Movie: Trance
Direction: Anwar Rasheed
Cast: Fahadh Faasil, Nazriya Nazim
Music: Sushin Shyam, Jackson Vijayan
Cinematographer: Amal Neerad
Editor: Praveen Prabhakar
Genre: Drama, Thriller
Rating: ∗∗∗∗
What is it about: It’s a psychological drama which follows the life events of Viju Prasad (Fahadh Faasil) a motivational speaker, who is hired by a corporate body to work as a Christian Pastor. What happens further forms the crux of the story directed and produced by Anwar Rasheed.
Why it’s disappointing: This section stays definitely put for this film.
What to watch out for: If you’ve read the plot, it’s a given how controversial this subject could be, but the director had a knack to handle it with great panache. Right from the first frame, opening titles until the rolling credits, the film breathes of out of the box thinking. Malayalam cinema has moved to a great level of storytelling which is surpassing other southern film industries with their content driven films. This is becoming quite hard to find especially in Tamil film industry. Recently I watched three Malayalam films including Trance, and all of them were good. I couldn’t find anything to complaint. Trance is very controversial, I’m still wondering how it got released? But I’m really happy it did. As much controversial it is, the humour it carried was stupendous. You laugh, you laugh, and you laugh at the mere state of the society’s faith in few matters. Director Anwar Rasheed was spot on with his notion and never deflected from the subject and held the core with authenticity. Every character on screen was well written and explored.
Fahadh Faasil, definitely hands down the “Showman of the Millennium”. He makes your jaw drop in his awe. The way he carried the different shades of his character was admirable. No one else could’ve done justice to the character of Viju Prasad. He was beyond everything and puts on great show.
Nazriya Nazim as Esther Lopez was stupendous; her introduction in the film was a highlight which had the shades of Margot Robbie dancing high on trance. She delivered a great performance. Then it was Soubin Shahir, who was commendable.
I’m not sure, maybe I saw two of his films in a row or he’s truly a great actor all this while, who was hidden behind the attire of a director. Gautham Vasudev Menon was fantastic. Damn, he’s got an electric charisma on screen and that shines all over TRANCE. Now I can say, I’m his fan of acting. This was followed by Chemban Vinod Jose as Issac Thomas’s amazing performance. Then there was Dileesh Pothan as Avarachan, he was hilariously evil, an amazing character in the film. Sreenath Bhasi as Kunjan may have a short stint but leaves a good impression. Finally, you can’t miss Vinayakan as Thomas, who appears for a brief period but makes a strong impact.
The technical department of the film was spectacular. The cinematography by Amal Neerad was delectable. He was in sync with the director’s vision; there are few scenes which looks beyond grandeur. And I’ve never seen anything like it in Indian Cinema off late. It was truly international. Editing by Praveen Prabhakar was diligent. Jackson Vijayan’s music was good. The score by Jackson & Sushin was mind blowing. It’s ‘cause the score played a vital part which elevated most of the scenes in the film.
Verdict: Anwar Rasheed, did a fantastic job in making this film. A subject so sensitive was handled with great maturity and panache. The writing by Vincent Vadakan was brilliant. And, there was this fantastic ensemble of cast who did a fantastic job. Don’t miss this film; it’s playing with English subtitles.
