Ayyappanum Koshiyum | What Makes it Work? | Video Essay Script

Hi, my name is Kishor and this is MOVING IMAGES. Does knowing a story make us a better storyteller? How to tell the story and not just what the story is about. I think that is the core of good storytelling and that is what I believe makes Ayyappanum Koshiyum work. To explain how, let’s analyse how the story is told to you. The film is about two men clashing with each other. All you see in the first 20 minutes is the set up and once the fight starts it just goes several rounds like a boxing match. Koshi is even saved twice by the bell. But how Ayyappan or Koshi throw their punches is not the actual story. Today, let’s see what storytelling techniques are used to make Ayyappanum Koshiyum work.

EVENTS AND STORIES

What goes between the two main characters are the events, or the plot if you will. Not the story. The story is something that comes from within the two characters. To understand how let’s start with Koshi, as he is more or less the main protagonist. The movie begins with Koshi getting caught by the Police and he is humiliated. This leads him to exact revenge on Ayyappan. We have already established that those are the events. But by the time we see Koshi retaliate on Ayyappan by releasing a video of him breaking prohibition, we are made to understand who Koshi is. He is a man with a huge ego as seen by how he acts inside the police station, but that is not his only character trait. We also see that his ego comes from his father, who controls his life. Koshi loves his family and he can be reasonable at times too. Who Koshi is motivates what Koshi does. So where is the story in this? The why is the story. Why Koshi does what he does in every scene is the story. The story exists inside the protagonist not around the protagonist. Now all the events around the protagonist that happened actually trigger what’s going on inside or what’s going on inside is a reaction to what’s going on in the outside so we need both, but the events are not the story. The inner world of Koshi, that is the story.

INFLUENCE OF INFLUENCE

Now, Koshi is the anti-hero and as it is typical of anti-heroes, Koshi is a complex character. His vice is his influence. His position in society or more precisely his father’s, gave him the friendship of many influential people. Koshi uses this to a great extent. But how does being an influential person influence Koshi? We see in great detail what goes inside Koshi at each point of time. The film takes its time to draw us into his psyche and through Koshi we understand the people in his life. His interaction with his father and his own ego leads him to release the video. But once his ego is satiated, he agrees to back off, only for his father to goad him again into escalating. His father is shown to be the bad influence in his life and that makes Koshi make all the wrong decisions. The contrast to this toxic father-son relationship is Koshi’s relationship with his driver Kumaran. Now, Kumaran takes it upon himself to be the protector and a father-like figure to Koshi. While Koshi’s real father controls him. It is with Kumaran, we see Koshi reveal his actual character. His ego is a facade and we see his vulnerable side in this scene. This relationship develops further when Koshi feels betrayed by his father and even his influence doesn’t help, he starts to respect Kumaram as an elder by calling him Kumaretta. It is this pivotal moment that influences Koshi for the good and to finally put an end to the fight by making sure Ayyappan gets his job back. An event yes, but we get to see the story that leads to it.

THE HERO

Now that we know Koshi’s story, it is not hard to do the same with Ayyappan. His story for the most part is a reaction to what Koshi does to him, till the climax. Once Koshi decides to back off for good, it is Ayyappan who makes Koshi react to him. Like a mad man on a mission, Ayyappan has gone too far into this that fighting it out with Koshi is the only conclusion he would accept. Unlike Koshi, Ayyappan is not loquacious. He doesn’t talk much. But if Koshi is the anti-hero, Ayyappan is the quote unquote “mass” hero. While Koshi got an in-depth look at how the mind of an anti-hero works, with Ayyappan, the story organically builds those heroic moments for him.

To achieve this, the movie does something really brilliant. We get this small scene about a guy who stole stones from the forest to build his house. The scene by itself is a story within a story that represents the socio-political split between the two main characters. The accused is underprivileged and has immense hatred towards his accuser, an influential politician. His hatred for the other guy is so much that he will use every opportunity to refute the guy’s claims and insult him, only for him to accept that what the guy said was true. It is funny, but instantly relatable. Now Ayyappan siding with the accused, even going as far as writing a false report after hearing the man’s story, shows us that for Ayyappan, one must do whatever one must to survive and protect their family. Influence, law and order are only a second priority. This is a great foreshadowing to what kind of a man he will be once he is out of his police uniform. When law and order truly becomes a no priority to him. So when we see Ayyappan take on Kuttamani, a local ruffian, once he gets suspended from his job, it is genuinely fun to watch. So far, he has been built up as a man having a calm exterior but with a lot of rage simmering inside. The moment he is let loose, he single-handedly takes down an entire building. Another instance is how Ayyappan takes on an entire gang of henchmen. A simple decision by Ayyappan on how to reach the floor above him when the entrance is locked by the henchmen turns into a heroic moment. He is the hero but his heroic moments are not just placed as random events. They have a story that connects them by showing us how Ayyappan reacts to the situation he is in. Ayyappanum Koshiyum first builds up their heroes and then gives them their well-deserved moments to show their heroism.

In essence, Ayyappanum Koshiyum works because the writer took the effort to tear apart the psyche of the two main characters and understand them the way we know ourselves. These are complex, three dimensional characters. The film also had two distinct types of heroes and used the story effectively to give them their moments. But the spectacle isn’t without purpose. Until next time, this is Kishor signing off saying…