Solo (2017)

Language : Malayalam

Director : Bejoy Nambiar

Writer : Karthik R. Iyer, Sreedevi Krishnan, Anjali Nair, Bejoy Nambiar, Dhanya Suresh.

Cast : Dulquer Salmaan, Dhansika, Sai Tamhankar 

Genre: Action | Drama | Thriller

IMDb: Solo (2017)

Streaming on MXPlayer for free.
Tamil Version streaming on Netflix.

DISCLAIMER : *SPOILER ALERT*. This review contains SPOILERS.

One of my favourites, but sadly a movie that was out of theatres within its first week that the actor portraying the main role, Dulquer Salmaan, had to put out a post on his social media handles with the hashtag #DontKillSolo begging the audience to give it a chance in the theatres.

Solo is an anthology of 4 movies, each different in its premise but connected by the thread that the main character of the stories always ends up being solo. A beautifully shot, wonderfully edited and musically enriched experience. One of the aspects that highly attracted me to the movie is its connection to the Hindu God Siva. Each movie begins with a poem, ending with a detailed drawing of Shiva in a pose and the Panchabhootha the film is referring to, which gives us a vague idea of what would be in the movie. While being connected by Lord Shiva, the movies also show four important relationships of the main character – lover, wife, mother, sister. 

Another factor that makes the movie such a wonderful experience, is the colour palette that has been used in all the four movies. The first one, World of Shekhar, is dedicated to the Water element. This is evident in many places including the main character’s stutter, which are like ripples in water. Each and every scene/situation of the movie has water, and hence the colour blue, in it – beginning from the introduction of the heroine, a blind character beautifully portrayed by Sai Dhansika (lover) till the ending at a beach, where Shekhar is seen playing with his daughter. The next movie, World of Trilok, my personal favourite, is a story of revenge. Attributed to the Air element of the Panchabhoothas, the movie begins with a shot where a cyclist’s dress is seen flying in the wind, followed by an accident. This one is a thrilling take on the revenge of Trilok, whose wife dies in the accident, where the revelation is at an unexpected moment. Throughout this movie, we can see the usage of a grey/white/black palette, with other colours just merely gushing through in between. A highlight of this movie is the background score, which makes the audience feel the emotions the main character goes through.

The third movie, World of Siva, is attributed to the element of Fire. Ah, and what a use of the colours red and yellow in this one! In this movie, the main character Siva has very few dialogues. Siva, a rowdy who is provoked by others and sets out to avenge the death of his father long after his mother leaves the family and, on the path, dies, very much like fire, which becomes stronger as and when kindled but, in
the end, dies out.  Dulquer has proved his talent with just the use of expressions and body language in this one and all the performances by other actors are laudable. The fourth movie, World of Rudra, seems like a breath of fresh air after the violent and emotional story of Siva. This movie begins with an explosion, throwing a lot of earth into the air, thus making it related to the Earth element. This one has a colour palette of brown and brownish red, almost all throughout the movie, including the attire worn by the cast. This is a love story, with a slight twist in the end and shows the character Rudra, as someone, who ends up being calm and tolerant after all the events that occur in his life, just like the Earth, which endures everything that is done to it. 

The main highlights of this anthology are the performances of all the cast members, especially by Dulquer Salman who has wonderfully portrayed 4 different characters, the music which is done by a whopping 12 musicians/bands, including the popular Masala Coffee, Agam and Thaikkudam Bridge (of which 2 main musicians are part of the cast too) and the detailing in terms of attributing the four stories to the four elements of Panchabhoothas.

Verdict: 6/7 stars.