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Lijo Jose Pellissery's movies may not be everyone's cup of tea, but if you love cinema, you will have a great time analysing his films thanks to their complex themes and unconventional narrative style. The same can be said about his recent film, Malaikkottai Vaaliban, his first collaboration with Malayalam superstar Mohanlal. The much-hyped fantasy period drama has Mohanlal play a normal wrestler with an unbeatable record who travels from one village to another, along with his foster father Ayyanar (Hareesh Peradi) and younger brother Chinnappaiyyan (Manoj Moses), with his exploits in each village becoming a chapter in the movie. Malaikottai Vaaliban Movie Review: Mohanlal and Lijo Jose Pellissery's Film is a Picturesque Disappointment!
Malaikkottai Vaaliban also stars Danish Sait as Chamathakan, a humiliated foe who becomes a pain in the backside for the protagonist, Sonalee Kulkarni as Rangapattinam Rangarani, a wandering artiste and Katha Nandi as Jamanthipoovu, Chinnappaiyyan's love interest. While at times contemplative and, at times, bombastic, the final act of Malaikkottai Vaaliban is tinged with tragedy. And what's more the film also ends with the promise of a very ambitious sequel, where Vaaliban is all set to meet his biggest rival ever. In fact, LJP had already teased about this rival in one of Malaikkottai Vaaliban's first posters.
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Before we go ahead with what the tease means, let's warn you there will be MAJOR SPOILERS about Malaikkottai Vaaliban in this article.
A Tragic Love Story
The disaster at the festival saw Vaaliban lose two of his loved ones, one to treachery and the other to jealousy. Chamatakan kills a pregnant Jamanthi while hiding among the masked festivalgoers (the masks might symbolise how your enemies could remain hidden among people wanting to hide their true nature). Vaaliban himself accidentally kills Chinnappaiyyan, who tries to attack him in a fit of jealousy out of the misunderstanding propagated by Rangarani and her transgender friend, Thenamma.
Well, in the battle of jealousy and egos (was the usage of the colour yellow symbolising these emotions?), it is the innocents who get destroyed, like Chinnappaiyyan and Jamanthi, sometimes by your own doing.
Cosmic Comeuppance and Vaaliban's Existential Tragedy
At the funeral of his son and daughter-in-law, Ayyanar disowns a repentant Vaaliban and promises vengeance on him by bringing back the biggest rival he has never faced. Who is this rival?
Well, the rival has a personal connection with Vaaliban since he happens to be Vaaliban's real father, who is still alive. Well, it turns out the story that Ayyanar had told Vaaliban of his doomed birth is not true. Vaaliban's parents were not killed by any dacoits. The real story was later told to a half-burnt Chamatakan, as Ayannar reveals Vaaliban's father was a powerful wrestler who once had defeated Ayannar in a wrestling match. As per the tradition, the wrestler took ownership of all Ayannar's possessions and his wife, who later became pregnant with his child. When the wrestler was away, a jealousy-driven Ayannar killed his ex-wife just after she delivered the baby. He took the baby away as his own and trained him as a wrestler to fight his matches. Mohanlal Faces Online Threats and Boycott Calls for Malaikkottai Vaaliban for Not Attending Ayodhya Ram Mandir Event.
Sadly, even as the film ends, Vaaliban doesn't know he is a scapegoat in Ayannar's nefarious schemes (the movie's occasional depiction of donkeys and mules may symbolise how Vaaliban is being taken to places to do Ayannar's bidding). The secret also keeps haunting Ayannar through nightmares, but it is the cosmic comeuppance that should have really hurt him.
If Ayannar killed his ex-wife and confiscated Vaaliban out of jealousy towards his father, then his own poor son also meets his doom while succumbing to jealousy at the unwitting hands of the person who is the victim of Ayannar's malevolence. Unfortunately, Ayannar is too seeped in vengeance to see karma.
Chamatakan's Doom
Well, I'm not sure if Ayannar knows of this, but he did mete out vengeance on the one who killed his daughter-in-law and is indirectly responsible for his son's death. Before he leaves Chamatakan after narrating what he did to Vaaliban, Ayannar poisons him and leaves him for dead, thus fulfilling his earlier promise to Chamatakan that he would be the last face Chamatakan would see.
There would be another reason for killing Chamatakan - after pouring out his burden, Ayannar might not want Chamatakan to spill the truth to Vaaliban with the intent of emotionally hurting him. While we assume Chamatakan is dead for now, who knows? This is a man who managed to escape from a series of blasts!
Vaaliban Meets His Mighty Match!
Well, at least Lijo Jose Pelissery doesn't hide what Vaaliban's father and future rival look like, and that makes Malaikottai Vaaliban Part 2 an exciting film on paper and also jarring. I will explain why I feel so, but let's start with the positive first.
While narrating his tale to Chamatakan, Ayannar claims that Vaaliban's father has mysteriously arrived from the mountains, and he acts like he is not human at all, with the accompanying scenery showing him take giant leaps and also leaves a giant footmark in the ground, that the first poster so proudly flaunted. Ayannar reveals that this man is magical, he can reduce and increase his size and is so powerful that no one can defeat him. Nanpakal Nerathu Mayakkam Ending Explained: An Insane Dream or Ghost Seeking Closure? Decoding the Mystery of Mammootty-Lijo Jose Pellissery's Film!
Since it is Ayannar saying this, and we know by now he is not a reliable narrator, you can't be blamed for taking his claims with a hefty pinch of salt. However, the last scene of the film shows Vaaliban, after accepting Ayannar's challenge, going to the mountains to meet his father, though he doesn't know it yet, and we see this giant of a man with huge sinewy muscles and dreadlocked matted hair taking huge leaps. And to no one's surprise, this man is played by Mohanlal himself (LJP wisely only shows Mohanlal's face in closeup rather than in the whole getup so as to save on VFX costs). Kinda reminded me of how Shivan is all set to face his father, Dev, on the battlefield in Brahmastra Part II. I will get to this film in a moment.
So, while this is an exciting enough tease for a sequel that just raised the stakes and scope, knowing LJP, the sequel might not all be about setting up for this big match. Let's remember that Vaaliban has been going through an existential crisis about the purpose of his life, and now he is also riddled with the guilt of accidentally killing his own brother and making an enemy out of his foster father. Imagine what would happen to him when he learns his whole life has been a lie and his real father has all plans to destroy him through the machinations of his foster father. Ayannar's entire revenge plan culminates with this big match between father and son, waiting for one of them to die so that he can rejoice over the despair of the other. Kind of like what Pandavas went through when Arjuna killed Karna, unbeknownst to the fact that he was his elder brother. So perhaps the bigger subversion might be by making this match not happen at all. Just LJP things...
Whether that happens or not, the first film surely establishes an exciting setup for a sequel, but the fantasy element also makes the whole thing jarring. Why? For all its strengths and flaws, Malaikottai Vaaliban was a very grounded film despite its folklore feel and showing its protagonist as way too powerful. However, the existence of his father as this other-worldly entity removes the grounded aspect of the narrative as it is ready to journey into magical realms now. Curious to know how LJP would tackle this, though thanks to Churuli, we know that the director doesn't really care much about such tonal variances. Churuli Ending Explained: Aliens, Time-Loops, Demons – Decoding the Theories That Could Solve the Mysterious Puzzle of What Lijo Jose Pellissery’s Movie Is About!
The bigger question, though, is...
Will Malaikottai Vaaliban Part II Get Made?
Which brings us back to Brahmastra. While the makers persist that the sequel will be made, the truth is not exactly that concise. For a film that cost big, Brahmastra's box office performance was pretty average. It might have recovered its costs but was not a major profitable venture. Even Dharma Productions, who was one of the major investors in the film, has backed out of the sequel, whose pre-production work is yet to be laid. While the trade buzz is confident that the sequel will be made, the question remains: when?
A similar fate seems to await Malaikottai Vaaliban. For a film to have a sequel whose plotlines deserve major money to see visual justification, it is imperative for Malaikottai Vaaliban to do good business at the box office. That's not the case here. After a good start, Malaikottai Vaaliban has seen a major slump in its theatrical business, not helped by the fact that it is also getting a very underwhelming response from the audience. Even the critics had a mixed opinion of the movie. So unless a cinema-loving investor is willing to help LJP accomplish his grand vision on screen, I don't see much hope in seeing that grand battle on the big screen in the near future. What say, readers? Do you want to see Malaikottai Vaaliban Part II get made? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jan 31, 2024 05:51 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).
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