Underrated and cliche are two terms that are strewn about rather abundantly when movies are discussed. It would indeed be as cliched as it gets to say that Dominic Arun’s debut film as a director was underrated, at this point when he takes Malayalam Cinema into a different realm, literally, with his second feature Lokah Chapter 1 : Chandra.

Ever since the Spider-Man movies came out two decades back and the subsequent dominance of Marvel in the blockbuster movie business, every film industry in every corner of the world has been churning out their own versions of superhero films and cinematic universes. Some have failed miserably, some have remained one hit wonders and almost all have struggled to retain a distinct identity and in the end resort to latext suit tropes. Dominic Arun’s distinct and quirky visual style is evident here too and when he joins hands with Santhy Balachandran in the writing department the result is world building that would make any Marvel or DC studio executive proud. The writers draw from familiar folklores. myths and legends from the State of Kerala and successfully weaves those tales into an urban narrative that would appeal to the most skeptic manga fan of a viewer out there as well the crowd that grew up on “Aithihyamala”. One can’t but help feeling though that while they checked most boxes, the narrative does take a them-us tone when it comes to the bad guys, on the lines of state borders. Also disturbing was the rather unhinged violence featuring minors that brought to my mind similar thoughts I had while watching Logan.

The film loses little time in pulling the viewer into the thick of things and Nimish Ravi and Chaman Chacko are firing all pistons here in aid of Dominic Arun’s vision. Be it the introduction of Naslen or Kalyani to the salt spill- starry sky transition scene, the frames and visuals have a global appeal. Speaking of global appeal, Jakes Bejoy’s stellar work carries the film for its entire running time. Naslen, Chandu and Arun add life to the film, in that order and a major portion of the film plays out like a darker version of Premalu. A lot of familiar faces appear on the screen but the writers have done a decent job of making them more than just cameos and as a viewer you are already eager for the rest of the chapters. The presence of Raghunath Paleri I guess is what they call foreshadowing these days, especially when you see a surprise extended cameo that finds space in one of the post credit scenes too, considering Paleri was one of the minds behind the iconic My Dear Kuttichathan – you can see where I am going with this, if you have watched the movie already.
Sandy gets to play another scary guy here again. Nishant Sagar may get to flex his muscles in the chapters to come. Vijayaraghavan intrigues the viewer too and is another reason to look forward to the rest of the tale. Probably a mega cameo in the making too. You do feel that the film relies on action set pieces towards the end for a while than on the plot, but you barely notice it and probably they wanted to save it for the rest of the chapters.

Lokah is indeed a giant leap for Malayalam cinema and for Dulquer’s Wayfarer. Wunderbar deserves a thought here for believing in Dominic Arun’s unconventional pitch with Tharangam. Wayfarer did good to take note and I would say Malayalam Cinema is indeed in safe and very capable hands. Rorshach, Manjummel Boys, Bramayugam and now Lokah – when Malayalis dare to dream and break moulds and paths.