Rashomon in paradise

Illustration/Uday Mohite

I am thrilled that Prasanna Vithanage's superb Paradise (Malayalam, Sinhala, with English sub-titles), which was in my Top 20 South Asian films of 2023, is currently released in about 240 theatres all over India and Sri Lanka. Winner of the Kim Jiseok Award at the Busan International Film Festival last year, it is presented by Mani Ratnam's Madras Talkies. It features Malayalam stars Roshan Mathew and Darshana Rajendran, and Sri Lankan stars Mahendra Perera and Shyam Fernando. One of Sri Lanka's finest, seniormost directors, acclaimed worldwide, Vithanage has a long history of Sri Lanka-India co-productions since Akasa Kusum, 2008, but Paradise is historic as his first Indian film and releasing so widely. His impressive body of about 11 films includes Death on a Full Moon Day, Flowers of the Sky, With You, Without You, and Gaadi: Children of the Sun.

Kesav (Roshan Mathew) and Amritha (Darshana Rajendran) celebrate their fifth wedding anniversary with a holiday in Sri Lanka. The nation's bankruptcy and devalued currency in 2022 made it a cut-price paradise. Their genteel tour guide cum driver Andrew (Shyam Fernando) gives them the "Ramayana tour", stopping at places where Ravana kidnapped Sita, and a cave "where Ravana is in slumber and will one day wake up and save Sri Lanka." Kesav cuts him short with an Indian mythology-knows-best finality: "Ram conquered Sri Lanka, killed Ravana and saved Sita." But the well-read Amritha instead gently engages with Andrew, informing him of 300 versions of the Ramayana, including a Jain version, in which Sita battles Ravana, killing him, with Rama as her charioteer. Vithanage not only points out multiple versions of the Ramayana, but adds biting irony: Kesav has got a Netflix contract to do an Indian version of Squid Game, the Korean series. Appropriation is fine for me, but not you, okay? When the Ramayana, a story, can be both mythology and history, the truth becomes as malleable as chewing gum.

The screenplay is built on a schadenfreude of sorts: people are invited to holiday in Sri Lanka, while the locals starve and stand in endless queues for essentials. Soon, an incident causes Kesav and Amritha's lives to spiral out of control. Sgt Bandara (Mahendra Perera, excellent) thrashes apparently innocent suspects, provoking a crisis that leads to a shocking and surprising climax. Throughout, Vithanage draws parallels between the Ramayana epic and Kesav-Amritha's lives, making the personal political, with a growing rift between the couple. She pursues a deer, but stops the deer hunt as "it is too beautiful to be killed." Her empathy makes her cross many Lakshman Rekhas, lines of indifference and class politics drawn by her self-absorbed husband Kesav. The violent climax involves a death: though slightly convenient, it hints at an explosive question about a key character - could this person be both Ram and Ravana at the same time? OMG! Equally explosive, Sita's agnipariksha turns out to be another god's agnipariksha instead, oho! No Indian director would have been this quietly courageous. The film, which was already completed in 2023, has a piquant resonance in India today, where a spectacular Ram temple was hurriedly inaugurated in January 2024 on the site of a demolished mosque in Ayodhya, as part of a pre-poll campaign by the ruling right-wing party. Not only was the party defeated in Ayodhya in the polls, and the temple embarrassinglyleaking in the rains - but its insistence on a single, majoritarian appropriation of the myth had even forced Delhi University to ban/"withdraw" AK Ramanujan's essay ‘Three Hundred Ramayanas' from the history syllabus in 2012.

Vithanage's direction is assured, leaving ambiguities for multiple interpretations of his comments on the Ramayana epic, state politics and the state of Kesav-Amritha's marriage. Roshan Mathew (Moothon, Darlings, Poacher), Darshana Rajendran (Jaya Jaya Jaya Jaya Hey, C U Soon, Purusha Pretham), veteran Mahendra Perera (The Forsaken Land, 28, Death on a Full Moon Day) and Shyam Fernando (Ponniyin Selvan-1, With You, Without You, Inflammable) are all in fine form. The screenplay, by Vithanage and Anushka Senanayake, is strong, yet nuanced, commenting on the oppression of minorities, feminism and class conflict. Rajeev Ravi's cinematography is superb, and Sreekar Prasad's editing is effective. K's music is spare, with good sound design by Tapas Nayak. The film is produced by Newton Cinema's Anto Chittilappilly (Massachusetts/Kochi) and team, who also produced Don Palathara's brilliant Family. The women crew include screenwriter Anushka Senanayake, costume designer Shilpi Agarwal and casting director Damayanthi Fonseka (also actress and Vithanage's wife). Don't miss this film!

Meenakshi Shedde is India and South Asia Delegate to the Berlin International Film Festival, National Award-winning critic, curator to festivals worldwide and journalist.
Reach her at meenakshi.shedde@mid-day.com