How to write God | Thondimuthalum Driksakshiyum | Anbe Sivam | Video Essay Script

Hi, I’m Kishor and this is MOVING IMAGES. What you see here is the character “The Man with No Name” portrayed brilliantly by Clint Eastwood in the “Dollars Trilogy”. This is a classic example for an anonymous character. An anonymous character is a character that the audience do not get the privilege of knowing the backstory of. Instead, what we get to see is the actions of the character that drive the movie. The anonymity puts the audience at the edge of the seat, constantly guessing and doubting the motivations and actions of the anonymous character.

In Indian films, we have an indigenous take on such anonymous characters: God, Cinema God. A popular trope in Indian mythological films is God taking a human form to interact with the other characters. We, as the audience alone are privy to the knowledge that the human form is God and hence we do not care about the backstory of the human form, but rather are curious to see how the story unfolds around this character. Now, this concept, apart from writing Cinema Gods, can also be used to determine whether a character needs a backstory or not, that will give rise to intriguing scenarios and gripping stories. What we are going to see in this episode is “How to Write God”.

To help me explain this, we are going to take “Thondimuthalum Driksakshiyum” as our case study and how director Dileesh Pothen has written God. The character “Prasad” (insert: Name confusion scene) is the God here. The story follows a couple, Sreeja and Prasad, going on a bus journey where Sreeja’s gold chain is stolen and swallowed by a thief also named Prasad. What follows is a funny, yet poignant tale filled with unreliable characters that leaves the audience confused whom to root for. The “Evidence and Eyewitness”, which the title of the film translates to, cannot be trusted (insert Police interrogation scene) and at the center of this distrust is Prasad and his anonymity.

Prasad remains an enigma. Even his name is stolen and the details he gives the police are vague. This trait is also seen in Cinema Gods (insert VPV and Thiruvilayadal). As Thomas Docherty says in “Reading (Absent) character: Towards A Theory of characterization in Fiction”,

“Naming a character is an act of distinction that sets the character apart from the surrounding narrative environment, other characters and the readers”.

The lack of an actual name is an important trait, as this makes, the thief not a distinct character but a part of the narrative — A force of nature, that acts as a catalyst for the story (insert Prasad jumpcut of constant story changing). We do not know his backstory or his identity but we do get hints about his nature throughout the film (insert chain scene) and this makes the character three-dimensional even without us knowing who he is. This also plays as a strength to the film, which is based on the distrustful nature of the people and events (insert Police statement scene). The lack of a backstory does not concern us, the audience. What we care about is what the thief will do. The suspense keeps us hooked and that makes “Thondimuthalum Driksakshiyum” truly cinema.

Now as a “What If” scenario, let’s try taking the concept of Cinema God or the lack of backstory and try imagining an existing film in this perspective. Let’s try making “Nallasivam” from “Anbe Sivam” a God. What I am going to do here is remove the entire flashback sequence about Nalla Sivam and reimagine the film with what happens in the present alone. With this, we are making Anbarasu the central protagonist as he is the one who goes through a character arc from being an arrogant, privileged man to a humble and loving person. This makes Nallasivam a force of nature like the rain and cyclone that brings these characters together and makes them embark on a journey of self-discovery.

Making Nallasivam a God ties into the central theme of the film and also puts the audience in suspense about the character. We can see how this affects the story by trying to piece together who Nallasivam is, just from the scenes that happen in the present.

· We know that Nallasivam has people skills.

· He is a good man on a mission to help the needy.

· His scars and disfigurement are from an accident.

· He loved someone and the people in his life.

With just these information, the realizations about Nallasivam that comes at the end as twists such as him being unmarried, him sharing a past with Anbarasan’s bride and an enmity with the bride’s father are not only understood through the narrative without the flashback but also are impactful. The lack of a backstory here shifts the perspective of the movie and tells an intriguing and suspenseful story. We will be left with more questions about Nallasivam and that might immortalise him in our minds more so than now.

The above exercise was just meant as a fun way to reimagine “Anbe Sivam”. The film is perfect the way it is but it would have been an equally exciting experience if Nallasivam was written as a God, a Cinema God. Until next time, this is Kishor signing off saying…