Vishal Menon
It’s of a rat trying to eat the head of a cockroach that’s crawling on a road. Just as you’re expecting the rat to gobble up the cockroach whole, it’s run over by a speeding vehicle, leaving behind a thin, long blood stain all across the screen.
Much of Chaaver is set inside this speeding vehicle, but the film is very much an extension of the gory visuals we’ve just witnessed. It is set in politically-volatile Kannur where survival belongs only to the fittest.
To complement this idea of a dog-eat-dog universe, Tinu frames important moments in the presence of insects and animals. At times these are as harmless as the shot of a butterfly flying away.
One can include Chaaver too as a part of his trilogy that is all about human entrapment. In all three of his films, Shutter (2012), Uncle (2018), and now Chaaver
Chaaver too remains a film we admire for its technical wizardry, even if its commentary should have resulted in a far more devastating film.