Churuli

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Churuli
Official poster of the movie
Directed by	Lijo Jose Pellissery
Screenplay by	S. Hareesh
Story by	Vinoy Thomas
Produced by	Lijo Jose Pellissery Chemban Vinod Jose
Starring	Vinay Forrt Chemban Vinod Jose Joju George Soubin Shahir
Cinematography	Madhu Neelakandan
Edited by	Deepu Joseph
Music by	Sreerag Saji
Production companies	Movie Monastery Chembosky Motion Pictures
Distributed by	SonyLIV
Release dates	11 February 2021 (2021-02-11) (IFFK) 19 November 2021 (2021-11-19)
Running time	120 minutes (IFFK) 114 minutes (SonyLIV)
Country	India
Language	Malayalam

Churuli (ചുരുളി, English: Labyrinth) is a 2021 Indian Malayalam-language science fiction mystery horror film directed and co-produced by Lijo Jose Pellissery and written by S. Hareesh, starring Vinay Forrt, Chemban Vinod Jose and Jaffar Idukki in key roles.^[1][2] The film was produced by Lijo Jose Pellissery and Chemban Vinod Jose under the banner of Movie Monastery and Chembosky Motion Pictures, with Jesto Varghese, O Thomas Panicker and Naushad Salahudin as co-producers.^[3][4] Churuli tells the story of two undercover police officers who search for a wanted criminal known as Mayiladumparambil Joy. However, they find themselves stuck in the village of Churuli as eerie mysteries unfold. The original story and characters are based on a short story from the book Kaligaminarile Kuttavalikal written by Vinoy Thomas. The film was released via OTT platform Sony LIV on 19 November 2021.^[5]

Plot[]

The movie begins with a prologue story of a Monk who is traveling through a forest to capture Perumadan, an evil spirit, which misleads travelers in the forest. All the creatures in the forest wink at the Monk as if he's familiar. On his way he comes across a rolled up Pangolin. Assuming that it is a ball, he takes it with him to gift it to his children. After a while, the Pangolin starts speaking and advices the monk to take another path. He listens to the Pangolin and gets lost in the woods. It is said that he is still wandering in the forest because he failed to realize that the Pangolin was Perumadan in disguise all along.

In the present day two policemen go on a covert mission to capture a criminal named Myladumparambil Joy hiding in a village named Churuli. The duo assume false names, Anthony and Shajivan, Anthony is an experienced policeman while Shajivan is a rookie. The duo boards a jeep heading to Churuli under the pretext of working for a man named Thankan. The jeep driver tells them that Thankan is currently not in Churuli, but tells them to stay in the village until he returns. Anthony attempts to befriend fellow passengers who seem friendly. On their way they cross a wooden bridge afterwards the passengers and the driver abruptly change their pleasant demeanor and starts being crass towards the duo, shocking them. In churuli the duo stay and work in a tavern owned by a man named Philip and wait for Thankan's return. Anthony quickly adapts to Churuli's unusual environment and the people, spending most of the day drunk and eating game meat. Shajivan struggles to adjust and starts dreaming of strange lights and two mysterious alien like figures. After spending many days in tavern waiting for Thankan and searching for any clues about Joy, Shajivan goes looking for Thankan's house. On the way he inquires about Joy to an old lady who remarks that he looks familiar and starts chasing after with an axe. Shajivan escapes and returns to the tavern. That night the policemen discuss about the current situation and comes to the conclusion that most of the inhabitants of the village are criminals with multiple aliases. Shajivan suggests informing the police department to apprehend all of the villagers. But Anthony advices him that they should ignore the others while on this mission. The next day the tavern keeper instructs them to clean up the tavern to turn it into a makeshift church for his daughters' first communion ceremony. During the event Shajivan meets the old lady again who closes her eyes in a strange manner after seeing him. Since Thankan wasn't at the ceremony the duo assumes that Thankan is Joy's alias.

Anthony accompanies a local hunter for a hunt and doesn't return even after three days has passed. Shajivan, looking for answers, goes for a trek and comes across the house of the person who supplies Cassava to the tavern. While staring into a window of the house, he is startled by strange cogs and gears accompanied by lights. Anthony and the local hunter returns emptyhanded, for which the man blames and berates Anthony but Shajivan who's now surprisingly confident defends Anthony. After an unspecified amount of time a Kodagu man in the village finds the duo suspicious. The police duo, locals, and the Kodagu man visit a local mela where he and Shajivan play slap boxing. During the game he is trashed and humiliated by the Kodagu man whose each slap causes Shajivan to experience strange visions. That night Anthony is woken up by a thunder and finds Shajivan missing from bed. Next day Anthony inquires him about the previous night but Shajivan refutes it by saying it might have been a dream. The Kodagu man goes missing and his corpse is shown to be laying on a riverbank.

One night the Hunter and the duo head out for another hunt. Shajivan confidently takes lead of the hunt and tries to track down a Bison. He spot two creatures similar to what he saw in his dreams where the Bison is supposed to be. The creatures stuns him with a sound causing him to shoot in that direction. The bullet hits the Bison and Anthony tries to chase the bison but he falls and sprains his ankle. The hunter butchers the animal and deserts the policemen, taking all the meat with him. Shajivan carries Anthony on his back but looses his way in the forest. After much effort they return to the village and take Anthony to a local healer woman who lives with a boy. Her hut is shown to be similar to the visions Shajivan saw during the slap boxing. The women does a healing ritual and Anthony hallucinating spirals and the people of Churuli. The following morning, Anthony is completely cured and he flirts with the woman and leaves. As they leave, the woman accuses Shajivan of abusing the boy. Anthony settles the issue by giving her money fearing legal repercussion while Shajivan denies the whole affair.

Meanwhile Thankan returns from town and he is informed about the duo. He becomes furious as he hadn't asked anyone to work form him. Thankan and rest of the villagers question the duo and decides to kill them both. Since their cover is blown Shajivan fires a warning shot and apprehend Thankan and questions him. Thankan reveals that he's not Joy but the real Joy resides in his home and he leads two policemen to his house while the locals loosely follow behind. After arriving at the house, they find a paralyzed Joy for whom Thankan and his wife plead for mercy. Shajivan declines their request but the tone quickly shifts and Thankan and the villagers starts taunting them. The villagers tries to overpower them which causes Shajivan to fire at the crowd. The shot wounds two villagers, including Philip who remain unfazed and laughs it off. Joy calls Philip nearby and tells him that he wish to surrender and leave the village.

The police duo ties up takes Joy away in the Jeep. On the way Joy starts narrating a reimagined version of the story told in the beginning of the movie, now with two policemen instead of the monk and Joy instead of Perumadan. The Policemen notice that the wooden bridge they crossed to arrive at Churuli is now nowhere to be seen and speculates that they have lost the way. Joy guides them to another road and continues his story. This road is revealed to be a spiral path deep in the forest which leads to nowhere. Joy explains everything that has happened to the duo since they arrived in Churuli through the story and reveals that this process is cyclical. After the story ends Joy miraculously cures himself of paralysis and gets free of his restrains. Anthony stops the jeep and gets distracted by mysterious orbs of light which float past them. The orbs combine to form a moon which starts floating above the woods. Anthony looks towards Shajivan who seems strangely calm. Shajivan closes his eyes and inexplicably switches place with Joy. The trio, now completely under a strange influence, are overjoyed as the moon grows larger, pulsating. The jeep starts floating towards the moon with the trio gleefully clinging onto it and until they merge with the moon.

Cast[]

• Vinay Forrt as Shajeevan/Sajeevan, an undercover cop
• Chemban Vinod Jose as Antony, an undercover cop
• Jaffar Idukki as Philip/Kariya/Itti, Tavern Keeper
• Joju George as Thankan Chettan, the rubber estate owner
• Soubin Shahir as Mayiladumparambil Joy
• Surjith Sumathi as Hunter
• Lukman Avaran as Moonji
• Geethi Sangeetha as Pengal
• Hariprashanth M G as Kudakan, a ruffian
• Bhadra Venkideswaran as Thankan's wife
• Vinoy Thomas as Jeep passenger
• Sajin Gopu as Jeep Driver

Production[]

The film was shot in Kulamavu, Idukki with great secrecy. Actor Vinay Forrt revealed that the entire filming was completed in just 19 days, months before the Coronavirus outbreak.^[1][6][7] The voice over for the trailer was given by actress Geetha Sangeetha, who also played an important role in the film.^[8]

Accolades[]

Churuli was also screened at Gala Section in 34th Tokyo International Film Festival.^[11]

Reception[]

Churuli received praise for its visuals, performance and complex storyline while criticisms were drawn towards its extreme profanity.^[12]

The Times Of India gave a rating of 3 out of 5, writing that "Churuli is so bound by this idiosyncrasy of the filmmaker, that the story - slight as it is - seems to have been sacrificed for the sake of creating an ambiance."^[13] The News Minute wrote that, "This Lijo Jose movie is mysterious, funny but loses focus at times. Beautiful performances by Chemban Vinod and Vinay Forrt, humour, fantasy, and mystery make ‘Churuli’ a charming film and it is a worth to watch movie."^[14] Baradwaj Rangan of Film Companion wrote that, "Usually films come full-circle. But here it's like a hypnotist's wheel. From the center point of the inciting incident, the narrative spins further and further away into an unending whirlpool."^[15] of Onmanorama wrote: "Churuli will throw your world into a perpetual spiral. Walk into Lijo's Churuli baring your values, and if that's a problem, then at least be ready to embrace the darkness that resides in the centre of your light for two hours".^[16]

On 24 November 2021, Central Board of Film Certification of India confirmed that "The SonyLIV streaming version of the film is not certified".^[17][18]

References[]

External links[]

• Churuli at IMDb