Trance Malayalam Movie
Anwar Rasheed's 'Trance' makes fun of fake preaching, and warns a society that takes the practice too seriously not to have blind faith in religion. At the center of Trance is Fahadh Faasil's Viju Prasad. Trance is a story of how he transforms from a motivational speaker into a purveyor of religion.
One of the initial scenes of the movie, we see Fahadh Faasil in front of a mirror. His Shammi from last year's 'Kumbalangi Nights' opens with a grand statement in front of the mirror: "The Complete Man." Here too Fahadh has his 'mirror moments'. Viju puffs up his chest, pumps the first, and says self-motivational things in front of it reminding us of Robert De Niro from Raging Bull. These mannerisms and Fahadh's manic energy help him turn Viju into this preacher we would later meet in the film.
This version of Fahadh is a far cry from the loser we first see. A chain of family tragedies forces Viju to be on regular antidepressants. Then, a trip to Mumbai and a meeting with the city's moguls change his life drastically. Things change for Viju when businessmen in Mumbai namely Solomon Davis (Gautham Vasudev Menon) and Isaac Thomas (Chemban Vinod Jose) hire him. Visibly impressed by Viju's motivation videos, the duo tell him to ingest a new kind of 'drug' into his acts, which they refer to as religion.
In one telling scene, TV journalist Mathews Thomas (Soubin Shahir) interviews Fahadh's pastor character. Thomas asks the pastor to explain how he got all the wealth and materialistic pleasures despite being in a service profession. The pastor questions the journo's faith and accuses him of not conveying his good deeds through the media. Moments later the journalist challenges the pastor to do a 'miracle act' on live TV and the latter accepts the challenge. What happens to the journo next is an eye-opener.
There is a story track involving the family of a fever-affected girl. Seeing the pastor's preaching videos on TV where he tells people to let the almighty's power heal everything, the child's father Thomas (Vinayakan) opts not take her to the doctor, believing instead in the god's healing powers. It is this blind faith that Trance questions, and quite vociferously at that. It is important to note that the film is not anti-Christian or anti-religion.
Trance is bold in how it throws verbal darts at preaching and the dark things happening behind closed doors, all in the name of religion. The film comes at a time when people in this country are all a little too sensitive when it comes to religious matters.
Trance is anchored by a powerful Fahadh Faasil performance. Beyond everything, it is his conviction in the role that stands out. You could tell that he believes in the role of Pastor Joshua just by looking at his eyes. Fahadh is a brilliant actor and this film makes the best use of his talents. Watch him in the scenes where he addresses scores of people - these are enough to give you a gooseflesh. There are terrific supporting performances, too, especially ones by Vinayakan, Soubin Shahir and Gautham Menon, but this is mostly an acting showcase for Fahadh.
The film is not without its problems though. Firstly, it is too long at over 2 hours and 45 minutes. Secondly, it loses its way a little when the focus shifts from religion to mental health and the side effects of psychiatric medication. Trance is not all that surefooted when the subject tackled is not religion. The character of Nazriya Nazim, Esther Lopez is a bit too loosely written for my liking. We never quite get to know Esther just as well as we would have liked to. But the performance of Nazriya Nazim makes up for that writing deficiency somewhat. Despite having a limited screen time, Nazriya is charming enough to make a mark. It is a performance indicative of a more matured actor, not one who is coming back from a long break. Her character, like in Anjali Menon's 'Koode', is more of a narrative tool. I think what the makers of Trance are trying to communicate with the track involving Esther, is that the cure for issues like depression may be deep human connections. Trance suggests the real antidote for life's issues is love, not religion.
Technically, the film is exceptionally well made. Amal Neerad's career-best work as a cinematographer, Resul Pookutty's sound design, background score by Jackson Vijayan and Sushin Shyam, and most notably, Ajayan Challisery's art direction. Together with Fahadh Faasil, the technical members put in their A-game to make Trance quite a transcendent watching experience.
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