Award-winning
Filmmaker Lijo Jose Pellissery’s latest flick blurs the fine line that differentiates man from animal
dhanusha@khaleejtimes.com
Helmed by maverick filmmaker Lijo Jose Pellissery, Jallikattu narrates a seemingly simple story. A buffalo escapes from the village butcher, running amok, destroying in its wake, everything and anything that comes before it. Before long, an entire village, located in the high ranges, is out to trap the buffalo.
What happens next is an audio-visual treat that highlights the villagers’ violent and selfish interests simmering beneath a calm exterior. During the course of the chase, the animal and man become one. In the meanwhile, the writers have layered the plot with every possible human vice, including politics, religion, moral policing, personal vengeance, and much more.
Based on S Hareesh’s acclaimed story Maoist, Jallikattu had a great run at the movie’s world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). The movie is all set to release across theatres in the UAE today.
Immersive, sensory experience
Jallikattu is directed by Lijo Jose Pellissery, recipient of the best director award at the 48th Kerala State Film Awards and the Silver Peacock for the best director at the 49th International Film Festival of India. The star cast includes Chemban Vinod Jose as Varghese the butcher, Antony Varghese, Santhy Balachandran and Sabumon Abdusamad.
However, like Varghese tells City Times, Jallikattu is a director’s movie. Produced by Thomas Panicker, the film’s reportedly immersive, breath-taking cinematography is by Gireesh Gangadharan, music by Prashant Pillai and screenplay from S Hareesh and R Jayakumar.
City Times caught up with a few of the cast and crew of the movie ahead of the movie’s UAE release. Here is what they had to say about Jallikattu.
‘It’s a director’s movie’
Pellissery is a workaholic. While the world gave Jallikattu rave reviews, the director is already in the midst of the reading of another movie. When asked how he feels about the reviews, Pellissery put it simply as, “I am happy.”
Commenting on the shooting experience, he said, “I believe in being instinctive and intuitive as a filmmaker.” With Jallikattu, the filmmaker kept the story aspect aside and focused on, “how the space between man and beast disappears.” For that matter, Pellisery does not even believe in forcing the audience to come up with a clear definition of his work of art; neither does he prepare the cast for the shooting experience. “Not preparing too much works for me. Most of the sequences turned into this because instinct worked better for me,” he added.
When asked what makes a movie like Jallikattu relevant in this day and age, he said, “I don’t think about all that. I leave that to the audience, and I don’t want to involve myself in their thought process. I leave it free; let the audience make their own interpretations of the film.”
Some of his most notable works include Ee.ma.yau and Angamaly Diaries, where it’s not uncommon to see him repeat his star cast. Pelliserry said, “I use people who belong to the same place where we are shooting. In Jallikattu, we hardly see any actors.”
‘The movie required extreme physical exertion.’
Though the director provided a very lackadaisical response as to how he whipped up this masterpiece, the movie’s actors narrated a separate tale. Actors Antony Varghese and Santhy Balachandran said being part of the film was an incredible opportunity.
Antony Varghese, popularly known as Pepe, and best known for his debut in the 2017 hit Angamaly Diaries, portrays the character Antony in Jallikattu.
“Funnily, my character and I shared a name,” laughed the actor, while speaking to City Times from the set of a movie he is currently shooting. From suffering 14 stitches on his face to battling several uphill runs, and numerous other instances that required extreme physical exertion, Varghese said the shooting experience was unforgettable.
“There was much physical exertion. We shot for about 35 days. I needed to run a lot for the shots. Furthermore, the landscape is very rugged and mountainous, and we had to run uphill. There was a small accident where I smashed my face into a bench and tore my lips,” reminisced Pepe.
He added, “Surely, Pelliserry is my favourite director. He has given me life; his movies are extraordinary. I think post shooting the movie, one of the best experiences was going to Toronto. We got to see reactions from nonindians.” Pepe said, “Today, actors have the opportunity to be part of good cinema.”
Meanwhile, Santhy called the movie a very intense one, one which touched a personal note thanks to her background in anthropology.
“It is interesting for me, thanks to my background in anthropology. It was interesting to explore what blurs the lines between animal and humans.” She added, “It is a great cinematic experience. Keeping the philosophical sense of the film apart, it pushes the boundaries of what Indian cinema is capable of today.”