Gautham Vasudev Menon is a man of bilinguals. Almost every major film of his was a bilingual of Tamil and Telugu, not a remake. They are shot simultaneously, but with different actors. Yet he hasn’t made a direct Malayalam film till now, except for Dominic and Ladies Purse. So, GVM’s debut venture into unarguably India’s most creative cinema industry has its own identity problems.
Is it a Malayalam film? Or is it a Gautham Vasudev Menon’s film?
Cliched standards that work
Charles Inashu Dominic, a.k.a. CI Dominic is an easy-going ex-cop investigating minor cases of Kochi. He is challenged by his house owner, Madhuri (Viji Venkatesh), who challenges him to find the person who lost the small dark pink colored purse at a hospital. Dominic slowly unravels the person as Pooja Ravindran, and therefore the detective procedural thriller begins and Dominic finds himself in solving another case that is directly related to missing Pooja, i.e., missing Karthik, Pooja’s ex-boyfriend. Out of blue, Pooja goes in search of Karthik and goes missing. Debt-ridden Dominic is offered monetary relief from Madhuri if he finds the owner of the purse.
More than the plot of a crime solver, Dominic is a delight to watch for the character of Mammotty. He naturally performs the role. The writers, Neeraj Rajan and Sooraj Rajan, had something more for him. For example, the bathrobe he wears has some hotel branding. Was it stolen? He has a chair from a barbershop. How did it reach his room? We hear that he was a heavy bribe-taker. Was he? We also know that he was fired from the job because of his colourblindness. Did you get any ‘evidence‘ of that in the film? Nah. So, Who is Dominic?
Dominic does have an engageable thrill as well as the classic detective thriller traits, as in: cheating the audience by pointing at a villain only to be proven wrong at the end, and the cliched (but also unavoidable) reveal of truth through the lengthy monologues at the climax. These may be cliches. Or, these can also be standards—it depends on which side of the bridge you are on.
The GVM effect
The fusion of Malayalam cinema and Gautham Vasudev Menon is what it takes for any casual filmgoer to be excited. And Mammotty is an added bonus. Undoubtedly, it’s an unforgivable crime to typecast any artist into a bracket and expect to perform within those limits. However, the merits can’t be, and shouldn’t be, compromised. For example, the introduction scenes of STR’s Vendhu Thanindhathu Kaadu are something very unlike GVM’s previous works. Yet, the whole film had the feel of a GVM’s flick. In Dominic’s case, the GVM effect is shadowed by the traits of Malayalam cinema. Malayalam cinemas are known for engaging crime thrillers and procedural dramas. They do the best in Indian cinema right now. So, the crafting of an engaging whodunit screenplay and brilliant editing by Anthony is all good.
All that is missing from Dominic is GVM’s mark. If you were to watch this film without knowing it’s GVM’s directorial, you wouldn’t even guess that. It’s a good thing to escape from the stereotyped troupe. But to escape from your core merit of music and intense characters and beautiful dialogues is a sort of unsettling experience. It felt like the style of Malayalam cinema took over GVM than GVM taking over Malayalam cinema. If this is GVM reinventing himself as a filmmaker, we would be waiting first in line to watch his next film.
Underwhelming music
The biggest GVM’s mark that never misses is his music. All his films like Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa/Ye Maaya Chesave, or Neethaane En Ponvasantham/Yeto Vellipoyindhi Manasu, or Sahasam Swasaga Sagipo/Achcham Yenbadhu Madamaiyada were great musical albums. Even his disastrous Enai Noki Paayum Thota, which he recently disowned, also had great music. Dominic’s music, composed by Darbuka Siva, who also composed for ENPT, is very underwhelming. The background score also doesn’t hit either emotional chords or thriller chords. Yet the score has a very breezy, laid-back feel to it. Nothing rushy as crime thrillers often are. It’s simple and elegant.The fusion song Margazhi has the vibes of AR Rahman’s Aaromale. Ee Rathri had its Mammotty’s dancing moments—Mammotty and dance is a rare combo on screen!
Vishnu R. Dev’s cinematography is very impressive, especially for the lighting of Dominic’s dilapidated room.
Gender as tokenism?
After Kaathal: The Core, Dominic is Mammotty’s another film that explores the themes of gender identity. The epiphanic moment of solving the crime at the end of the Dominic is a moment of big reveal.
At the pre-climax, Nandita (played elegantly by Sushmitha Bhat) is revealed to be her brother (Pooja’s boyfriend), who actually went “missing” on the night of 31st December of 2021. The reveal is unexpected. The sudden epiphanic turn after a few red herrings comes off as inorganic in its intentions. Because the character motivations for gender transformation of Karthik into his dead sister Nandita aren’t explored deeply. Yes, you can understand the angst of a coming-of-age teenager, but you don’t feel it. So, the theme of gender reaffirmation largely remained as just a plot point. This raises the question of whether the makers reduced the aspect of gender to merely a plot twist.
Whatever the motivations of the makers be, Dominic takes care while writing Nandita’s character. Nandita is portrayed with the elegant reverence that GVM holds to his all heroines. Graceful Nandita is beautifully draped in bright and fantastic sarees—something the young Karthik might have imagined for “himself” in his teens. At the post-credits scene, as Nandita escaped the crime scene and lived happily on a beach coast. And Dominic arrives. This open ending—just like the character of Dominic—gives you a bunch of theories to take home with you. Will he arrest Nandita? Will he be with Nandita, considering the glimpse of GVM-style romance reminisces of Dominic while Nandita was doing Bharatanaytam?
Nonetheless, the cinematic discourse of gender identity, especially from mainstream actors like 73-year-old—still dashingly young—Mammotty, is not just a welcoming move but also an appreciable one.
Dominic and the Ladies Purse is now playing in cinemas.
About the author(s)
Azdhan (He/Him) is a full-time film critic freelancing for Feminism In India. If he is not reading or writing, he will just be zoning-out– even if there is no window– always thinking of writing his next novel to adapt it into a screenplay. The backend process of trying to build something that can solve urban loneliness is also always on his mind.
