[Film Journal] - Churuli

Films that I admire - 2

After witnessing Churuli from Lijo Jose Pellissery, I really don’t have anything to express, whether I liked the film ,disliked it or to make any other opinion. Because I have different expectations from the creator, as I watched his previous works, such as Ee.mau.yau , Jallikattu and Angamali diaries. We should not expect the same story , or same genre from a creator every time  but I expected a theme, feel and experience. This film is only about that , not about a genre or even story, and I think it holds the ultimate purpose behind Lijo’s previous works. Of course, we aren’t sure of anything until the creator himself expresses his ideas behind it. But Art is always rich in subjectivity, in every way.

So what is this theme and experience that we are talking about?. When the story starts, two undercover policemen are looking for a criminal in a new place where the story takes place , which is Churuli. And this is the only sane thing that we can explain in this film. After that there is a lot of absurd drama that takes place. Let me get into the interpretation behind these later parts.

Churuli is an abstract idea behind existence, creatures, and commentary over the absurdity of it.

Churuli as an abstract idea behind creatures

We think there is a purpose behind our life , and we strongly believe that there is a destiny. Same like these two policemen Shajivan and Antony. Shajivan thinks he can get back to home , after catching the criminal , and Antony sounds like an experienced person , who has already caught a lot of criminals before, but we don’t know for sure. After spending days in Churuli, the purpose gets shadowed by booze, woman , and other fundamental things that exist from animal evolution itself, such as masculine fights, hunting, etc. Slap competition, hunting deer are metaphors for those. In the end, we couldn’t distinguish the difference between Shajivan, Antony and the rest of the criminals.

Of course, Lijo’s previous work Jallikattu also holds a lot of ideas over masculine and other animal behaviours that existed over a 1000s of years.In Jallikattu the purpose is to catch a Bison. Same like Churuli, there also the purpose is getting acclimatized to the nature of animals. Antony and Kuttachan’s clash to prove who is the alpha male in the clan, with the submission of Sophie to these men, creates strong commentary over human(animal) nature. In the end, the film does not focus on who got the Bison, but it showed how an arrogant animal behaviour retained over decades, by comparing it with cave humans.

Whether it is catching a criminal or catching a bison , is it really about a purpose?. The only thing that existed at the end is the nature of animals, nature of sapience, nature of us. So is the entire purpose and existence, just a joke?.

Churuli as an idea behind existence

And there is this time loop thing that suggested that this entire thing will happen again , like the initial story of Perumadan. If you think about  the Monk, he is always going to wander in the forest because of the phantom at his head. The phantom stands for destiny and purpose that we think in this life, where we are never going to realise that we are going to wander everyday because of that. *Here that beautiful forest represents earth, and for Shajivan and Antony, it is Churuli.* At the end, the purpose will always exist again in their head, whether it is Antony, Shajivan or other policeman, but they are never going to get or understand it, or does it really matter?.

Same as Sisyphus of Albert Camus , where he lifted stones to the mountain for his entire life. He thinks there is purpose , but it is not. This is similar to catching the criminal again and again. Alien-like figures appearing in the film help to accelerate the scope of the theme to universal or cosmic level rather than clan or community, which lifts these heavy concepts.

Churuli as a cult

What if those criminals are a representation of men who understood there is no purpose or meaning in this world (Churuli) , a cult or nihilists?. In the end Joy describes the place, and the story of Monk again. And he describes “It’s fun watching the same story unfold over and over”. Like those policemen (us), where they think they can catch the criminal (chasing purpose) over and over.

So what about the absurd flying jeep and glass that turned into a bird at the end?. This is the point where Shajivan and Antony understand that the Churuli is absurd, and there is no use in trying to chase the purpose or meaning. And they are going be the members of that cult.