“I
read about eight newspapers in a day. When I'm in a town with only one
newspaper, I read it eight times.” - -Will Rogers
The assassination of T.P Rama Chandran has wounded the psyche of Kerala profoundly.
Kerala has already eyewitnessed a number of political murders, but the killing
of TP Rama Chnadran must be read in a diverse angle. More over a conflict
between two different ideologies, TP’s murder actually tells us the bigotry of
a mainstream political party to its faction which was formed in very particular
political circumstances. The people of Kerala have carried the burden of
the incident of the assassination for a long and they woke up anticipating an
odious event each day. The people were frightened of someone who was honing a
knife for him/her.
(to watch the film on youtube kindly click here)
(The film: Trace)
The
sequence in which TP was viciously killed with more than fifty stabs in his
body has made a strong ripple in the society. Even the cultural leaders who
were believed the bed-shares of Communist party broke their silence against
this brute killing. The young film director Mufeed Muthanoor has developed his new
short film ‘TRACE’ from this point. Each
murder is a very well planned one. When the foes set off for killing a targeted
person, the plan which is already conceived gets practiced. We are afraid even
the single word, ‘murdering’ ‘killing’, because the word itself generates complicated
and many-sided meanings which injure the psyche of the society. A murder is
very perilous and dodgy to the cultural paradigm of the society and it needs a
lot of time to heal the society from the blow of such an incident. How the repeated political killings trim the society
down into permanent panic condition, is the starting point of this film.
 |
| Ayyappa Panikkar |
Ayyappa Panikkar, a Malayalam poet, might be the first writer who
analysed the process of meaning-making of a trouble-free word like ‘murder’. In
the word ‘Kolapaathakam’ (murder), even it’s each letter can produce different
connotation. It seems at the first look, that these separated letters and
syllables of ‘kolapaathakam’ are very innocent, above suspicion and without any
meaning, but the tone of each words actually manufactures some meaningful symbols,
Ayyappa Panikkar observes in his poem, Kolapaathkam’.
The media which push the boat out each news on political killing by manoeuvring,
colouring and embellishing, are not actually aware about the injuries they are causing
to the minds of the people. This news on killing are actually affecting to the
young people of any society.
Mufeed
starts the film, Trace in the milieu of a newspapers reading room. The everyday readings of the newspaper,
according to Charse Baudelaire, actually negatively affect to the people. He says,
‘any
newspaper, from the first line to the last, is nothing but a web of horrors, I
cannot understand how an innocent hand can touch a newspaper without convulsing
in disgust’. It is right in a sense, if we analyse how different media
establishments handle the news items such as killing, rape and others which damage
the positive attitudes of the society, then we can understand the intensity and
depth, these news cause to the society. Each reader internalizes what he/she
gets from the newspapers and he/she develops the same view point whenever gets
a possibility to harangue about the incident.
 |
| Mufeed Muthanur (Director) |
After
visualizing the manner of how different media handled the news of the heinous
killing of TP, the director portrays some youngsters who have internalized the
reporting of their own politically biased newspapers look the issue in different
angles. The story starts when the reading room which is supposed to be a
platform for creative discussion, turns to the political debates and
discussion, then a silent reader sitting beside them, starts off his bike
and rides it very swiftly.
The
background music and the political symbols which are repeatedly shown in the
film produce a feeling of dread and insecurity in the viewers’ minds. The quickening
bike, knife, the broken words from mobile phones, airport and others intensify
the terror in the viewers. After repeatedly shown all these panic-producing
symbols and the bike ride which terminates in a very isolated house. The film
ends when the protagonist after a high drama and long-time-suspense slashes a
water melon.
 |
| Punnodi MA Rahman |
Political
killings, as any other crimes should be punished strictly. And in some cases
the assassin may be punished, but the injuries and pains a society suffers from
such killings are seldom healed. This is the message of the film. The body
language of such murdering is in a conspiracy, this clandestine nature of such action,
in fact making even a daft job like cutting a fruit in suspect. The basic
function of a knife is to use for cutting vegetable and fruits, but even such
acts are made in doubt in the changed and charged atmosphere. All the characters
are youths in the film. Even the youths who are thought to be very audacious
and courageous are actually living in the fog of trepidation, and then pondering over the mental trauma of weaker section of the society is more panic.
This
is the third project made by KPB Production. MA Rahman Punnodi performs the
leading role. K.P Sadarudheen, Munavvir Alingachaal, Suresh and Muhsin are the other actors of the
film.
