Someone somewhere seems to be running a little cottage industry supplying obscure, hard-to-pronounce titles for Malayalam films. Last week, we had the tongue twister Agathokakological, and this week we have Anchakkallakokkan. The latter title, of the film directed by Ullas Chemban, is explained away as a myth about some terrible creature, mostly used to scare kids. That myth has a huge role to play in the life of the protagonist Vasudevan (Lukman Avaran), a rookie police officer who takes charge at a police station in a fictional village along the Kerala-Karnataka border.
Our sense of the narrative always depends on the point of view that the movie takes. The point-of-view of a rookie police officer here is perhaps apt for his lack of conflict of interest in a village where everyone knows each other. Unlike the usual rookies who are raring to go, Vasudevan is scared of even the slightest hint of violence, the reason for which is given in his background story. He faints at the sight of blood, and in his first assignment, gets his legs entangled in a trap meant for animals. He arrives at a time when the village is tense following the murder of Chaapra, a major landlord.
But, somehow the film drifts away from this protagonist, even forgetting his existence for long until the fag end of the film. That explains a lot as to why the film fails to work despite its dash of style and its array of unconventional characters. The writing is all over the place and hardly any of the characters register; not even the fearsome, dancing duo who play the trigger-happy sons of the murdered landlord.
Anchakkallakokkan (Malayalam)
Instead, much of the attention seems to have been paid to the technical department, which really holds together the film, and a couple of extended action sequences, the last of which inside a police station is never-ending. But, even these do not pack enough flair to keep us invested in it. An attempt is made to infuse a flavour of pulp fiction in the treatment of some characters and situations. At one point, Nadavaramaban, the police officer played by Chemban even asks a person in the lockup — “Did you think this is pulp fiction for you to come in here and attack a policeman?”
But, without a fresh narrative or striking characterisation, quite a few of the stylistic flourishes — except for like the one involving the fearsome due and a tape recorder — appear meaningless.
Anchakkallakokkan is currently running in theatres
