Thursday, January 3, 2013

Trace: A Strong Messege to the society

“I read about eight newspapers in a day. When I'm in a town with only one newspaper, I read it eight times.” - -Will Rogers

 

The assassination of T.P Rama Chandran has wounded the psyche of Kerala profoundly. Kerala has already eyewitnessed a number of political murders, but the killing of TP Rama Chnadran must be read in a diverse angle. More over a conflict between two different ideologies, TP’s murder actually tells us the bigotry of a mainstream political party to its faction which was formed in very particular political circumstances. The people of Kerala have carried the burden of the incident of the assassination for a long and they woke up anticipating an odious event each day. The people were frightened of someone who was honing a knife for him/her. 

(to watch the film on youtube kindly click here)

 

                                     (The film: Trace)

 

The sequence in which TP was viciously killed with more than fifty stabs in his body has made a strong ripple in the society. Even the cultural leaders who were believed the bed-shares of Communist party broke their silence against this brute killing. The young film director Mufeed Muthanoor has developed his new short film ‘TRACE’ from this point.  Each murder is a very well planned one. When the foes set off for killing a targeted person, the plan which is already conceived gets practiced. We are afraid even the single word, ‘murdering’ ‘killing’, because the word itself generates complicated and many-sided meanings which injure the psyche of the society. A murder is very perilous and dodgy to the cultural paradigm of the society and it needs a lot of time to heal the society from the blow of such an incident.  How the repeated political killings trim the society down into permanent panic condition, is the starting point of this film.

Ayyappa Panikkar
Ayyappa Panikkar, a Malayalam poet, might be the first writer who analysed the process of meaning-making of a trouble-free word like ‘murder’. In the word ‘Kolapaathakam’ (murder), even it’s each letter can produce different connotation. It seems at the first look, that these separated letters and syllables of ‘kolapaathakam’ are very innocent, above suspicion and without any meaning, but the tone of each words actually manufactures some meaningful symbols, Ayyappa Panikkar observes in his poem, Kolapaathkam’.

The media which push the boat out each news on political killing by manoeuvring, colouring and embellishing, are not actually aware about the injuries they are causing to the minds of the people. This news on killing are actually affecting to the young people of any society. 

Mufeed starts the film, Trace in the milieu of a newspapers reading room.  The everyday readings of the newspaper, according to Charse Baudelaire, actually negatively affect to the people. He says, ‘any newspaper, from the first line to the last, is nothing but a web of horrors, I cannot understand how an innocent hand can touch a newspaper without convulsing in disgust’. It is right in a sense, if we analyse how different media establishments handle the news items such as killing, rape and others which damage the positive attitudes of the society, then we can understand the intensity and depth, these news cause to the society. Each reader internalizes what he/she gets from the newspapers and he/she develops the same view point whenever gets a possibility to harangue about the incident. 



Mufeed Muthanur (Director)
After visualizing the manner of how different media handled the news of the heinous killing of TP, the director portrays some youngsters who have internalized the reporting of their own politically biased newspapers look the issue in different angles. The story starts when the reading room which is supposed to be a platform for creative discussion, turns to the political debates and discussion, then a silent reader sitting beside them, starts off his bike and rides it very swiftly. 

The background music and the political symbols which are repeatedly shown in the film produce a feeling of dread and insecurity in the viewers’ minds. The quickening bike, knife, the broken words from mobile phones, airport and others intensify the terror in the viewers. After repeatedly shown all these panic-producing symbols and the bike ride which terminates in a very isolated house. The film ends when the protagonist after a high drama and long-time-suspense slashes a water melon. 


Punnodi MA Rahman
Political killings, as any other crimes should be punished strictly. And in some cases the assassin may be punished, but the injuries and pains a society suffers from such killings are seldom healed. This is the message of the film. The body language of such murdering is in a conspiracy, this clandestine nature of such action, in fact making even a daft job like cutting a fruit in suspect. The basic function of a knife is to use for cutting vegetable and fruits, but even such acts are made in doubt in the changed and charged atmosphere. All the characters are youths in the film. Even the youths who are thought to be very audacious and courageous are actually living in the fog of trepidation, and then pondering over the mental trauma of weaker section of the society is more panic.



This is the third project made by KPB Production. MA Rahman Punnodi performs the leading role. K.P Sadarudheen, Munavvir Alingachaal, Suresh and Muhsin are the other actors of the film.