When Shakespeare met a feudal Christian family in Kerala!

What makes Dileesh Pothan such a rare talent in contemporary Indian cinema is his deep character sketches. They are revealed through body language, actions, and trademark gestures. The character interactions and consequent actions form the plot and overall narrative development in his films. These sketches unveil:

1. Power relations 2. Personal Histories 3. Emotional involvement 4. And personal interests existing among characters.

This method of meticulous revelation through interactions, individual actions, and their consequences would look so natural to any viewer's eyes. And they immediately form a bond with the characters. Pothan's background in theatre might be the reason. He also has the apt choice of visual narrative tools to show his characters and their deeds. This could be seen in many fascinating choices he makes:

1. Use of voiceover to convey a possible conversation between off-screen characters ('Maheshinte Prathikaram'). 2. Match cuts ('Thondimuthalum Driksakshiyum'). 3. And early morning glow and light colouring (iJoji'). All these precisely establish the characters' mood and atmosphere. There are many remarkable sequences of exchanges in 'Joji' that I could list here:

1. Dr Felix- Jomon's conversation about crackers before the funeral. 2. Joji and Bincy exchange glances in the kitchen. 3. The grand entry of PK Kuttppan as the alpha male to lift a stuck motor in their family pond. 4. And a paralysed Kuttappan heroically lifts his finger to sign a cheque. They all very well set the Shakespearean atmosphere of 'Joji'. The characters Pothan etches out are part of a grand philosophical scheme but viewers never feel distanced by the weight of it. On the contrary, they sense an equal share of involvement in the whole episode. This method is nothing new in world cinema. People from D W Griffith through Yasujiro Ozu to Nuri Bilge Ceylan have been following this procedure to build the physical and philosophical atmosphere of their works. It is a way of documenting the natural history of characters so that the psychological sketches look authentic and natural. But it's very rare for a contemporary Indian filmmaker to follow this method since we claim we're past many such narrative strategies. Especially, Malayalam cinema now boasts of having international filmmaking aesthetics but falls short of producing genuine creative works. Pothan stands as an exception here.

'Joji' has some exceptionally captured and constructed visual moments. And many of them are par with international filmmaking aesthetics (not just their technical excellence of them but their positioning with a purpose in the narrative). One such memorable thing is this repeating composition of two characters placed in two extremes of a long wide shot frame. Jomon and bedridden Kuttapan having a talk, Joji and Bincy having a crucial conversation in the kitchen, and Bincy and Jaison having a bedroom chat about Joji are some such brilliant moments. This composition effectively shows the emotional gap between the characters. Joji in that sense is a remarkable work in the oeuvre of a visionary filmmaker of our times. It raises many questions about our ideals, disturbs us, and deftly stands as a unique Shakespearean tragedy. A real work worth our appreciation than much pretentious technocratic stuff like Jallikkattu.