The premise of Kishkindha Kandam is almost non-existent. This is because the writing heads in so many different directions that will actually leave you scratching your head until the dots begin to slowly connect. So what begins like a supposed tale on the disappearance of a gun, branches out into different subplots – a forest officer Ajayan who is newly married, the monkeys creating havoc in the area possibly by ‘stealing’ the missing gun, the character of the father-in-law having connections with the Naxals to his behavior which is very odd. Another subplot involving the missing child of Ajayan who suddenly disappeared one-day post which Ajayan has been grieving, and a whole lot of secrets in the vicinity. Clearly, the story here was headed in so many different directions that the central conflict of the film wasn’t clearly (and deliberately) established here. The viewers seemed to be a version of each of the characters who weren’t privy to the entire jigsaw puzzle while being subjected to multiple curveballs in the screenplay standing at a runtime of 120 odd minutes. But when the picture starts to get clearer, you can’t help but be in awe of the writing that needed to be sharp enough to hold your attention given the complex and layered narrative style that it chose to be. And I will try to be as vague as possible here to avoid any spoilers.

The drama is designed to be a slow poison that would slowly suck you into the narrative and the world of mystery before revealing each card and peeling every layer bit by bit. And hence, patience is such an important virtue here where you as a viewer do not need to be ahead of yourself while fully trusting the makers and their vision of the story. And an additional credit to the writers that do create an intriguing environment by fully trusting the intellect of the viewers without provided them enough data and context to indulge in a guessing game. For instance, I as a viewer did not know in which direction the film was headed until its final act. And this was one particular piece of writing wherein every single information which was fed to the viewers, had a significance in the larger scheme of things. This basically meant that you needed to be fully attentive while watching the drama for every little detail fed to the viewers was important.

The tagline of the film was “A Tale Of Three Wise Monkeys”, something that was symbolic of the three principal characters in the fray here (along with providing an idea of the involvement of monkeys in the screenplay). And the characterization was absolutely immaculate. So you were introduced to Aparna (A wonderful Aparna Balamurali), the wife of Ajayan who was possibly the sole outsider of the family who could sense something amiss even with the situations and behavior of folks around here. Ajayan (A terrific Asif Ali) was more like the glue of the family, often being the loyal son while doubling up as the calming influence in the family, managing his hot-headed father Appu and also providing an empathetic approach towards his wife. Appu Pillai (A Phenomenal Vijayaraghavan) was the most interesting character of them all given how he was invariably at the center of things be it with the disappearance of his licensed gun, or his forgetful behavior along with his involvement with the Naxals that instantly pushes him in an area of suspicion. And as much as this is an overlapping journey of individual characters, it is also the dynamics that they share in unison that forms a crucial part of the screenplay. This, while the twists and turns in the screenplay are absolutely fascinating to watch with respect to every character.

The writing here is layered in many ways while unfolding in a dual manner. And this is only clear at the very end of the drama wherein each character knows only a part of the secret while grieving with the knowledge of the known side of things. This is much similar to the viewers who invariably become privy to the secrets of the family even with the information at the end of the film that would potentially leave you with a few open-ended questions. And this ambiguity had a spiralling effect on me even as the drama continued to linger on, long after it had ended. This, even as the drama remained true to its underlying theme – of internalizing pain which is unknown to the outer world. So invariably, the drama was also about living with that grief while channeling the journey within, along with putting on a facade with respect to the acceptance of the reality. And with all dots perfectly connecting at the end, this indeed turned out to be a screenplay writing masterclass, the best of the year so far across languages!