Aattam Movie Review: An Extraordinary Tale That Explores Male Hypocrisy

Image Source- Forbes

While searching for something new to uncover my boredom I found Aattam on Amazon Prime. A movie that makes you think about the complexities of human behaviour. I am surprised as to why I did not discover this movie early. Most of the films that depict sensitive issues rely on either bloodshed or violence but this one shows the male psyche at its core.

A young woman named Anjali (Zarin Shihab) who works as an architect in the morning and theatre artist in the night is out to celebrate the group's successful play. Among all the celebrations taking place, she gets molested by someone in the group. Unable to grasp the situation she leaves early in the morning. Upon not receiving any calls from her Vinay (Vinay Forrt) her lover and the group member tries to know the reason. All the members discuss this without the victim and the person who is believed to be the attacker. 

But in this process is anything served right? Does the victim feel really safe and redeemed? Will finding the attacker be enough? How does society react when something like this happens? Do those men side with the attacker and try to blame the victim? Debutant Director Anand Ekarshi's extraordinary movie Aattam is one of those movies that needs to be addressed and talked about in today's times.

The movie does start slow yet intriguing. It does not bombard the audience to deep dive at once but pinpoints in the right direction. Although there have been many movies that addressed sexual encounters the approach here is different. The movie initially begins with the troupe playing on the stage where Hari (Kalabhavan Shajohn) depicts the male ego with Vinay instructing him to do so. The ego is covered in a mask like they have two professions one they have to do and the other one is following their passion. 

Ego is the other piece of the movie that is unraveled within each of the male characters. Even though he is a senior artist Vinay is not cast as the main hero instead Hari who joined the troupe while being a film artist gets the part. This decision makes him unhappy and when he learns that Hari seems to be the person who attacked his lover makes hasty choices. Anjali the only female artist in the group is the sole representation of the women who are abused but are forced to prove themselves all the time. When people who need to support her keep on changing stances she is forced to dance to their tunes.

Every artist in this movie is an unexceptional talent with no replacements. But Vinay Forrt surely stands out for extraordinary acting. From being a person to support his girlfriend indirectly and then denying their relationship with finally proving that he too is a man who cannot win over his alter ego. He surely has found his perfect balance in portraying characters like Vinay and Vimal from Premam. 

Zarina Shihab who has acted in a few Malayalam movies nailed her character Anjali. The vulnerability when she was attacked and later on speaking up for herself when no one intends to is depicted by her with such ease that it does not seem like a character. Kalabhavan Shajohn too shines as Hari even though he shares less screen space as compared to others.

Aattam begins and ends with a play with the latter being more effective in the portrayal. The question of who did it still remains but like Anjali said all 11 of them are to be held guilty. A movie that needs to be seen and appreciated wholeheartedly.