Do your bit to support our journalism. Become a member – and help us stay on top of the most important stories.
(This article has mild spoilers.)
At a media interaction for director Jeo Baby's Kaathal – The Core, Jyotika called her co-actor Mammootty a "real life, true hero".
Watching him as Mathew Devassy – a middle-aged gay protagonist – in the film, one is inclined to believe so.
A film that sets cash registers ringing is one thing, and a star giving a good performance is another. But an actor's filmography becoming an elevation for an entire industry, and a film becoming a mirror for society at large, where cinema simultaneously is a statement and a work of art, is rare.
Kathaal – The Core is a sensitive, dignified, and nuanced film that brings to fore the importance of how big stars like Mammootty and Jyotika (who returned to the big screen after three years) fit into humble places with much grace.
Especially in today's milieu, where the scale of a film is considered as important as its collection, here is an actor who has come up with not one, but four successful films in one single year – success in not just box office numbers, but also in terms of what the film conveys.
Playing a Gay Protagonist
In 2013, Malayalam actor Prithviraj played the role of a closeted homosexual in Roshan Andrew's Mumbai Police. The film was a super hit. But the character's sexual orientation was revealed only at the end – to add a 'shock value' to the film.
Malayalam's other superstar Mohanlal, too, portrayed the role of a bisexual man, who has a gay encounter, in one of the short stories directed by OV Vijayan, and part of televised series Kadhayattam.
In Kaathal, which also aptly has the tagline 'The Core', the sexual needs and preferences of Omana (played by Jyotika) and Mathew (played by Mammootty), respectively, is the story.
The movie shows a broken man holding his outward life tightly until one day it snaps loose. The heart and the eyes well up when you see Mathew crumble into his aged father's hands, and when in the following scene with Omana, the husband and wife of 20 years speak their emotions out in brief lines. They speak without a background score, yet their feelings come crashing onto us like huge waves that hit stoned shores.
The pre-interval scene will leave you bawling – you're crying not just because you're empathising for lost love, but also because you're now exposed to a pair of lovers (men) who are separated by their own fear, guilt of abandoning their family, and social pressure. You are also seeing a woman who has lost 20 years of her life in living a lie.
A Society Full of Rules
Kaathal's writers Adarsh Sukumaran and Paulson Sakria create a world that is "normal" until Omana's divorce petition comes up for hearing where she clearly spells out that her husband has had another love interest – and it is a man. This happens early on in the film so there is no suspense to wait for.
Her exchange with her father-in-law changes everything. He then appears in court to stand by his daughter-in-law's decision.
In most Indian families, the hierarchical role parents play result in curbed emotional and physical preferences of the children, and the resultant trauma is often covered up in silence and traditional adherence to societal "rules."
Omana's choice to break open the doors around her not only sets herself free, but also unchains Mathew. The couple realises that their love for one another has moved into an altruistic, unconditional zone, where their need for one another is not transactional or perfunctory.
It is "adhaiyum thaandi punidhamaanadhu" (it is purer beyond the pure) – like how Kamal Hassan says in the song 'Kanmani Anbodu' from Guna).
Such abstract concepts are nice to read and imagine but tough to enact on screen because the tendency will be to either polarise, sermonise, or demonise homosexuality (as we have seen in the past). But in Kaathal, we see the nuance, grace, dignity, and elegance that a gay person deserves in mainstream cinema.
This has to do with how the lead pair, Mammootty and Jyotika, make us understand and empathise with Mathew and Omana. How they stand by one another even after this huge step is crossed in their marital life is stuff of legends.
Mammootty's Success in the Last Five Years
From 2019 with Unda (The Bullet), Mammootty has been on an upward climb (for the zillionth time in his career spanning five decades), as if the star had the resolve to make up for the few years prior to that, when his choice of scripts turned up cold at the box office.
The last five years have only been one successful film after another for him – and 2023 is that crowning glory year for him as a producer as well.
Mammootty Kampany's productions have come to represent good cinema with sound business sense in a short span of time.
Actors act but only a star-actor, with an understanding of his market and reach, can be the brand ambassador (like we see in the last shot of this film) of Jeo Baby's utopian society where love means acceptance of differences and each other's preferences.
At this stage in his career, Mammootty can take it easy and do only that one mega film a year. But he is swinging his acting chops like an ace opening batsman, and is hitting centuries with experienced and experimental ease.
2023 is a landmark year for him and for Indian cinema as the success of such films also prove that the box office is ready to welcome concepts of changing times and progressive portrayals of society.
With Kaathal, Mammootty also squashes prewritten stereotypes for how a hero should be on screen, what kind of roles a megastar can take up, and whether an actor with a good market should do an experimental, bold film at all.
From Macho Hero to Vulnerable Man
When the film ends, one cannot but feel heavy that a love story has given way to another – and yet, there is immense respect for the leads and their choices.
Mammootty is a macho hero, an actor who embodies the male psyche, and a man who looks nothing close to effeminate. However, his portrayal makes us feel Mathew's vulnerability, fear, and helplessness.
It makes us open our minds to hear his thoughts, empathise with his burden. When his manly voice cracks as a cry to God (and his wife), seeking 'forgiveness for not coming out with his sexual orientation earlier in life,' we just want to open our arms, embrace him, and tell him, "It's okay, we will not judge you, we will accept you, we will understand you."
Kaathal – The Core makes us all want to become better human beings – and that is the single most important achievement of Jeo Baby's film.
It's also highly appreciable how Mammootty kept his doors open for new age filmmakers and writers to approach him with subjects like Nanpakal Nerathu Mayakkam (a Lijo Jose Pellissery marvel) and Kaathal (a Jeo Baby triumph after The Great Indian Kitchen).
What's more applause-worthy is how he chooses to produce such daring scripts under his banner, thus bridging any possible gap between him (as hero) with the director. He keeps his best scripts closer home, and this is a wise thing to do, as the risk is on him, and so are the returns.
Will other heroes get inspired enough by watching Mammootty's cinema and will they select their films for what cinema inherently is – as a platform for stories and not just a path to stardom?
For now, we can all agree with what Jyotika said: Mammootty is indeed a true hero.
(Sujatha Narayanan is a content strategist, creative director, and film writer. She tweets @N_sujatha08. This is an opinion piece and the views expressed are the author's own. The Quint neither endorses nor is responsible for them.)
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)