Varathan - Adaptation gone horribly wrong.

The discussion about the copying of art forms is a long standing debate. The line which defines the difference between inspiration and plagiarism is often blurred due to the subjectivity of the topic. It is more significant to analyse the quality of the end product than debating if it is right or wrong. This moves the discussion forward. Critics say, the trick is to identify and appreciate the characteristics of the original art form that works and contributes to its greatness, and then translating it to the new medium. In Malayalam cinema, directors like Priyadarshan and Siddique-Lal have mastered this technique. Their movies like Chandralekha and Ramji Rao Speaking are good examples of this. What Amal Neerad does to Straw Dogs is equivalent to remaking Chemmeen into a B-grade shark movie.

When it comes to appreciating the depth and complexity of the characters in Straw Dogs, Amal Neerad completely misses the mark. This Sam Peckinpah classic flirts with the line dividing morality and sin in such a way that it is difficult to figure out the lead characters - in a good way. Mathematician David and his wife Amy move into a cottage in Amy's native village of Wakely in the English countryside. There they encounter Amy's ex boyfriend Charlie and his friends. Even though they are friendly to them initially, they harbor resentment towards David for "stealing" a girl from their village. Charlie and his friends offer to help repair David's garage. Meanwhile, there is tension between Amy and David due to his passive responses to conflict which causes her to be flirtatious towards Charlie. This leads to one of the most complex and controversial rape scenes shown in cinema. After her initial resistance to the rape, Amy gets beaten up by Charlie and she eventually relents to him. While this is happening, Norman (Charlie's friend) enters the room and puts Charlie at the gun point and rapes Amy. When David comes home, Amy does not mention this to David. She is visibly distraught and broken while David remains oblivious to this. Later, David invites the hostility of Charlie and his family for protecting Niles - the village fool - who is accused of harming Charlie's cousin sister. They get drunk and surround the cottage while David, Amy and Niles barricade themselves inside it. David never breaks his character of principles and righteousness while trying to fend off the attack. Amy does not want Niles in the house and argues with David about turning him in to the mob. At one point she even listens to Charlie asking her to come out and join them, which David prevents by slapping her. He needs to resort to violent masculinity to control his wife, while Amy is subdued by the memory of her rape. The movie ends with most of the attackers dead and David taking Niles to the police station, never knowing about the rape of his wife.

A simple blog does not suffice to explore the complexity of the characters in Straw Dogs. When this was translated to Varathan, all the factors that made Straw Dogs significant was lost. Probably he did not see the 1971 Sam Peckinpah version and went with the poorly received 2011 remake. All the characters in Varathan are one dimensional and lacks depth. The lead character (Aby) is initially a mild mannered fellow who inexplicably transforms to a ninja Kevin McAllister from Home Alone. The supporting characters are designated villains who simply serve the purpose of being evil. The lead character Priya lacks any complexity that Amy had in Straw Dogs. Priya remains a token good girl who is expected to be taken care of by her husband. The movie also fails to show the gravity of a traumatic event like sexual abuse and relegates it to stereotype shots of Priya crying in the shower. Straw Dogs portrays this by the unsettling and disturbing shots of Amy's rape inter-cut with shots of an unaware David hunting for grouse. The sole purpose of Varathan seemed to be showing some incidents which eventually lead to the stylized action sequence in the end, which also seemed like the only thing the director was interested in. Hence Amal Neerad successfully turned a serious movie into a glorified Instagram filter.

A few  more points:

• What's with the characters who can apparently hear the movie's BGM? Priya gets up in the morning, does not find Aby besides her, the BGM starts and as if on cue Priya starts worrying. Its almost as if she knew there is something wrong because of the music.

• Talking of music, nonsensical noise does not make good BGM. Yes, they had it in the Conjuring series, but they understood using Dissonance effectively to set the mood or as a foreshadowing tool.

• Am I the only one talking about Priya's grandfather who had a hipster night vision goggles from the 1940s, complete with digital heads up display. Was he a time traveler? What did he use those goggles for? I would love to hear the story of the haunted night vision goggles possessed by the spirit of a serial killer. Speaking of serial killers, check out Silence of the Lambs for a cool and terrifying scene involving night vision goggles.

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