Movie Review: ‘Kumbalangi Nights’

Malayalam cinema has always fascinated me – I think it was the first movie industry I was exposed to where masala entertainers, hilarious; seemingly “mindless” comedies, and intelligent cinema (be it drama, comedy, action, whatever) coexisted homogenously under the “commercial cinema” umbrella and were equally successful. I guess it helped that I grew up in the ‘80s and ‘90s, which has been dubbed “the golden age of Malayalam cinema”. And I think that inherently, most of the movies at that time paid a lot of attention to the script, screenplay and dialogues, and were inherently intelligent, thoughtful and detailed in their execution. Though this changed in the 2000s, it is now heartening to see a resurgence in the film industry with some intelligent, though provoking cinema which is redefining the space of commercial cinema. ‘Kumbalangi Nights’ is one such film.

‘Kumbalangi Nights’ tells the story of four brothers – Saji (Soubin Shahir), Boney (Sreenath Bhasi), Bobby (Shane Nigam) and Franky (Mathew Thomas), who live in a small, cramped and incomplete house in the wasteland area of Kumbalangi and have troubled relations with each other. When Bobby falls in love with Babymol (Anna Ben), he needs to try and improve his job prospects, and get along with Saji to try and convince Babymol’s brother-in-law Shammi (Fahadh Faasil) to agree to the marriage. Meanwhile, events in Saji and Boney’s life involving their business partner and an American tourist respectively, change the course of their lives and force the brothers to come together and “complete” their incomplete home.

‘Kumbalangi Nights’ is a brilliant film in large part because of its script and screenplay by Syam Pushkaran, and the direction by debutante director Madhu C. Narayanan. The pacing is leisurely and almost lazy – while this may irritate some viewers, it is in sync with the scenery and the gradual payoff is rewarding. The subtlety and humour with which the movie handles its themes is delightful. The surprising element for me, which didn’t strike me immediately (probably because most of the main characters are men), is the feminist angle and the theme of toxic masculinity – while Malayalam cinema has many movies with female protagonists and themes of feminism, I think I have not seen the subject matter handled with this subtlety since ‘Chinthavishtayaya Shyamala’. I will not spoil anything, but I have to mention the brilliant climax, which took me by surprise. A word of mention also for the soundtrack, which again adds to the ambience.

The acting is very good here. Soubin Sahir and Shane Nigam especially work well together, and a scene where Boney tries to reconcile with Saji was so hilarious without trying hard at all. And of course, there is Fahadh Faasil (who is also one of the producers) – I have been sadly ignorant of a lot of his great work and am just catching up, but his performance in this movie is very special (I want to elaborate, but will not to avoid spoilers). All the other cast members also do a great job as well.

I would strongly recommend ‘Kumbalangi Nights’ for fans of good, albeit slightly offbeat, storytelling. Even if you have not watched Malayalam movies, would recommend this as an entry point if you can watch with subtitles.