(Trigger warning)
The sudden demise of Sushant Singh Rajput shook the nation on 14th June 2020. The most common response was that someone so full of life like Sushant would never end his life just because of depression. People who live half of their lives on social media started posting Sushant’s old posts claiming he was such an over-enthusiastic human being who was never on the verge of depression or suicide. Instead of muddling through an ongoing police case, let’s examine a Malayalam movie that bursts myths about depression up to an extend.
Kadhavasheshan – an epilogue to a life lived, written and directed by T.V.Chandran got released on November 11th, 2004. Its major print media advertisement had a tagline, “Gopinathan will arrive today, to tell you the whole truth”.
In Kadhavasheshan, right in the beginning itself, we see our protagonist Gopinatha Menon (aka Gopi) ending his life. From then on, only memories and stories about him are left in this world. This could be the reason why it was titled Kadhaavasheshan, a man who remains through stories (Kadha – avasheshan).
Renuka, the woman who was supposed to marry him soon, realizes that she never knew the big picture. She excavates through the stories which others narrate. The beauty of Kadhavasheshan is in the way it intercuts between present and past so effortlessly. Someone will start narrating a fragment of memory to Renuka which eventually might pan the camera and without any gimmick, we reach the past. In another instance, an off-screen dialogue to Renuka which precedes visuals will take us back to present.
Just like Renuka, at some points, we might feel that a man like Gopi who used to do his best to aid others would never kill himself. But on the contrary, he wrote a poignant death note before ending the charade which says, he is killing himself “for the shame of being alive”.
While Gopi was trying to resolve some issues that prevailed in society, nobody figured out that at some point he might suicide. But after finishing the movie, if you think backward, you will find breadcrumbs which scream that Gopi was always on the verge of such a mishap. Every bit of memories that unfolded before our eyes were pointing out that he was unhappy but pretending that he was not. The unethical and cruel world was draining every bit of his will to fight back for himself and others. There is no such one particular reason which made him trip and fell all of a sudden. Instead, the entire movie gives a lot of direct and indirect reasons for his fall.
After the set-up stage, Vijayaraghavan’s character confesses to Renuka that, eventually he too forgot about Gopi. He later narrates an old conversation with Gopi which took place after the funeral of Gopi’s mother. Gopi said to him that, while he was working in other States, he had an opportunity to interact with many and get involved in their happiness and sadness. Human beings are more helpless than ever when they are lone. Hence he adds that he would like to mitigate the problems of those who need some support. This is the soul of Kadhavasheshan. But while helping others, he didn’t seek any help and nobody cared for him the way he cared for those who were around him.
Everybody around him failed to understand that his will to be alive was getting feebler day by day. The relevance of this movie is it makes us rethink our life. Because, we all know someone who is downward spiraling, but we just neglect those signs and we are not reaching out to them.
Which is your favorite movie of this sort, that made you rethink your attitude towards others or help you be a better human being?
This got featured in Cinemeau :
He was institutionalised for 6yrs in a Film Institute, to forget about the 4yrs which an Engg college stole. Inveterate dreamer who dreams to utter Spielberg’s words, “I dream for a living.”
