North 24 Katham

Realism and realistic visuals always touch the hearts of the audiences. Whether it is Italian neo realism or the similar films of Ray in India. 16 Kilometers make a Katham, thus it’s a journey of 384 Kilometers to the North. The journey portrays a sarcastic view of a Harthal-day in Kerala. Hari a software professional who suffers a personal disorder is obliged follow a co passenger whose wife expires, which Hari comes to know from the phone call on the old co-passengers lost phone.

North 24 Katham shows a world of loneliness faced by the protagonist. Combination of close-ups and medium shots, with less emphasis on long range shots, creates a confined environment. The nuclear family system, IT work culture and creates a constricted sphere of the protagonist. The later phases of the films opens up the wide view for the protagonist as well as the audience, where Hari discovers how important it is to think beyond his own profession. Hari starts to learn the power of his own self. The shot duration of the film make the viewer feel the exact (real) duration of the situation. As the film is all about a journey, time is an important aspect. The lengthy shots are common throughout the film, where it grabs audience attention to the maximum.

Apart from the scripting, treatment and the cinematography, it is Lighting and Costume / Make up which are the two areas that has to be mentioned, natural light adds to the realism within the frames. Outfits and make-up blends with the character and their milieu that they all become to be real. Subtly maintained visuals with emotions of the half told stories doesn’t irk the audience as each of these stories are complete within themselves.

Adjusting and confronting to the situations is quite necessary to sustain in a land where people enjoy the ineluctable strikes. Film ends by showing the change that happens within Hari where the ending scenes delineate the change around Hari showing the spaciousness around Hari and his thoughts. The film starts from the protagonist’s daily routine, and puts the protagonist in a hypothetical situation, in turn bringing him to a situation where he realizes his problem and is forced to finds the solution.