Sesham: A Modern Underrated Classic

What does it mean to be sane? If we are able to make sense of our reality, does that makes us sane? Does sanity has something to do with our collective belief system or Is sanity just a matter of perspective?

The writer/director TK Rajeev Kumar quintessentially explores this concept with his film Sesham (2002).

The award-winning film focuses on a lunatic asylum, a tenuous realm that separates the sane from the insane. The plot revolves around an inmate Lonappan a.k.a Timepiece (played by a terrific Jayaram) who becomes the subject of an ambitious documentary filmmaker Meera (Geethu Mohandas). When Meera checks Lonappan out of the asylum, how he copes with his newfound life forms the rest of the film.

The writer Rajeev Kumar designs Lonappan as a layered enigma. Lonappan doesn't have an identity or a past or any other whereabouts. Yet he is many things for many people. For his fellow inmates, he is a god-man who has super-human powers. For Meera and her mentor, he is just a subject/character of their documentary film. For children, he is their dear friend and for society, he is just another misfit. His fellow inmates calls him Timepiece as he keeps one with him to create his own time (at least he believes so).

 Even though post-millennium Jayaram has been a part of some terrible films (except for a few), I personally consider him to be one of the finest actors in Malayalam film industry whose potential is yet to be seen and has so much to offer if he works with the right directors as well as scripts. Lonappan is a prime example of his acting caliber. The nuance with which he portrayed the helplessness of Lonappan who has no sense of his past or reality deserves an award and one of the best in his career. In an emotional scene, Lonappan tries hard to recollect his past and his family which is heart breaking to watch and makes us empathize with the character. The background score by Sharrath, a combo of sad violin and ticking clock elevates the scene and evokes an emotional outburst in the audience. In some scenes, the director has used moving 35mm cam with blue-greyish palette to capture the essence of Lonappan's life in the asylum.

Meera played by an energetic free-spirited Geethu Mohandas reminds me of Nitya Menen and her chemistry with Lonappan worked really well. Other special mentions includes Murali who plays the eccentric creative genius and Meera's mentor and the fellow inmate played by P.Balachandren has some terrific scenes.

The filmmaker decodes the perspective of sane vs insane as well as the concept of freedom in this film. In one interesting scene a drunk Murali (Meera's mentor) asks Lonappan if they could swap lives so he could finally be insane and can be free from all the expectations, selfishness and sorrows of his miserable normal life. The film also questions if the so-called sane people are really free or just slaves to social norms.

In another scene, Lonappan asks "What is Madness?".

The director essentially asks the audience: Does the sense of reality makes us sane? For Lonappan and his fellow inmates, their sense of reality is within the walls of that asylum whereas for Meera and other so-called "sane people" their reality lies in the society which they live in. Is sanity a matter of perspective?. It's the question TK Rajeev's leaves for the us for to decide.

If I quote Meera's mentor Murali from the film: "A creator should not view the subject as tragic but as powerful characters. Focus deep on the character with different lenses from different angles. Edit it, Music, Effects, Mix it! Then the film speaks to the world about Lonappan and his tragedy! If the viewer becomes teary-eyed, sleepless, feels pain and compassion, then the filmmaker has succeeded!"

TK Rajeev Kumar has essentially achieved this with Sesham and has won Kerala State Film Award for the Best Film/Story/Editing and Sound. Sesham is available on Disney+Hotstar.