Zinemaya Blog

Review by Acclaimed Indian director Sri Adoor Gopalakrishnan

Raj Nair’s film, The Exhibits communicates to the viewer at different levels. At the basic level, the filmmaker is ‘visiting’ his maternal grandmother who is the widow of the literary stalwart, Thakazhi Sivasankara Pillai. It is also a visit to a time and period we all struggle to preserve now but cannot in the onslaught of changes that are economic, political and social. The changes are all pervasive and they do not exempt anything in its massive and merciless sweep.

At another level it is about the widows of his ancestral village, one of whom happens to be his grand mother herself. Their plight in today’s situation is looked at with a lot of empathy and understanding. In the evening of their lives, these women who have struggled all along find no respite from their toils. But then they are determined to brave the hardships and adversities of life accepting them as fate.

The writer’s residence which has become a museum today is visited by hordes school children led by their teachers. As the of young boys and girls peer at the manuscripts and other memorabilia of the celebrated writer in awe and curiosity, a few admiring souls among them cannot help craving for a look at the writer’s widow who occupies a corner of her own house as a tenant. Now, living all alone with only her memories for company this grand mother has turned into an exhibit herself.

The working of the ‘museum’ that opens and closes on the official schedule of 10 am to 5 pm and the routine of a life in isolation for the widow, are some of the lingering images this film leaves as it runs its length. Only the periodical clattering of the passenger trains dare disturb the quiet and silence of this time warp.

This is a fitting homage from a filmmaker to his very special grand mother and her time.

Click here to download the movie at zinemaya.com