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Paka-River of Blood Review: Anything can be made in the name of Anurag Kashyap

2021 ‘Paga: River of Blood’ premiered in the “Discovery” section of the Toronto International Film Festival. There was a story of two families who were thirsty for each other’s blood. The film was released on Sony Liv and promoted as if Anurag Kashyap produced it, so it is a masterpiece cinema. Many times it happens that a successful film director says yes to associate with a film after reading the script or on the narration of the writer-director. It often happens with Anurag Kashyap that many budding directors take their film to him and ask him to present it. There are two benefits from this, they get the essence of Anurag Kashyap’s experience and also the name of Anurag Kashyap opens many doors for them. Anurag’s name is associated with Paga as a producer, but director Nitin Lukose has no mark of his own in the film. Disappointed after watching the film.

There is no harmony between two families in any village of Kerala. Thirsty for each other’s blood. A girl from one family and a boy from another family fall in love with each other and think that if they get married, the enmity might end. In these days the boy’s uncle comes out of jail. Jail days weighed heavily on him and he too now wants to end the dispute. He spends every rupee he earns in jail to buy gifts for his nephew’s wedding. He meets his nephew’s girlfriend and apologizes to her because he went to jail only for killing the girl’s father. He even meets the family members of the girl to talk about the relationship. As soon as the girl’s uncle gets the news, he kills the boy’s uncle with his spoons and drowns the dead body in the river. The boy’s grandmother tells her little grandson to seek revenge. The younger grandson goes and starts fighting with a member of that family and only then his elder brother comes to his rescue. Seeing his younger brother getting killed, he also gets uncontrollable and kills the enemy and the dead body is thrown into the river. The marriage gets postponed. Elder brother has to run away. After a long time, he comes home during the days of worship. After the puja, the girl’s uncle kills the younger brother and throws him into the river and in return the boy kills the murderer uncle. In the end, he fills all the family photos, weapons in a sack and throws them in the river. In the climax, the girl’s brother sits on his grandfather’s chair.

Basil Paulos’ performance as the main character Johnny is good. This is his second film. Basil is very good in the character of a straight, calm and lover who believes in non-violence. As his character changes, his getup also changes. Vinita Koshy has done a few films as his girlfriend, the main one being Operation Jawa. Vineeta’s character had very little to do. His facial expressions look accurate while getting scolded by his grandfather. The two characters who impressed are Hose Kilakkan as the boy’s uncle Kochappan and Arul John as Johnny’s brother Pachi. In fact, the audience of Hindi films has got used to watching movies of Romeo and Juliet’s family fight. Although it is difficult to understand the reason for family enmity in Paga, it is even more difficult to understand how friendship or love developed between Johnny and Ana. Murder in the village is not an easy task and if it is known that someone is a murderer, then the village boycotts him socially. There is no dialogue in many places in the film. A lot is left for the viewers to understand. An attempt has been made to create an atmosphere of fear in the film. Looks weird.

The grandfather of the girl has lost one of his sons, but his younger son goes against him and goes out to kill, then the grandfather realizes that this tradition of blood for blood will one day keep the whole clan desolate, but till then It is too late. On the other hand, the boy’s grandmother is also taunting her grandson to take revenge. When Johnny is cutting Ferrari, grandmother dies in those days and she cannot even see Johnny. The story is from the village of Kerala, stems from the personal experiences of the director.. Both the families are shown to be Christian. Christianity talks about peace but in the film there is only violence which overpowers all love and relationships. This is the first film of writer director Nitin but before this he has been working as a successful sound designer and that is why the sound design of the film is very good. Listenable on great speakers. Rest of the aspects like Faizal Ahmed’s peppy background music, Srikanth Kabothu’s cinematography and Arunima Shankar’s editing are all good.

The point of disagreement is Anurag Kashyap’s production of the film. There is nothing in this film that is produced by him. The film has been aired in such a way that instead of the director, the film came into limelight because of the producer. This matter and thing is beyond understanding. Nothing will happen if you don’t watch the film.