Double Barrel makes an impact

Director Lijo Jose Pellissery proves why he is a 'next generation' filmmaker.

After almost a year into production and generating the sort of hype that is unparalleled for Malayalam cinema, Double Barrel arrives in theatres as an Onam release.
Lead actor and co-producer Prithviraj described it as a genre bender with a Facebook post calling it "a whole new genre for Malayalam cinema. It's about gangsters, dealers, schemers and goons... all bound by their disarmingly endearing stupidity."
The tide turned with the first show. The 'endearing stupidity' that Prithviraj promised was lost on a majority of viewers, while those who loved it praised it to the stars. The audience was polarised and to salvage the situation, the film was re-edited, trimmed. The two extremes in audience reactions saw director Lijo Jose Pellissery having to step out and sort of 'defend' the film. While he agrees that audience reaction initially dampened the spirits of all, he is not totally surprised with the reaction.
"You get such extreme reactions when you try something different," says Lijo. "I never tried to tell a story with Double Barrel and that is the first thing people should get. The film does not have the format of a story - and that is what we tried to convey in every teaser and promotion. It is a film from 'nowhere to nowhere.' There is nothing there in the movie and that is its format."
'Expect the unexpected' is what effectively sums up Double Barrel. "It is futile to look for a story, a framework or logic in the movie; this is an attempt to do a different sort of film - and the fact remains that there is always room for such attempts." The audience could not be faulted for their expectations, though. After all, Lijo has consistently pushed boundaries with every film - from his debut Nayakan, a vendetta tale meshed with the Kathakali artform, City of God, one of Malayalam's first 'multilinear' hyperlink films, and his crowning glory, the mystical surreal fantasy Amen.
Lijo says that he deliberately avoids being tagged or identified with specific genres. "How much ever we try, there is a frame in which we are trapped. It is almost as if every film must conform within that frame. Unless we break that different movies will not happen." And that is what he attempts with Double Barrel, in which an ensemble cast including Prithviraj, Indrajith, Arya, Asif Ali, Chemban Vinod, Sunny Wayne, Vijay Babu et al are all chasing a handful of diamonds. That, to put it mildly, is the one-liner - but how it unfolds in utter unpredictability, calculated chaos and orchestrated confusion surprised audiences who had a different set of expectations altogether.
Despite the meandering effect of the movie that baffled viewers, Lijo says nothing in the movie is accidental and that he worked with a full-bound script. Lijo says the problem lies in the expectation. "If you have a list of ten things you expect from the film, you will be disappointed because you will find none of that in Double Barrel. Whatever you expect or plan to expect or have seen before will not be there. We hadn't hidden that either; we have always said that the film is like a comic book."
The 'comic book' feel, with purposeful 'loud acting,' garish costumes, characters that come out of the woodworks and disappear into nowhere have all made 'classifying' the cinema into any bracket difficult for critics too. Some called it Guy Ritchie-inspired; others compared its visual lingo to Wes Anderson, some called it oddball, others sought to see a spoof.
Lijo says that the film is all that and nothing like that. He says the film has subconscious take-aways from all the different genres of movies he has enjoyed and asserts that "such a film, I can unhesitatingly say, has never been made anywhere in the world." Perhaps, this realisation came late among audiences and Double Barrel is now increasingly becoming lauded as the brave new face of Malayalam cinema in social media circles. Lijo says that it is a film for repeated viewing - "the more you watch it, the more you will be drawn into it."
He says that the film has dimensions that touch several levels - from the Palestine conflict to world politics - he touches upon several facets. "How can I even talk about these to those who do not even want to try to understand the movie even from its periphery?"
Lijo has outgrown the initial criticism to the film. The son of late actor Jose Pellissery, a theatre veteran, he posted on his Facebook page, soon after the hostile comments with a smiley: "Sorry guys ....no plans to change. no plans to impress."
And that is how he is going forward too. He has a number of ideas bouncing off his head and once again, he assures, whatever he comes up with next will not conform to what he has delivered to date. The unexpected - that seems to be the mantra, Lijo believes in. As for UAE audiences, who have already been polarised with public opinion, he says, "watch the film with a very open mind - in fact. with a vacuum mind."

• South Stars