Their troupe is called Arangu, which translates to the stage. It is another allusion to the irony the film operates on with each character performing even better in real life than on stage. What doubles down on this irony is the seemingly progressive masks they wear in reality, either as educated liberals (like the newspaper editor) or as practitioners of a superior art-form (like their master who admittedly chose economics over talent). Yet when push comes to shove, we realise how all of them are like a lot of us, conflicted, but a small price away from exchanging morality for selfish growth.
The writing is consistently surprising with the film working both as an intricate study of the male psyche and a thriller, inching closer to a reveal. In this process, our loyalties waver, but as viewers, the film is careful enough to never alienate Anjali. And it does this, even when it’s aware of the locker-room like setting where much of the film is taking place in. Anand Ekarshi also leaves us with interesting doubts, with us realising how a chamber drama that began at a dining table, culminates with these men finally standing outside, as day turns into night. Divided into three parts, not only do we see the masks coming off gradually with the coming of the night (and alcohol), but we also witness these careful, cultured men slowly transforming into reckless beasts, as a debate degenerates into fist-flights.
And with the film introducing us to a set of spectacular new performers, the ambiguity of the writing only gets better with each new actor. In a film that begins and ends with the stage, we come to realise that the only passage of truth appears when these actors are on stage. This is where the film becomes more than an investigation or a procedural and it doesn’t matter who committed the crime when you’ve realised each one of those men are equally culpable. As the stage becomes the place with the least hypocrisy, Anjali too finds respite there, as she seeks out the familiar faces sitting in the audience. And with the judgements we have made during the course of the film, it’s not shocking if we find a version of ourselves sitting right there in the crowd, urging Anjali to perform her truth for us, either to believe her or not…
Aattam, which won the Grand Jury Award at the Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles, will get its Asia Premiere at the Jio MAMI Mumbai Film Festival