EXPRESS VIEWS

LOKAH CHAPTER 1: CHANDRA plants its flag with the declaration, "Some legends have an element of truth," and from that moment, it invites us into a world Malayalam cinema has rarely dared to enter.

- VIVEK SANTHOSH

LOKAH CHAPTER 1: CHANDRA plants its flag with the declaration, "Some legends have an element of truth," and from that moment, it invites us into a world Malayalam cinema has rarely dared to enter. This is a film of ambition and spectacle, rooted in familiar Kerala folklore yet dressed in the colours of neon and flame. Instead of easing us into the story, it throws us into a city under siege. Buildings burn like monuments of collapse, their flames less accidental and more deliberate destruction. Out of this chaos crouches Chandra (Kalyani Priyadarshan), her gaze burning with unyielding determination. Behind her, the inferno roars, turning her into a figure of both warrior and avenger. Around her, soldiers in tactical combat gear move like shadows, rifles raised, but she carves through them with almost supernatural power.

From this fiery opening, the story relocates to Bengaluru, where Chandra takes up night shifts at a café, her dark, gothic air drawing glances from across the street. In the apartment opposite live Sunny (Naslen) and Venu (Chandu Salimkumar), often joined by their friend Nigel (Arun Kurian). What begins as casual curiosity turns into quiet obsession: Sunny is captivated, yet he also senses that something about her does not quite belong. The film drops subtle clues that Chandra, though she looks no older than her late twenties, may have walked the earth for centuries. This is where director Arun Dominic's craft in world-building shines, offering fragments instead of exposition and inviting us to piece together her mystery.