Let me put this out first, I am profoundly confused after seeing the negativity around “Trance”. When was the last time you saw such a distinct, ambitious feature film from Indian cinema, the movie being made itself is an achievement. Yes, you could say the pace lacks at parts or the screenplay isn’t as razor tight as it should have been but oh boy, the way the movie is staged ( Nicolas Winding Refn would have been soo proud of this ), the background score, the editing, everything is so different from the usual things that we get that i was floored right from its first shot.

“Trance” begins with the life of Viju Prasad ( a terrific Fahadh Fazil, his performance is one for the ages ), a man who has lost everything yet who doesn’t want to give up. It is at this stage where Viju is introduced to a drug, no, not the physical one ( even though that too is referenced a lot) but the other, more potent one – Religion. Viju is asked by corporate big shots ( Gautham Vasudev Menon and Chemban Vinod) to be an incarnation of God, a frontman for the media so that they can reap in the money. This is where “Trance” is at its strongest when it showcases the growth of Viju to Pastor Joshua Carlton aka JC ( A man who has lost faith in religion actually uses it to find his ways to success) and “Trance” is just mesmerizing during these stages. In a superbly shot scene, where Joshua is asked to perform in front of the crowd for the first time, you see the growth of the character Viju as he tell a story about a donkey who escapes the clutches of failure.

But all things comes at a cost, and things take a curve for Joshua post interval where “Trance” starts to analyze the human mind or let me say the mind of Joshua. This is where the pace of “Trance” dips when compared to the eclectic first half. Anwar Rasheed stages a lot of ambiguous moments in the second half and leaves it to the audience – is Joshua actually human or is he a God, does he take those pills, is he mad ?. Even the character Estelle ( played by Nazriya) feels like it needed to have more depth ( her backstory is a cliche but thankfully underplayed) and the other part revolving around Vinayakan is also a bit unsatisfactory ( How does he reach that place in the climax ???).

These nitpicking’s do pull down “Trance” from the epic that it should have been but if these stages seems a bit slow, it is because the rest of the movie is so exhilarating, so full of life that you start to dream the level where this movie could have reached had it improved upon those parts. “Trance” is such a jaw dropping beautiful collage of film-making departments, the breathtaking cinematography by Amal Neerad, the exquisite sound design by Resul Pookutty, the editing by Praveen Prabhakar, the background score by Sushin Shyam and Jackson Vijayan, everything is so perfect that i was left in a state of trance. And man oh man Fahadh Fazil, his performance is on par with what Joaquin Phoenix did with Joker, the way his eyes brims with that maniacal energy at times, this is a masterclass for all aspiring actors.”Trance”is a movie that needs to be applauded for its sheer audacity, you feel like giving Anwar Rasheed a pat on his back for taking Malayalam Cinema to a place where it has never dreamed before.