Ezra Review: Haunting and Captivating in Equal Terms

Sethumadhavan

It’s not often that you get to watch a horror film in Malayalam of late, most of the films in that genre have turned out to be often of the B grade variety and I would not really consider Ranjith Sankar’s Pretham as it is essentially a horror comedy, with the emphasis being more on fun. This is a little strange considering that Tamil, Telugu and Hindi cinema have been exploring the horror genre quite often of late. What is also surprising is that Malayalam cinema has come up with some popular horror films in the past including Bhargavi Nilayam (1964), Yakshi (1968) and Lisa (1978) and yet there has not been a conscious attempt to come up with quality horror films in Malayalam in the recent past. This is why I was quite intrigued when I first heard of debutant director Jay K’s Ezra; after all it was a little unusual to hear of someone making his filmmaking debut in Malayalam with a horror film.

With the film attracting prominent names in the form of producers, cast and crew it certainly only made it an exciting prospect. Originally slated to be one of the Christmas releases of 2016, the film industry strike in Kerala had gone on to throw the release plans into disarray. And now Ezra has finally released, going on to be the last of the pending year end releases to make it to the theatres. The promos and the songs have in the meanwhile gone on to be well received, also by quirk of fate the film has also gone on to manage a solo release as well in Kerala. At the time of writing this review the reports from trade seem to be quite positive, with the film apparently having taken off to a good start. So is Ezra really an impressive debut from Jay K? Does the film have the potential to be become a trend setter of sorts as far as Malayalam cinema is concerned? And more importantly, has Ezra turned out to be an impressive horror film as it was touted to be?

Ranjan Mathew (Prithviraj) and his wife Priya Raghuram (Priya Anand), a happy couple, relocate from Mumbai to Kochi as Ranjan gets a transfer along with a promotion at work. Though Priya is a little reluctant to shift from her comfort zone, Ranjan manages to convince her that the move would turn out to be good for them eventually. They move into a lovely old villa in the new place and Priya who has an artistic bent of mind, keeps herself busy by decorating the villa with handpicked artefacts and curios. Moosaka (Alencier Ley Lopez) is an antique shop owner who picks up a strange looking box along with a few other articles from the house of the last Jew in Kochi after his demise. Priya in turn goes on to buy the box and brings it to the villa, within no time their peaceful existence goes on to get disturbed and both Priya and Ranjan realize that their life seems to have changed in a way that they had never envisioned. What is it that is bothering them in the house and how are they affected? And how do they go on to handle the situation and overcome it is what the film is actually all about.

At the very core level it is definitely remarkable to see that Jay K and his co-writer Manu Gopal have gone on to come up with quite a novel concept, something that has certainly not been seen in Indian horror films so far. Despite the existence of Jews in India and in Kochi in particular, it is heartening to note that Ezra is certainly the first Indian horror film to explore the Jewish background and use “Dybbuk” as an element of horror. There is significant level of research that seems to have been done in getting these aspects right and character development has been also done keeping this in mind. The writing is effective in ensuring that a lot of detailing has gone in to the plot, to the extent that Ranjan’s work which involves working with an organization that is concerned with the disposal of radioactive waste is also shown to be of relevance to the plot and is not just for effect.

The first half sets up the proceedings quite well, while the second half takes the story into a different time zone. While the pace does slightly dip after a while, it’s good to see that the film does make the 1940’s look quite authentic, credit to both the production design and VFX for enabling the same. The film is technically sound, it has a very polished look and feel, with Sujith Vaassudev’s cinematography contributing majorly for the same. The songs by Rahul Raj and Sushin Shyam are quite effective, with “Lailakame” (composed by Rahul Raj, lyrics by Harinarayan BK and vocals by Haricharan) going on to become quite popular even before the release.  If you are a die-hard fan of horror films then let me caution you, this is not a film that might provide you with jump scary moments as such. In a way there’s nothing gimmicky as such in terms of the horror aspect. Also post the big reveal towards the end (and that’s quite interesting) the culmination is a tad let down of sorts.  But thankfully the film has enough and more positives that ensure that you are kept engaged more or less, definitely a plus from Jay K for the same.

The film also benefits from some good performances, the supporting cast is fantastic and most of them have well written characters. Sudev Nair, Vijayaraghavan, Sujith Shankar and Babu Antony play their parts quite well and Tovino Thomas as A.C.P.Shafeer Ahamed leaves an impact. Priya Anand makes a confident entry into Malayalam cinema and clearly proves that she is a talent to watch out for. In fact she appears to have wonderful on screen chemistry with Prithviraj, making them quite an endearing pair in a way.  After a few disappointing films in 2016 (after a hit in the form of Pavada) it’s great to see Prithviraj bounce back in style with Ezra, he is calm and composed and carries off the character of Ranjan Mathew with a lot of maturity. Ezra is certainly a refreshing horror film and one that should ideally encourage more such efforts in Malayalam cinema.

Bottomline:

Ezra sees Jay K make a confident debut as a director and it is a film that looks visually pleasing and is quite unique for a horror film from Indian cinema, not just Malayalam. If you can look forward to watching a good film and not focus on the scary moments alone, higher is the possibility of getting to appreciate the film.

Rating: 3.5/5