It is now, in the home where the brothers cannot stop fighting enough to make breakfast and the home his elder brother cannot stand coming back to. He is only so far away that he can come back in a flash to check on them, but his trigger- the sight of fighting brothers, sends him back into the distance.įor Franky, the resigned youngest brother played in earnest by Mathew Thomas, the pain of the past has nothing on pain of the present. It is the distance that he chooses, taking the outs that allow him to flourish away from the toxicity of their house with no door. It aligns perfectly with his experience, trauma that leaves him feeling unwanted and confused, the trauma he refuses to acknowledge as a guiding factor in his life.įor Bonny, the mute ‘cool guy’ played by Sreenath Bhasi, the trauma drives him away from his family. They are layered and different, each one tailoring to another brother and his different psyche because even the same traumatic event affects its victims differently.įor Bobby, played in a perfect drawl by Shane Nigam, the trigger comes in a joking question by his lover, eliciting quiet tears from him. The kind that creeps up out of nowhere and the kind that you can see coming from a mile away. Like in any depiction of trauma, there are emotional triggers galore. It isn’t easy to put such a whole experience on paper, but Syam Pushkaran does so flawlessly. The life they live, from where they sleep to who they fight with, is a direct result of what has happened to them. This is not a box of triggers they can push away into the attic.
They are parentless boys, despite having four parents between the four of them. The reasons for their trauma are not given to us in dramatic reveals but in casual remarks and tearful confessions. Trauma for the brothers in Kumbalangi Nights isn’t a singular experience, it is their whole life. It does not have a straight and neat line of ugly consequences. Trauma would not be a single event, even if it were initially borne from one. Kumbalangi Nights manage to do the impossible, showing us it isn’t impossible at all. There is a flashback, there are specific triggers and repeated expressions. The trauma only centers around a single event, and its consequences are linear. There is an offense that a chunk of cinema commits when it comes to depicting trauma. But it is still a space that often gets it wrong. Mental Health, Triggers, PTSD, Abuse, and much more have become topics that cinema freely talks about. There have been countless depictions and interpretations of it, with therapized language becoming a staple now. Trauma is a familiar occupant of the screen. But perhaps, the thing the film did spectacularly comes back to the air-tight script. Many things still make their way into conversations – the incredible music, the stunning cinematography, and the award-worthy performances.
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