RETELLING OF A DARK CHAPTER IN KERALA'S HISTORY

Meandering focus, a reluctance to dig deep, and some rudimentary storytelling ruin the film's potential to document a significant incident in the state's tribal land rights movement

- VIGNESH MADHU

2 years have passed since the Muthanga incident, one of the darkest chapters in Kerala's history. In 2003, as a mark of protest against the then-state government's delay in allotting them their promised land, people from various tribal communities occupied land within the Muthanga Wildlife Sanctuary and set up huts there. The government's efforts to evict them resulted in a violent confrontation, ending in police personnel firing at the protestors. A local tribal youth and a policeman were killed in the clash, but it is reported that the tribes suffered more casualties than what was officially recorded. This shocking incident is the source material of Anuraj Manohar's Narivetta, which has been generously fictionalized to lend a cinematic touch.

The film does not mention Muthanga, CK Janu, or Geethanandan, but you still know who's who and what the makers intend to document. Social justice cinema is a genre unto itself, which the neighboring Tamil film industry has been acing quite well lately, bolstered with the arrival of distinct voices like Vetrimaaran, Pa Ranjith, and Mari Selvaraj. In Malayalam, though, the movement is yet to flourish properly. Narivetta could have been a bold step in that direction, but the film, unfortunately, merely scratches the surface. It is primarily because of the (deliberate) choice to narrate it from the perspective of a cop, who is a victim of systemic oppression, and not the traditionally marginalized.