Kuttisrank: Capturing a Complex Character

By

Bhawani Cheerath Rajagopalan

It’s celebration time for Malayalam Cinema: five National Awards which include Best Film, Screenplay, Cinematography, Costume Design and Special Jury Award for Editing went to “Kuttisrank” by reputed director Shaji N Karun. The reaction in the filmmaking fraternity ranged from bouquets to brickbats but, for the cineaste, Kuttisrank is one viewing experience that will be stored safe in the recesses of memory. May be a second viewing can throw up flaws for the sake of picking holes, I am not sure though, and not interested either, because what it offers in the maiden viewing itself is a treat. Kuttisrank can be put through a lot of interpretations for it works at many levels and requires an insightful understanding of the human being to receive the nuanced frames.

The film is kick-started with the massive corpse that is washed ashore and the identification of the person by three women, viz., Revamma (Padmapriya), Pemenna (Kamalini Mukherji) and Kali (Meena Kumari Pereira, a Sri Lankan actress).  Mammooty, as Kuttisrank, is like old wine, getting better by the day, and has excelled in his role as the hero. The director has unspooled events taking place in three geographical locations along the coast and in three seasons all of which create the mood throughout the film. There is the simple tale of a possessive father and tyrannical overlord, Moopan, set in north Kerala; there is Loni Asan the spirit and energy behind the Chavittunatakam troupe living on the estuarine strip in and around Kochi; and it is also the story of Unnithan, a leading Nair from the decadent landed gentry, located further south. 

Where does Kuttisrank fit in all this? He is Man Friday to all these men, but belongs to none of these places, nor can anyone claim him. He is the helmsman of the boat which touches different shores and everywhere he is bound to a powerful man in the region.  When with the Moopan, his hands smell of the blood of the people he has done away with at the behest of the Moopan. The scene where Srank is sitting on the landing of a pond and muttering to himself of the water taking on the colour of the blood from his tainted hands, but the smell of blood that remains on his hands, is hard hitting and a sign of things to come.  His loyalty to the Moopan is put to test when the Srank is to keep an eye on his daughter Revamma, who has become a Buddhist scholar, and is an aspirant. The equation that is struck between Revamma and the sailor becomes his undoing.

Kuttisrank then surfaces as a member of the Chavittunatakam troupe stitched together by Loni Asan (Suresh Krishna). The Asan and Srank hit it off beautifully much to the chagrin of troupe members as also prominent persons in the community who have set their eyes on Pemenna, Asan’s sister. If one is to divide the film into three parts, then this second part really brings wholesomeness to the film. The community is Christian and they have their protector in the Vicar Yonus Achan (Siddique).

The director has pursued the constant conflict between the ‘faithful’ and the ‘agnostic’ by juxtaposing the autocratic protector of the flock, the church priest and Kuttisrank who does not know who his parents are and what his faith is. But in a very subtle manner there is also the hint that organised religion does not necessarily nurture humane persons. Srank is direct and open, he does not covet Pemenna, but the men in the community, at least some of them including the Vicar consider her a commodity that needs their protection! For those who do not abide by the Lord’s diktats, the sinners’ grave is the final destination is the Vicar’s reminder to those, including Pemenna, who demonstrate undue intimacy with the godless outsider “Kuttisrank”.

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