James (Mammootty) in “Nanpakal Nerathu Mayakkam” (2023) is not controlled by Sundaram’s spirit or any other supernatural entity. You’ll feel it is hard to swallow, but everything he is experiencing is a dream!
Before following James, let’s take a look at Monayi who sits behind James. Monayi steps onto the bus wearing a saffron-colored shirt and a pair of cream-coloured pants. He makes advances at Monica by offering Dates and Halva. So, as you may recall, his wife forces him to swap seats. Although this event initially looks inconsequential, at the end you will realise that it is quite important.
Later the friends and relatives of James who walks to the village in search of him discover that James is roaming around on somebody’s scooter. James is followed around the village by Monayi and a villager (Ramachandran Durairaj) on a bicycle.
Though Monayi acts like he wants to help, he is a fox. He yells at others, urging anybody may leave the village right away if they have any other urgent matter to deal with, without waiting for James to get his act together. However, to everyone else’s surprise, he soon seizes the very first opportunity and escapes with his wife. This event is also crucial.
When James looks in the mirror at the barbershop, he experiences an identity crisis, and at that very moment, the sound of the bus’ glass windows rustling can be heard once again.
We heard it earlier while the song “Iraivan Irukkindrana” (Avan Pithana? – 1966) was playing while everyone else was dozing off. This suggests that he could be dreaming all these events while he was also dozing off with others.
Eventually, when James awakens after the prolonged sedated sleep, he reclaims his own identity, changes attire and departs from Sundaram’s family.
James is followed back to their bus by his friends and family, right?
But suddenly, another static shot appears showing every single person inside the bus and James is staring towards the far-away village. The rest of the passengers are sleeping as nothing happened during their midday nap but James is awake. Do you still recall the scene you witnessed just before James got off the bus? James shifted his position, but other than this exception, nothing has changed. Moreover, you can also see Monayi again seated right behind him! This indicates, the entire time maybe James was ruminating over a dream that he must have seen earlier while he was also asleep.
Do you recall James’ initial conversation with the lodge’s manager, who translates a Thirukkural quote which James sees in the reception? “To sleep is to die. And to wake from sleep is birth.”
Although James’ conscious mind naturally prompts him to say that Thirukkural would make a wonderful title for a play, James’ subconscious mind must have swallowed that phrase more seriously on a whole another level.
Around somewhere in the middle of the movie, the driver reminds Nurse Benny of the catchphrase ‘the whole world is a stage’.
When all the chaos settles and the bus departs after the climax, we read the advertisements about their current play ‘Once Upon a Time’ on the bus. James, who oversees an amateur drama troupe, was contemplating on the dream and perceives it like a play.
Apart from the Thirukkural quote, James’ subconscious mind also takes inspiration from all the old classic Tamil songs played in the bus when he is asleep. They are intertwined with the Tamil songs and passages which we hear in the village and especially from the TV at Sundaram’s home. Also the 1990 film Parampara, which he reluctantly watches on the television. Well, Mammootty plays two roles in Parampara!
In summary, James experiences a dream as a result of a simple trick his subconscious mind pulls. When he comes out of it, he requests the bus driver to halt the vehicle. He interprets the dream as a play in which he portrays Sundaram for a while. As it comes to a close, he instructs the driver to depart without waking up anyone else.
Those who still don’t want to believe it can’t be this simple, should google about the movie. Even the official English title given to Nanpakal Nerathu Mayakkam’, ‘Like an afternoon dream’ directly implies that it could all be a dream! Yes, it is as simple as that.
Dream is used as a vessel to set sail more effectively. Even if it was all a dream, I don’t think Sundaram or the village was unreal. Because one of the most poignant moment in the whole movie is at the close when we see the dog running after the troupe’s bus. When James dreamt of being Sundaram, maybe Sundaram’s buddy dog Sevala felt a vibe somehow that its prodigal owner is around. Or maybe that’s just another dog which was running after a random vehicle. Who knows!
As usual “auteur” Lijo Josep Pellissery has left some breadcrumbs at every turn in the movie to make us all engagingly think about all the aspects directly and indirectly cited through his visual narration.
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.”
