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Indian Films Worth Watching [4/?]

↳ Kumbalangi Nights [2019] | dir. Madhu C Narayanan

I shall be the cool breeze healing the sorrow of the world, Shall be a blanket of sunshine wiping off the wetness of dawn, Shall be a swing in this world and cover you like the sky, Shall help sail you through the tides of the sea of tears

Kumbalangi Nights - Character Analysis

Disclaimer: This article contains SPOILERS.

July 7, 2019

by Inakshi Chandra-Mohanty

Kumbalangi Nights, is a Malayalam film, released in 2019, about four brothers who share a complex relationship with each other, due to the absence of their parents, and how the presence of three women in their lives change them. Below is a detailed character analysis of each main character in the film.

Saji – Soubin Shahir

As the eldest brother in the family, Saji is expected to take care of his three younger brothers after his father passes away and his mother leaves to become a nun. However, when the film opens, we see a broken family. He is constantly fighting with Bobby, he is estranged from Bonny, and Franky is detached from him. His inability to take care of his brothers, makes him mentally disturbed, and he reaches his breaking point when out of rage he slaps Franky, and in response Bonny beats him up. Even though Bonny id not a blood relative of his as Bonny’s mother and Shammi’s father married after those two were already born, he and Bonny became inseparable within a few days of their parents’ marriage. So when Bonny beat him, Saji was completely broken.

Saji was a complete antithesis to Shammi. While Shammi was the representative of what it traditionally meant to be a man, Saji broke the norms, by showing that men have emotions and can express it as openly as women do. Despite being the eldest in the family, he wasn’t afraid in asking his youngest brother to take him to a psychiatrist, when he was feeling low. Normally, an elder brother would be like a parent, and would have to mask his emotions and hide his vulnerabilities from those that he was taking care of. But Saji opened up and that was what allowed Franky to connect with him.

Shammi – Fahadh Faasil

We know there is something wrong about Shammi, when he is first introduced. While in the bathroom shaping his “masculine” moustache, he notices a bindi stuck on the mirror and scrapes it off, washing it away in the sink. He then proceeds to look at himself in the mirror and repeat a dialogue from an advertisement in a deep, “manly”, voice. His character reeks of toxic masculinity from the first frame, as he is unable to bear even a small blemish of femininity on his idea of the perfect man. He has this need to control everything around him. Despite living as a “ghar jamai”, in his wife’s home, since he is the only man in the household, consisting of his wife, his mother-in-law, and his sister-in-law, he sees himself as the patriarch of the family. This is apparent in the scene where he sits down to have dinner with the whole family. He and his mother-in-law sit beside each other at the table, but before he begins eating, he makes an excuse that there isn’t enough light where he is sitting. He then goes on to slyly move his chair to the head of the table, establishing himself as the head of the family.

In the shocking climax, we finally see this toxic masculinity and need for control extend beyond just simple actions and turn into fully psychotic behavior. He is vehemently against his sister-in-law, Baby’s, relationship with Bobby makes it clear to her that they do not have a future together. However, when she refuses to break the relation, he becomes rude and controlling with her, leading to his wife, Simi, standing up for her sister. At this point, Shammi realizes that he has lost control over his wife and that puts him over the edge making him violent. As he is fighting with Bonny and Saji, after imprisoning his wife and her family, he consistently yells phrases like “I am the man” and makes it clear to the two brothers that they are fighting what he considers a “real man”. Finally, when he is captured, it marks the downfall of “toxic masculinity.”

Baby – Anna Ben

Baby is a strong independent woman, trying to live her life on her own terms. She guides her relationship with Bobby. Having had a crush on him in school, she is the one to initiate the relationship and take it forward. She even rebukes him for trying to come close to her, despite her repeated refusal. Her personality and her values are strong, which is why she is never afraid of saying what she feels, whether it is to Bobby or to Shammi, her brother-in-law. Unlike most girls, she doesn’t expect her boyfriend to be her savior and instead fights for herself against her family. She openly challenges her brother-in-law that she will elope with courage that very few characters in this film have.

She earns money through showing tourists around the village and also giving up her family guest house for rent to these tourists. Unlike her mother and sister, she isn’t fearful of her brother-in-law, Shammi, and in many instances stands up to him. For example, when Shammi throws out Nylah for allowing Bonny to stay with her overnight in the guest house, Baby questions him, despite her mother instructing her not to say a word. Even at the end, when Shammi tries to manipulate her into giving up on Bobby, she stands up to him and refuses to end her relationship with Bobby, even threatening to elope.

Bobby – Shane Nigam

Bobby is the most frustrated of the four brothers. He constantly fights with Saji and is angry at Bonny for abandoning them, leading him to seek refuge outside in Baby. Living in a house in an absence of any female figure, he initially doesn’t know how to behave with women. Early on in their relationship, he misbehaves with Baby, and tries to get intimate with her to which she refuses multiple times ultimately slapping him out of frustration. Unable to bear the humiliation, before leaving he says to her that he is the man. Surrounded by only men in his life, he has only learnt how to behave with women by watching movies, and clearly, Arjun Reddy, the film they are watching at the time of this incident, has an impact on his psyche. But eventually, after spending more time with Baby, and spending more time with women in general after the women enter his home, he begins to understand a different way of interacting with women and tries to identify with their perspective as well.

Franky – Mathew Thomas

The youngest of the four brothers and the first to be introduced in the narrative, Franky is mostly the silent observer as his brothers go through many tumultuous emotions. Seeing his brother’s constantly arguing with one another, and at the same time missing the presence of his mother, his home has now become a matter of shame for him. This leads him to lie to his friends that his family is ill, in order to prevent them from visiting his house. Out of his three brothers his only proper bonding is with Bonny, but Bonny spends most of his time away from home, so most of the time Franky is alone. Without a mother figure in his life, he feels lost and lonely. Therefore, when a female presence enters the house, he is rejuvenated.

Due to him being the youngest, his older brothers always keep him out of important matters. He is always seen as the “child” in the family. For example, when Bobby wants to speak to his brothers about keeping two women in the house, he refuses to speak in front of Franky and takes Bonny and Saji to another room to have a conversation. Soon, Franky begins to experience FOMO (Fear of Missing Out), and in the climax of the film follows his brothers as they go to check on Baby. Eventually his presence is what leads to Shammi being caught and defeated by the brothers.

Bonny – Sreenath Bhasi

Bonny represents an elder version of Franky. He is ashamed of his home and of his brothers, barring Franky, and rarely returns home, choosing to spend most of his time with a new gang of friends. Witnessing Bobby and Saji fight on a daily basis bothers him, and rather than trying to serve as a mediator, he instead decides to live in denial and avoid them whenever possible. With Franky, however, he has a very strong bonding. He serves as a guiding force for Franky, unlike the other two brothers who are too busy fighting with one another. The fact that he is unable to speak, doesn’t hinder him from opposing his brothers, and from later finding love in Nylah. Nylah, and his love for her, are what ultimately lead him back home. Having a female presence in the house makes the brothers cautious and gives Bonny the opportunity to reconnect with Saji and Bobby.

Sathi - Sheela Rajkumar

Sathi is the mother figure who comes into the lives of these four brothers as an angel. Despite Saji indirectly being the reason for her husband’s death, she doesn’t have any hard feelings against him, as she know how much her husband cared for him. She even goes along with him to his house as she needs help after giving birth to a baby. The scene where she and Saji arrive at his home on a boat is one of the most beautifully shot scenes in the film. Sathi, with her head wrapped in a scarf holding the baby in her arms, looks like a mother figure. Nylah is a female presence that these boys desparately need, but Sathi is representative of the guidance they need. Having a baby and two women, a mother and a foreigner, in the house, turns these four aimless boys into mature men.

Simi - Grace Antony

Married to a controlling man, Simi is expected to be the perfect caring wife, who quietly listens to her husband. She never objects to this position as she believes that it is her duty to be the submissive force in the relationship. Her husband is her god as he came as a savior to their family taking over the role of the patriarch of the family. She doesn’t dare to say a word against him and her mother also makes sure her two daughters don’t oppose her son-in-law. However, when the time comes need, Simi does raise her voice. When Shammi expresses his disapproval of Baby’s affair Simi doesn’t disagree and even lets him speak to Baby as an elder brother. But, when Baby refuses to listen, Shammi gets angry and begins to speak rudely to Baby, finally making Simi reach a breaking point. For the first time, she stands up to her husband, quietly but firmly. And this moment of feminine power is what ultimately leads to Shammi’s outburst of psychotic and violent behavior.