In the short story ‘Kaligeminaarile Kuttavaalikal’, written by Vinoy Thomas, 2 law enforcement officers disguised as civilians arrive in a forest village to capture a fugitive criminal. The mystique aura of that forest acts as a catalyst in them to change. While trying to merge with the villagers, these officers commit sins too. In the end, they arrest the fugitive, without trying to realise that they have also committed the same crimes. There is only a thin fine line between a do-gooder and a sinner. Once somebody crosses it and commits a sin, his or her mindset will be stuck in a limbo of spiral sin maze. Once a sinner always a sinner!
‘Churuli’ is an adaptation that conveys the same. But to intensify the whole point, Lijo Jose Pellissery and S. Hareesh added too many thought-provoking layers and ambiguities.
In the prologue of Churuli, we learn the folk-tale of Thirumeni who goes with a basket to capture Perumaadan. Thirumeni finds a curled-up Pangolin, mistakes it for a ball, and keeps it in the basket. Perumaadan pretending as the Pangolin starts to misguide Thirumeni and since then he has been walking in loops in the spiral forest maze.
As the movie progresses, we realise that the same folk-tale is unfolding before our eyes. ASI Antony, the Thirumeni, enters the forest with the constable ASI Shajivan, the basket, to capture the fugitive criminal Joy, the Perumaadan. Eventually, we learn that our journey with the characters is just one time-loop in the spiral. Each time, the silent tapioca farmer, informs the police about the fugitive, and the crime branch sends two officers disguised as civilians to capture him. One among them commits the same crimes and gets stuck there, switching position with the criminal. So Thirumeni becomes Basket in the next loop, and Basket becomes Perumaadan in the next loop.
The toddy shop owner once calls Shajivan as George, and Shajivan responds normally. Probably he visited Churuli as George in the previous loop. In that loop, George was probably the lead officer (Thirumeni), and Joy was probably the constable (Basket) who came along. But then Joy committed the crimes and became the Perumaadan for the next loop.
In the epilogue, we see Perumaadan of the current loop, Joy, finally getting liberated and the basket of the current loop, Shajivan, attaining the position of Perumaadan for the next loop. The never-ending spiral sin maze which screams out loud that once a sinner, always a sinner!
Benevolent until the final kink in your tail is relished.”
Wait, so what about the aliens? You tell me, who are the two aliens who arrive at this strange land? The two cops in disguise, right? So maybe, just maybe, aliens are the liberated Perumaadans. That is why two of them guide Shajivan when they were hunting. Joy probably became an alien at the end, and Shajivan will be the next in line.
If LJP or Hareesh hadn’t appended all these layers on the base story, don’t you think most of the viewers would blame it for its resemblance with their previous project ‘Jellikkettu’?
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.”
