There is only a small part in the newly released trailer of Jallikattu that shows a buffalo. The first look poster, the teaser and the short one-liners had all suggested the presence of a buffalo on the loose. But the trailer says much more than that, as an old man narrates the tale of a land that has always been filled with animals. Lijo Jose Pellissery’s much-discussed movie is going to release this Friday and the trailer, which was eagerly awaited, makes it even more intriguing.
“When my father came here first, even the bullock carts came only up to Petta. And when they reached, the place was full of elephants and porcupines,” says the old narrator, wearing a monkey cap and sitting in front of a fire. Flames keep flying across the screen as the trailer changes scenes and show men and women gather in the night. It would seem that a hunt is on.
“Even now, even with us here, this place belongs to animals. They may move around on two legs. But they are beasts,” says the old man and images from George Orwell’s book Animal Farm come to mind. A land where the animals begin to act like the two-legged humans. At the end of the trailer, one man tells another that the tastiest meat in the world is human flesh. You are left wondering if Lijo’s movie is going to be about animals or human beings who are worse than beasts.
Antony Varghese, who plays one of the lead characters in the movie, appears briefly in the trailer working with his knife and, in another scene, forcefully kissing a woman. Crude. Chemban Vinod and Santhy Balachandran, who play other lead characters, have not been shown in the trailer.
Jallikattu is loosely based on a story written by S Hareesh, the writer who was mired in controversy earlier for his novel titled Meesha which was serialised in a magazine. The film’s music is by Prashant Pillai, who like Chemban Vinod, has been part of every one of Lijo’s movies.
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