Film: Jalam
Direction: M.Padmakumar
Starring: Priyanka, Prakash Bare, P.Balachandran
Every once in a while, some filmmakers surprise the audience by making a film which is unlike anything they have made till date. Jalam is not the kind of film that one would expect from a filmmaker like M. Padmakumar, whose works have all been within the strict confines of the commercial format, even though not all of them have found success in the market.
Jalam tells the story of a woman’s struggle for survival in the backdrop of the larger issue of the landless running from pillar to post to get a piece of land in their name. After her marriage, Seethalekshmi (Priyanka) realises that her husband, like her, does not have a place to call his own.
Bound by love, they decide to live on the road, doing menial jobs, until they fulfil the dream of owning a house.
Burden of a dream
With her husband’s passing in an accident and a son to care for, the entire burden of that dream falls on the shoulders of Seethalekshmi.
They live on the footpaths, behind wayside eateries and even under the bridge. Padmakumar brings on the screen the travails of the homeless, who rank way down on the list of concerns for most political parties. It’s an issue that has been rarely handled in recent years in our cinema. At most, it has remained as a passing reference.
Jalam , on the other hand, hardly shifts its focus through its entire length. Framed against the backdrop of the mighty flats of Kochi, a large number of which have remained unoccupied, the visuals of the people sleeping on the road appears stark.
At one point, Seethalekshmi’s son points at the flats and asks, “Do people stay in those buildings? Why can’t we stay there?” And she replies – “Fishes can’t fly, nor can crows swim.”
The recent land struggles like the one in Chengara and the issues of those who were dispossessed of their land for high profile projects have also been touched upon. It also critiques the government for blindly awarding title deeds to the homeless and giving them false hope. There are points where the film almost becomes a documentary, but then it’s a pitfall that can hardly be avoided while handling a subject like this.
It’s not a rosy picture that the film seeks to present and it stays away from giving any false hope at the climax, as is the wont in commercial cinema.
S.R. Praveen
