautifully captured the rawness of the outskirts of Delhi.

It must have been just another day at the office for Sushin Shyam, who has neatly delivered what was asked of him.

Performances – The highlight by a mile

The intensity of Hareesh and Reshmi is what truly sells this movie. Kunchacko Boban as Hareesh is pure class. The ease with which he portrays the character's internal conflict, prejudices and guilt was a joy to witness. While Mollywood is busy celebrating 2022 as Mammootty's year, Kunchacko has been the sleeper hit with his brilliant outings in Nna Thaan Case Kodu and Pada. His choice of scripts has been on point for some time now and this performance has only added to his sheen.

Divya Prabha is a wonder in Ariyippu. It's about time she got full-length roles like Reshmi. Despite being in the centre of all that chaos, you never once see Reshmi being overwhelmed by her emotions. Thirty minutes into the movie and Reshmi convinces you that she's made way too many sacrifices for her to be jilted by an edited video. Divya's performance is measured from start to end. 

The scene where Hareesh and Reshmi get into a quarrel over his suspicion is one of the best scenes in the movie, despite the element of domestic violence, due to the sheer originality of their performances.

Kannan Arunachalam as Suresh has rendered his role quite well. With perfect Hindi diction, he is pleasantly believable as the Tamilian who has lived the majority of his life among northerners.

Once again, do not wait for something big to happen in Ariyippu. Sit back and walk with the characters to the declaration.

Ariyippu is streaming on Netflix.

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Ariyippu Review: An Understated But Telling Gem

Ariyuppu review: informed with disarming simplicity, narayanan's screenplay is also marked by psychological depth..

Cast : Kunchacko Boban, Faisal Malik, Danish Husain, Kannan Arunachalam, Sidharth Bhardwaj, Lovleen Mishra and Divya Prabha

Director: Mahesh Narayanan

Ratin g: Four stars (out of 5)

Mahesh Narayanan's fourth directorial venture, Ariyippu (Declaration), a Malayalam film with a liberal smattering of Hindi, opens with a video on a mobile phone. The face in the recorded footage - that of a woman employee of a medical gloves factory near Delhi - is hidden behind a surgical mask. Uncovering the identity of this woman is the focal point of a plot centred on a migrant couple placed under severe duress by an unfortunate turn of events.

This prelude to the story points to two facts. The obvious one is that Covid-19 is still raging and parts of the world are still under partial lockdowns. The not so obvious one is what the masks, real and figurative, conceal. Ariyippu , which has an array of characters whose masks disguise the truth that lie buried in their souls, lets the opacities and ambiguities linger until the very end.

Ariyippu , competing for the Suvarna Chakoram at the 27th International Film Festival of Kerala, is now streaming on Netflix. It is a tale of a moral crisis and its consequences on a Malayali couple who work in the medical gloves factory that serves as the film's principal setting.

The man, Hareesh (Kunchacko Boban, who is also a producer of the film along with Shebin Backer and Mahesh Narayanan), does night shifts at Neelam Rubber Factory, where his wife Reshmi (Divyaprabha), too, works. They hope to be in Delhi temporarily. They have applied for visas for jobs abroad. The pandemic intervenes and scuttles their plans.

To make matters worse, an old video surfaces and circulates quickly among the employees of the factory. It puts Hareesh and Reshmi's jobs and marriage on the line. They file a police complaint at the risk of overturning many apple carts, including their own.

Tension and intrigue abound in Ariyippu as a can of worms is opened. The unsuspecting couple tries to wriggle out of the tight spot that they are in. As they dig deeper into the mystery of the video, the more dirt and distress they unearth.

Narayanan builds up the tale one layer at a time, detailing the causes and fallouts of Reshmi and Hareesh's troubles. With their jobs under a cloud, recriminations multiply between the two. Cornered and assailed by confusion, Hareesh resorts to desperate steps only to aggravate matters for himself and his wife.

Neither speaks enough Hindi to be able to make their feelings clear to those that run the factory. Being migrants grappling with a serious language barrier is actually the least of their problems. The mess caused by the emergence of the video is infinitely more irksome. It threatens to stymie their plans for good.

The factory has a couple Malayalam-speaking senior employees, including the avuncular Suresh (Kannan Arunachalam), who double up as their interpreters and sounding boards when the need arises, but so intractable is the problem that it triggers anxiety and impulsive acts.

The masks that people wear not only conceal faces, but also disguise the realities of a workplace where much is amiss. Supervisor Smita (Lovleen Mishra) strives to uncover activities that appear to be at odds with the factory's quality control procedures.

As the story unfolds, Ariyippu brings to light the yawning gap between what is visible and what lies beneath the surface. Informed with disarming simplicity, Narayanan's screenplay is also marked by psychological depth, which aids in sustaining audience interest in the plight of the couple.

Besides extracting unwaveringly solid performances from Kunchacko Boban and Divyaprabha, Narayanan uses actors like Danish Husain, Faisal Malik, Saifudheen and Sidharth Bhardwaj (playing a cop) in impactful supporting roles. Lovleen Mishra fleshes out her part without having to overstretch herself.

The technicians at Narayanan's disposal are all their best in a film that allows them the scope to demonstrate their craft without taking recourse to self-conscious methods. The technical and visual vim and vigour of Narayanan's Take Off, C U Soon and Malik are replaced here with craftsmanship of a less flashy but no less effective kind.

Among the principal technicians is, of course, the director himself performing editing duties with Rahul Radhakrishnan. The cutting gives Ariyippu a sense of pace and a pulsating rhythm even when what is happening on the screen tilts towards the minimalistic.

Cinematographer Sanu John Varughese lights and shoots both the interiors and the external settings with an eye on what is particularly productive in highlighting the morally dodgy, emotionally stifling ambience. The roar of the factory machines, the wails of the factory siren, and other variegated ambient sounds accentuate the visual and aural atmospherics.

Thanks to an approach that rests more on the inconspicuous than on the obtrusive, the backdrop - the badlands of Delhi NCR - is not just a convenient backdrop. It has a germane purpose - showing the audience the core of the shadowy environs that breed sleaze and skulduggery on one hand and despair and agony on the other.

Ariyippu is an understated but telling gem from a director at the top of his game. An absolute must watch.

• Cast Kunchacko Boban, Faisal Malik, Danish Husain, Kannan Arunachalam, Sidharth Bhardwaj, Lovleen Mishra and Divya Prabha

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Ariyippu Movie Review: Mahesh Narayanan documents a volatile situation in his finest film yet

Rating: ( 4 / 5)

There is a scene in Ariyippu (English: Declaration) where Kunchacko Boban slaps himself a few times and breaks down after doing something he shouldn't have done. It occurs at a crucial point in the film when he is overwhelmed by a palpable degree of frustration which propelled him to the above situation. It is just a minor description of what I find to be Kunchacko Boban's boldest performance yet. And director Mahesh Narayanan and cinematographer Sanu John Varghese frame this moment without music. It's raw emotions, pure and simple. This is, of course, a quality that can be said of the rest of the film, too. In Ariyippu , we find Mahesh Narayanan at his most liberated, operating in a terrain he hasn't explored before. Ariyippu is his purest film, devoid of adulteration from commercial cinema trappings. It's a film for grown-up, serious-minded filmgoers. 

Director: Mahesh Narayanan

Cast: Kunchacko Boban, Divyaprabha, Loveleen Mishra, Faisal Malik, Kannan Arunachalam, Sidharth Bhardwaj

Ariyippu , which just premiered at the Locarno International Film Festival, begins at a glove factory in Delhi where a husband and wife, Hareesh (Kunchacko Boban) and Reshmi (Divyaprabha), are blue-collar workers under the watch of -- and at the mercy of -- their superiors. Strangely enough, the stifling work atmosphere of the factory that Mahesh and Sanu depict reminded me of George Orwell's 1984 , even though Ariyippu has nothing to do with dystopia. It has a slightly dystopian bent, though, with a few characters constantly feeling a sense of oppression around potentially murky individuals who have them under their scanner. Some interactions occur inside locked doors, with all the blinds drawn. Hareesh and Reshmi have different responsibilities at the factory, and, like any blue-collar worker, they hope for a better future. The couple's higher aspirations come under threat after an unforeseen incident proves to be humiliating for both of them. In a place where mobile phones are strictly forbidden, technology somehow manages to be a spoilsport. 

When things get beyond their control, Hareesh and Reshmi become desperate. An attempt to lodge a police complaint doesn't do much to alleviate their troubles. It only makes matters more awkward. I find it interesting that Mahesh placed his Malayalam-speaking characters in a Hindi-speaking locality because language and geographical differences bring their own set of alienating and anxiety-inducing moments. There is always the threat of hostile behaviour from someone who is not, as they say, 'one of our own.' There is always a scope for discrimination-based decision-making. Who to turn to—and who to turn away from? Would someone take pity and lend a helping hand instead of making one increasingly uncomfortable? And Ariyippu puts both Hareesh and Reshmi through a fair amount of squirm-inducing moments. 

I liked how the women in this film seem better equipped than the men. This is not a film where they do something rash after utterly feeling devastated. No, this is a film where they wish to move on and hope the men in their lives are reasonable enough to do the same. Reshmi, for instance, is capable of getting a grip on herself, but Hareesh finds that too challenging. Divyaprabha plays Reshmi with the right balance of vulnerability and steely resolve. We also see a little bit of daring in her female colleague (Athulya, who played Nithya Menen's lunch companion in 19(1)(a) ). 

In his recent interview with us, Mahesh expressed his adoration for the films of Asghar Farhadi. If Ariyippu is Mahesh's attempt at recreating the tone of a Farhadi mystery, I would say he has hit it out of the park. In terms of mood and themes, it comes close to Farhadi's The Salesman (2016). Like in that film, we get a husband tormented by the seeds of mistrust planted by his own imagination and the wife burdened by her husband's suspicious demeanour and whatever adverse side-effects it might engender. I would say the two would make a great double feature.

Ariyippu is also a bit of an investigative procedural that endeavours to get to the bottom of malpractice pertaining to a consignment. Sanu John Varghese absorbs all this through a handheld, fly-on-the-wall approach. At times, the cold, post-pandemic Delhi exteriors assume, in my eyes, a graphic novel-like texture. While journeying with the characters, we don't always get a peek into their emotions. Sometimes they let us in, sometimes they don't. Sometimes they keep us at a distance and we only know as much as the other characters. I liked how some things, such as the couple's background, are left vague. A lot of things remain unsaid—a storytelling approach that also characterised, to a certain extent, Mahesh's last script, Malayankunju . 

Okay, now let me get back to how great Kunchacko Boban is in Ariyippu . Are we going through a Kunchacko Boban renaissance? I think so. In his last film, Bheemante Vazhi , we saw him take on a character that's diametrically opposite to everything he had played at the very start of his career. In Ariyippu , he goes one step further as a flawed, selfish character who uses his torment to do some unsettlingly objectionable things. It's a performance that lies somewhere between Tom Cruise in Eyes Wide Shut and Richard Gere in Unfaithful . This is Kunchacko Boban at his most unglamorous and uninhibited. I can't imagine Hareesh having a bright future with that attitude. But I can very much imagine Kunchacko Boban having a brighter one. 

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Ariyippu Movie Review (2022)

Mahesh narayanan’s ‘ariyippu’ (malayalam) is a wonderful “thriller” that strips away all thrills to present a realistic portrait of a migrant couple.

Ariyippu Movie Cast & Crew

The first stretch of Mahesh Narayanan’s Ariyippu is set in a glove-making factory in Noida. Reshmi (Divya Prabha) is testing gloves, and despite it being an assembly line, she seems to be alone. This is due to the framing. Reshmi is in the centre, in a vertical strip, and the parts to her left and right are blacked out – it’s like Cinemascope, but in a vertical format. A little later, we see why Reshmi has been singled out this way. The next sequence fills the whole screen, and it shows Reshmi and her husband Harish (Kunchako Boban) signing papers to get a visa to go someplace with better prospects. Harish works in the factory, too. They are migrant labourers, from Kerala, and they work in an environment that’s filled with the sounds of Hindi, Tamil and Malayalam. 

It’s COVID time. Everyone’s wearing masks. And then we have the gloves, which are another form of protection. Slowly, these devices come to form a sort of irony – because the story is about people who do not have any kind of protection against the iron hand of an uncaring System, which includes cops and higher-ups in the factory. Reshmi and Hrish are helpless in every way. Even the man who’s getting them the visa is exploiting their helplessness, their lack of protection. The film sets us amidst this unfeeling atmosphere, this robotic factory where even the workers are like robots. Occasionally, there is a human touch, like when a woman flirts with a man in the hope that she can get a smartphone in return. Or when Harish sees old pictures of him and Reshmi by the Taj Mahal. Or when we see Reshmi’s wedding ring, which just won’t come off. It’s a symbol of the relationship she’s stuck in.

Harish is not a bad man, exactly – he’s just desperate, and desperation has a way of making people do bad things. After laying out the milieu and the lives of these people, the plot kicks in. Harish gets a video of a sex tape, and the couple’s life is shattered. At the factory, too, something goes terribly wrong. Let’s just call it a kind of corruption: it involves the gloves as well as an incident of sexual harassment. And Ariyippu splits into two strands of investigation: the first about the sex tape, the second about the corruption in the factory. They’re linked somehow, and that’s the film’s primary source of drama. Now, “drama” may not be the right word to use for this film, which Sanu John Varughese shoots with zero frills and a keen documentarian’s eye. The events may sound “dramatic”, like other conspiracy/whistleblower films like Silkwood or The China Syndrome – but the treatment is so lifelike, so real that we seem to be in the midst of these people, as opposed to seeing what happens to them from the outside.

In Harish and Reshmi, Mahesh creates two very believable and very vulnerable characters. Reshmi wants to return to Kerala, but Harish wants to get out. Reshmi seems the bolder of the two, and also the more conscientious. Again, it’s not that Harish does not possess a conscience. But his desperation does not allow us to see his inner workings, his moral code – because all he wants is escape. And these things that are happening are holding him back, adding to his frustration. Even his most despicable act, when he forces Reshmi to perform sex on him a certain way, has the whiff of desperation. Divya Prabha and Kunchacko Boban are wonderful. She carries with her (and within her) a quiet strength. Someone tells Reshmi not to suppress everything within her, but she is not the kind who acts out. Harish, meanwhile, is an entirely external person. You see him and you know exactly what he is thinking, what he is going to do, what kind of man he is.

In the end, Ariyippu also becomes the story of a marriage. As the story goes on, Reshmi and Harish bear little resemblance to the happy faces we saw in those Taj Mahal pictures. In a superb scene, Reshmi walks on as Harish stops in his tracks, looking after her, as a street dog ambles into the frame. At that moment, man and animal seem one – creatures with no “address”, making do with scraps. As in Mahesh’s C U Soon , we see how technology affects interpersonal relationships, and how trust can so easily be eroded. Mahesh employs an understated style that serves this material beautifully, and the film convinces us that, to some people, life may be as much a product of the assembly line as in a factory. The only escape is perhaps to possess a degree of humanity.

About Author

Baradwaj Rangan

National Award-winning film critic Baradwaj Rangan, former deputy editor of The Hindu and senior editor of Film Companion, has carved a niche for himself over the years as a powerful voice in cinema, especially the Tamil film industry, with his reviews of films. While he was pursuing his chemical engineering degree, he was fascinated with the writing and analysis of world cinema by American critics. Baradwaj completed his Master’s degree in Advertising and Public Relations through scholarship. His first review was for the Hindi film Dum, published on January 30, 2003, in the Madras Plus supplement of The Economic Times. He then started critiquing Tamil films in 2014 and did a review on the film Subramaniapuram, while also debuting as a writer in the unreleased rom-com Kadhal 2 Kalyanam. Furthermore, Baradwaj has authored two books - Conversations with Mani Ratnam, 2012, and A Journey Through Indian Cinema, 2014. In 2017, he joined Film Companion South and continued to show his prowess in critiquing for the next five years garnering a wide viewership and a fan following of his own before announcing to be a part of Galatta Media in March 2022.

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Ariyippu Movie Review: Kunchako Boban, Divya Prabha's film is a compelling tale of complex human nature

Director mahesh narayanan's ariyippu, starring kunchako boban and divya prabha, is all about smart filmmaking. with solid performances from the lead cast, the film is more than what meets the eye, says our review..

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• Ariyippu is streaming on Netflix.
• Kunchako Boban and Divya Prabha play lead roles.
• The film is directed by Mahesh Narayanan.

Release Date: 16 Dec, 2022

Take Off, C U Soon and Malik – These three gems from the Malayalam film industry have one strong connection. And it is director Mahesh Narayanan. The filmmaker proved his mettle and his control over the craft. Having edited several films and written screenplays, Mahesh Narayanan’s mind steers towards minimalism. And his fourth offering, Ariyippu, is no exception.

Hareesh (Kunchacko Boban) and Reshmi (Divya Prabha) hail from Kerala, but they have migrated to Noida to work at a glove factory. They relocated to Noida as they had a better opportunity to fly abroad from there. However, a video of Reshmi gets manipulated, which causes a rift between the couple. Meanwhile, Reshmi finds out that something is not right at the glove factory. How they mend their relationship and if they solve their problems form the story.

Ariyippu starts off on a sombre note. We are introduced to the mundane lives of Hareesh and Reshmi, who can’t wait to get out of the country to lead a better life. However, when the video featuring Reshmi surfaces, their lives turn chaotic. We see how Hareesh behaves like a maniac because of his assumption. He is no longer an understanding husband. Reshmi, on the other hand, goes from being a timid personality to someone who stands up for herself.

Mahesh Narayanan is in supreme form. On the surface, Ariyippu looks like a simplistic film, but the hidden layers of human nature teach everyone a thousand lessons. The film is set in the pandemic period and reveals the scam that takes place in the glove factory. When the scam unravels, we also see Hareesh trying to prove that the video is fabricated. He is also looking for answers for his closure.

With just a runtime of 1 hour and 47 minutes, Ariyippu is a slow burner. It’s a compelling watch and holds a mirror to society. The climax seems quite rushed and underwhelming, though. Nonetheless, the film is exceptional in what it wants to convey. The story talks about the existing bias against women and the exploitation of the working class.

Ariyippu is also technically strong. Sanu Varghese's frames capture the essence of Hareesh and Reshmi's lives and how work progresses in a glove factory. Apart from directing and writing the film, he also edited the film along with Rahul Radhakrishnan.

Ariyippu is a film that screams minimalism. It's also a film that proves the fact that simple stories can keep one engrossed as well.

3 out of 5 stars for Ariyippu.

Ariyippu is streaming on Netflix. Published By: shweta keshri Published On: Dec 16, 2022 --- ENDS --- ALSO READ | Kamal Haasan's film with Mahesh Narayanan is NOT shelved, confirms director | Exclusive

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Ariyippu (Declaration) movie review: Misogyny collides with corruption and alienation in a compelling COVID-time saga

In his fourth film as a director, Mahesh Narayanan depicts the oppression of women, including physical violence, at home and at work without ever seeking to titillate. Ariyippu features stellar performances by Divya Prabha and Kunchacko Boban.

Language: Malayalam and Hindi with Tamil

On a cold December morning in gray, wintry Uttar Pradesh, a worker from Kerala learns that someone has mixed footage of her with visuals of a woman whose face is partially camouflaged while performing a sexual act. Her husband discovers the doctored video being circulated in a WhatsApp group of a factory that produces medical gloves where they are both employed.

Hareesh (played by Kunchacko Boban ) seems confident that his wife Reshmi ( Divya Prabha ) is not the unidentifiable woman in the video. She is gutted because she knows she is not.

The setting is a suburban edge of Delhi in end-2020 when COVID had emptied out India’s streets and masks on human faces were the norm. In Mahesh Narayanan ’s new film Ariyippu (Declaration), masks fall off and true colours are revealed as Hareesh decides to fight for justice and Reshmi becomes embroiled in a battle not of her making.

Ariyippu is being premiered at the ongoing Locarno Film Festival. It is Mahesh’s fourth film as a director. He has also written, co-produced and co-edited it. The veteran editor turned to direction in 2017 with Take-Off , an account of Malayali nurses in ISIS captivity in Iraq. He has explored thorny political subjects in each of his films so far. C U Soon – a pioneering pandemic-time creation that was conceived and made entirely during lockdowns in 2020 – was about online strangers and offline exploitation. Malik dealt with inter-community relations and the games the establishment plays. Ariyippu initially appears to be a saga of Reshmi and Hareesh’s desperation to leave India for jobs abroad, but ends up being about the effect the fake video has on their marriage and work. Along the way, it explores multiple themes including the sense of alienation that blue-collar personnel experience when they cross borders even within the country, varying definitions of “greener pastures”, the manner in which India’s justice system is designed to be easily flipped against complainants, the constraints that age and poverty place on individuals, corruption in business and the casual moral corruption of the rich. At its heart, though, Ariyippu is about patriarchy and misogyny.

Kunchacko Boban has a disarming personality that he taps here, so it’s a while before we see that Hareesh’s outrage over the fake video is about his own ego and not concern for Reshmi. More than one man in Ariyippu , while referring to the exploitation of a woman, makes it about himself and his pain, relegating the woman to the margins. Hareesh openly trivialises Reshmi’s trauma and denies her agency every step of the way.

Ariyippu acknowledges the existence of women enablers, as any accurate representation of patriarchy would, but unlike the public discourse that focuses inexorably on such women and exaggerates their numbers, this film firmly spotlights female solidarity. Ariyippu overturns stereotypes in the way The Great Indian Kitchen did with its rare portrayal of a lonely daughter-in-law turning to her mother-in-law for advice. We hear that a woman in this plot was unjust to a woman in the past, but within the frames of this film, Reshmi receives nothing but kindness from women colleagues and in turn becomes a willing ally in a crusade undertaken by a senior factory staffer (Lovleen Mishra). Both women are the moral compass of the world they inhabit.

Women in Ariyippu are sources of consolation, inspiration and strength to each other. Reshmi’s friendship with her colleague Sujaya ( Athulya Ashadam ) is marked by a moving, unspoken understanding of mutual suffering. And when one woman digs her heels in over an important issue, she spurs Reshmi to stand her ground against Hareesh.

Among Ariyippu ’s acute observations of gender relations are truths we all know but shrug off: that when men clash, they exact revenge by degrading each other’s female relatives (as happens in this storyline) and community members; that patriarchy weaponises even innocuous actions and objects. A visit to a toilet is misunderstood in Ariyippu , a woman covering her face for her protection becomes a tool to shame another woman in a fake video.

No man in Ariyippu bears the grotesque markers of villainy that commercial cinema often resorts to. Here, we have sweet-looking Hareesh, the avuncular manager Suresh (Kannan Arunachalam) and the merciful factory owner ( Danish Husain ) – the sort of benign-looking chaps whose grievous acts of omission or commission society would gladly forgive. The film, however, is clear that it stands with the persecuted, not the persecutors or their facilitators.

Ariyippu depicts women’s oppression including physical abuse without ever seeking to titillate. Even in the video that sparks the pivotal conflict, sex is implied, not shown. In the film’s most shocking scene, when a man commits rape, we barely see the violence with our eyes.

It has taken a Kerala-based filmmaker to replicate the heterogeneity in language usage in the north in a way that northern filmmakers do not. Malayalam, Hindi and Tamil are efficiently knitted into  Ariyippu’s dialogues since these are the languages naturally spoken by the principal players. One of the film’s most charming scenes features four characters in a room conversing with each other in three languages, not all of which they all understand. Communication is possible because the person in the position of greatest socio-economic privilege among them – the factory owner, a Hindi speaker – does not lord it over the rest. While this camaraderie is not reflective of the dominant reality in north India, it does reflect the best that the north can be. The worst is the man who tosses a slur at Hareesh.

In shedding his image as a romantic hero, Kunchacko Boban, who is also one of Ariyippu ’s producers, has exhibited an astonishing range in recent years, from playing an insecure spouse in How Old Are You? (2014), to a loveable villager helping a child realise his dream ( Kochavva Paulo Ayyappa Coelho , 2016) and a tribal rights activist in Pada (2022). Hareesh in Ariyippu is the most dislikeable of these men, yet Kunchacko inhabits him with a comfort that belies his innate charm. Even the character’s scruffiness wrestles to stay on top of the actor’s squeaky clean, scrubbed and washed persona. It’s a fascinating blend, one that makes Hareesh confusing to even a diehard feminist and thus, a triumph of both casting and acting.

Divya Prabha aces a taxing role that requires her to be inconsistent and conflicted, submissive and rebellious by turns. That a man was able to write Reshmi’s confusion without viewing her through a judgemental lens is impressive. Her varying stances in the matter of the video will best be grasped by women who know the burning rage that follows every single humiliation at the hands of sexual predators and discriminatory chauvinists, a rage tempered by the painful awareness that complaining or even reacting in any way usually brings with it consequences – for those wronged, not for the wrongdoer. Divya knows. And she moulds Reshmi into a dormant volcano, seemingly self-effacing, yet bristling with fury, frustration and a conscience.

The cast is filled with familiar faces and unknowns, all of whom feel like real people plucked out of life and planted in this film. Among the memories Ariyippu leaves us with are Lovleen Mishra’s earnestness, Athulya Ashadam’s speaking eyes and the truly awesome Sidharth Bhardwaj as a corrupt Noida policeman asking in all sincerity why Keralites would hunt for work in the north when northerners are heading southwards for opportunities these days.

Ariyippu is bookended by extended shots of the assembly line in the factory, underlining the mechanical relentlessness of capitalist enterprise notwithstanding the turbulence in the lives of humans involved. Mahesh Narayanan chronicles Reshmi and Hareesh’s story as if he was a silent, attentive bystander just inches away. Ariyippu draws us into their universe from its first moment with a prologue presenting a cellphone shoot of Reshmi playing on our screens while Hareesh is filming her. DoP Sanu John Varughese monitors the rhythm of the goings-on without any disruptive, flashy moves. This minimalist approach is embraced by Jothish Shankar’s production design, and Vishnu Govind and Sree Sankar’s sound design. I can think of only a couple of occasions in the narrative when understatement translates to the exclusion of too much information.

Few cinematographers have shot NCR in the throes of winter as starkly as Sanu has here_._ His compositions in this film are perhaps rivalled most closely by Angello Faccini’s cinematography for Ivan Ayr’s Meel Patthar (2021) and Avik Mukhopadhayay in Shoojit Sircar ’s October (2018). In the daytime, Sanu showcases the city’s exteriors and the factory with all colour and warmth sucked out of them, mirroring the protagonists’ humdrum routine and joylessness. He shifts to dreary lighting in the nights including in the shabby, choc a bloc insides of their home.

Slice-of-life cinema has seldom been more true to life than this.

Rating: 4.5 (out of 5 stars)  

This review was published when Ariyippu was premiered at the Locarno Film Festival in August 2022. The film is currently at the International Film Festival of Kerala. It is now streaming on Netflix.

Anna M.M. Vetticad is an award-winning journalist and author of The Adventures of an Intrepid Film Critic. She specialises in the intersection of cinema with feminist and other socio-political concerns. Twitter: @annavetticad, Instagram: @annammvetticad, Facebook: AnnaMMVetticadOfficial

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‘Declaration’: Review

By Namrata Joshi 2022-12-15T13:55:00+00:00

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Mahesh Narayanan’s   Netflix pick-up plays out in Delhi as a couple deals with the fallout from a sex tape

Source: Netflix

‘Declaration’

Dir/scr: Mahesh Narayanan. India. 2022. 107mins

Malayalam filmmaker Mahesh Narayanan’s fourth feature film Declaration ( Ariyippu ) follows young couple Hareesh (Kunchacko Boban) and Reshmi (Divya Prabha) as they work in a medical glove manufacturing factory while waiting for visas that will allow them to move abroad for a better future. Their plans hit a rough patch when a doctored porn video featuring Reshmi is released on a WhatsApp group. From this distressing situation, Narayanan branches out to explore a range of interlaced social, economic and moral issues — working-class reality, immigration, patriarchy, misogyny—in an unwavering, engaging manner. 

 Narayanan builds the film like a languid thriller, allowing the pieces of the jigsaw to come together slowly

Declaration premiered in August at the Locarno International Film Festival, the first Indian film in 17 years to feature in its international competition section. It was snagged mid-October by Netflix, where it premieres on December 16, in one of the quickest recent direct-to-digital acquisitions for a festival-bound Indian film which landed just as Declaration had its Asian premiere at Busan.

It comes hot on the heels of Narayanan’s second and third films, C U Soon and Malik , that were released directly to Amazon Prime in September 2020 and July 2021 respectively. C U Soon is regarded as India’s first lockdown film, playing out entirely on computer and mobile screens aand filmed in the homes of its cast and crew. Similarly, Declaration was shot in and around Delhi during the third wave of Covid-19; in the film, the pandemic delays Hareeh and Reshmi’s move abroad. 

And like C U Soon , Declaration also dwells on the virtual world; how the digital footprint is permanent and can come back to haunt and destroy people and relationships. This happens with the innocent Reshmi whose visa application video gets mixed with up a clip from a sex video shot with another woman in the same factory some years before. The burden of shared fears, worries, anxieties, anger and humiliation aside, the cracks deepen when Hareesh begins doubting Reshmi, and she feels betrayed by his lack of trust and support. Things come to a head when an offer is made to the two to cover up the past. They have to choose between fulfilling their dreams and ambitions, or taking the harder road of ethics and integrity.

The film marks some firsts for Narayanan. With his protagonists hailing from the southern state of Kerala, but stuck in the alien northern city of Delhi, the filmmaker gets an opportunity to showcase two separate Indian cultures. He also gets to work with a mix of languages — the film has dialogue in Malayalam and Hindi — and a terrific ensemble of actors from the north and south Indian film industries. In her first lead role, Prabha brings alive the inner strife of Reshmi, communicating a medley of emotions, resilience and strength through her eyes and body language. Boban, a popular star of Malayalam cinema and also one of the producers of the film, stands in contrast with his ineffectual aggression and ethical inanity as Hareesh.

Working with his cast, Narayanan builds the film like a languid thriller, allowing the pieces of the jigsaw to come together slowly. Sanu John Varughese’s camera lingers on grubby factories, tiny homes, miserable living and working conditions, banal chores; the mechanical loading of goods, the testing and washing of gloves. It also captures the Indian capital’s winter season; characteristically grey and hazy with pollution.

Declaration is an examination of a marriage, society and economy, but works best as a character study and morality tale with the woman at the core of the essential conflict; the upholder of truth and conscience and defender of her own dignity. 

Production company: Kunchacko Boban Productions, Shebin Backer Productions, Moving Narratives

Worldwide distribution: Netflix

Producers: Mahesh Narayanan, Kunchacko Boban, Shebin Backer

Cinematography: Sanu John Varughese 

Production design: Jothish Shankar 

Editing: Mahesh Narayanan with Rahul Radhakrishnan

Music: Sushin Shyam 

Main cast: Divya Prabha, Kunchacko Boban, Lovleen Misra, Danish Husain, Kannan Arunasalam 

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Ariyippu Story

Ariyippu cast & crew.

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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) About Ariyippu

In this Ariyippu film, Kunchacko Boban , Divya Prabha played the primary leads.

The Ariyippu was released in theaters on 16 Dec 2022.

The Ariyippu was directed by Mahesh Narayanan

Movies like Paalum Pazhavum , Haal , Bharathanatyam and others in a similar vein had the same genre but quite different stories.

The Ariyippu had a runtime of 107 minutes.

The soundtracks and background music were composed by Sushin Shyam for the movie Ariyippu.

The cinematography for Ariyippu was shot by Sanu John Varughese .

You can watch the Ariyippu movie on Netflix,.

The movie Ariyippu belonged to the Drama, genre.

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Disclaimer: The materials, such as posters, backdrops, and profile pictures, are intended to represent the associated movies and TV shows under fair use guidelines for informational purposes only. We gather information from social media, specifically Twitter. We strive to use only official materials provided publicly by the copyright holders.

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Declaration

Hareesh and Reshmi, an immigrant couple from Kerala working in a medical gloves factory near Delhi, who aspire to go abroad for a better life. During the COVID-19 lockdowns, when an old vide... Read all Hareesh and Reshmi, an immigrant couple from Kerala working in a medical gloves factory near Delhi, who aspire to go abroad for a better life. During the COVID-19 lockdowns, when an old video resurfaces among the factory workers, it opens up a Pandora's box that threatens the cou... Read all Hareesh and Reshmi, an immigrant couple from Kerala working in a medical gloves factory near Delhi, who aspire to go abroad for a better life. During the COVID-19 lockdowns, when an old video resurfaces among the factory workers, it opens up a Pandora's box that threatens the couple's jobs and marriage.

• Mahesh Narayanan
• Divya Prabha
• Kunchacko Boban
• Faisal Malik
• 16 User reviews
• 11 Critic reviews
• 5 wins & 7 nominations

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• Trivia The correct direct Malayalam translation for the title "Ariyippu" would be "Announcement". The word Declaration translates to "Prakhyaapanam".

User reviews 16

• Nov 23, 2022
• How long is Declaration? Powered by Alexa
• December 16, 2022 (United States)
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• Runtime 1 hour 47 minutes

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Ariyippu Movie Review: A Psychological Portraiture That Lacks In Its Emotional Beats

Cast:  Kunchacko Boban , Divya Prabha, Lovleen Misra, Danish Hussain, Faisal Malik, Kannan Arunachalam

Director:  Mahesh Narayanan

Mahesh Narayanan continues to gain reputation as a filmmaker who tells stories about ordinary people in situations of extreme distress. If Take Off (2017) chronicled the rescue of Indian nurses stranded in war-torn Iraq, C U Soon (2020) dealt with the issue of human trafficking from a computer desktop. His new film, Ariyippu ("Declaration"), premiering at the Locarno Film Festival, revolves around a blue-collar couple that finds itself at the centre of a video clip scandal.  

Kunchako Boban, who also co-produced the film, plays Hareesh, a truck driver at a glove-making factory in the state of Uttar Pradesh. He and his wife Reshmi (Divya Prabha), a line worker at the same factory, are trying to move abroad and have spent considerable sums of money to obtain a visa. Their best-laid plans go awry when a video of Reshmi at work, spliced with a sex clip featuring a masked woman from the factory, is leaked into the company chat group. Hareesh tries to take on a corrupt police establishment for justice, but his bigger adversary seems to be residing within.

In many ways, Ariyippu is a companion piece to C U Soon , not the least in how it dwells on the way modern technology mediates interpersonal transactions. The film in fact begins with a vertical-format shot – a smartphone video of Reshmi testing gloves – that was the defining element of the  earlier work. Like its predecessor, Ariyippu is interested in the precariat, the migrant worker class who bore the brunt of India's first lockdown. Hareesh and Reshmi are, specifically, South Indian labourers eking out an existence in the far north, a seemingly odd fact pointed out by the sleazy cop handling their case. 

Where the lockdown had inspired Mahesh Narayanan to make the best of his means in C U Soon , the director seems to have had more elbow space in the new film, takes place as it does in populated factories and highways around the national capital. Ariyippu compensates for this geographical thinning out with a keener sense of place, fog, sweaters and headlights evoking a precise image of wintertime Delhi. The apartment that Hareesh and Reshmi live in is covered with the scribble of children, likely younger than their own, perhaps previous tenants with dreams not unlike theirs. 

In stark contrast to the digital ether that C U Soon unfolds in, Ariyippu appears to take a special pleasure in the physicality of things. Repeated shots of wooden doors closing and opening, actors slipping their mask up and down their mouths, and details such as Hareesh's cracked smartphone screen add a coat of lived reality to the story. The film's finest passages are, in fact, purely documentary; Ariyippu opens and closes with sequences showcasing the manufacture of medical gloves on an automated line, a setting that one imagines inspired the project in the first place. 

Increased freedom for an artist is not, however, a necessarily good thing, and Ariyuppu trades the razor-sharp narrative focus of C U Soon for a fuzzier psychological portraiture. If the film succeeds in surveying Hareesh's fragile, self-flagellating male ego, it doesn't seem to know what exactly to do with Reshmi, who is now dodgy, now upstanding, now helpless. The film appears to be caught between a desire that makes us identify with Hareesh by eliding crucial narrative information (and thus suspending the viewer in his doubt) and revealing all its cards to render Hareesh an object of study. The thematic thrust recalls Asghar Farhadi's The Salesman (2018), but because Ariyippu is reluctant to go beyond its hard-set hypothesis, the corresponding emotional beats are lacking. 

Formally, Ariyuppu distinguishes itself from the epic styling of Malik (2021) and the experimental storytelling of C U Soon , employing a hard-edged realistic aesthetic – handheld camera, spare musical score – that is all too familiar in international independent filmmaking. On the other hand, it does a remarkable job in handling potentially sensational material, which is crucial for a work expressly about consent. The audience is not treated to a wound inflicted on Reshmi's face and her outrageous medical examination at the police station features just the upper part of her face in motion. Even in the film's most disturbing scene of sexual violence, very little is actually made visible. 

Boban gets a substantial, challenging role that he carries off with a convincing mixture of instinct and analysis. He plays Hareesh as a fundamentally decent man forced to confront his uglier side despite himself. He is persuaded that the answer lies in violence, but isn't sure what direction this violence must take: sometimes it is at the world, sometimes it is at himself. Divya Prabha exhibits some of the cautious gutsiness that Nimisha Sajayan brought to Malik and her other films. But the character, embodying the need to stay vertical in a world willing to bend, lacks the nuance that could have lent her eventual transition more conviction. The second moral dilemma woven around her – also turning around the notions of purity and infection – registers as weakly integrated into the plot, as is the half-hearted social commentary. And no, Fahadh Faasil is not in this picture.  

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Ariyippu Malayalam Movie

Ariyippu is a 2022 Indian movie directed by Mahesh Narayanan starring Kunchacko Boban, Divyaprabha, Kannan Arunachalam and Loveleen Mishra. The feature film is produced by Kunchacko Boban, Shebin Backer and Mahesh Narayanan and the music composed by Sushin Shyam.

A scandalous video triggers a crisis for a couple working in a factory, unleashing unexpected conflicts in their personal and professional lives.

Director: Mahesh Narayanan Producers: Kunchacko Boban , Shebin Backer, Mahesh Narayanan Music Director: Sushin Shyam Sound Designer: Vishnu Govind Cinematographer: Sanu John Varughese Editors: Mahesh Narayanan , Rahul Radhakrishnan Art Designer: Jotish Shankar Original Story Writer: Mahesh Narayanan

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Bharathanatyam movie review: A mildly humorous affair that does not hit any highs

Saiju kurup chose this movie to venture into film production, probably expecting the humour to carry the narrative, but there are not many laugh-out-loud moments.

Updated - August 30, 2024 06:58 pm IST

Published - August 30, 2024 04:44 pm IST

A still from Bharathanatyam.

The archetype of the all-sacrificing, long-suffering elder brother used to be an oft-repeated one in the Malayalam films of yesteryears. Mohanlal’s Balettan (2003) happens to be one of the extreme cases, with the character forced to bear the cross that his father handed over to him right before his death. He goes to great lengths to protect the secret, even at significant loss of face to himself.

Krishnadas Murali’s debut film Bharathanatyam riffs off (not rips off) on this peculiar situation, but it goes along an entirely different trajectory. For one, the father Bharathan (Sai Kumar), does not die and is left to rue his decision to confide a long-held secret of having another family to his son Sasi (Saiju Kurup).

The director, who has also written the film, is also aware of how people will easily connect the scenario to that in Balettan . So, to deny anyone the pleasure of pointing it out, there is one sequence where Sasi’s sister warns him “not to be too much of a Balettan!” While the film that it takes inspiration from was highly melodramatic in tone, Bharathanatyam attempts to keep the mood light and humorous even in situations which could lead to high drama.

Bharathanatyam

Bharathan’s revelation leads to an interesting domestic situation involving two families and even lookalikes. Parallel to this happens the drama involving a temple committee of which Sasi is a part. A typical nosy soul in the committee suspects something amiss in the family and attempts to dig more. Bharathanatyam can be seen as a family’s desperate struggle to protect their reputation from nosy people in their neighbourhood, who are ready to even barge in to see what the family is hiding. More than the discomfort of the peculiar situation that they are caught in, it is the common fear of “what people would think?” that troubles them more.

But the film does not have the kind of writing or craft to use the potential of this compelling situation. It is saved from being totally forgettable by a few standout bits. The way events from Bharathan’s past are revealed in casual discussions or from random vacation photographs, much to his discomfort, is one of those. The other happens to be the evolution of the bond between the two families, especially between two young boys from either side.

Saiju Kurup chose the movie to venture into film production, probably expecting the humour to carry the film, but there are not many laugh out loud moments. Bharathanatyam is one of the movies which does not drive you away, but does not have enough to pull you in either.

Bharathanatyam is currently running in theatres

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