There is a scene in Level Cross, directed by debutant Arfaz Ayub, where Asif Ali’s character Raghu is thoroughly confused by the two versions of events presented to him by Sharafudheen (Zincho) and Amala Paul (Chaitali/Shikha). Occasionally the viewer feels the same during the two-hour film, scripted by Arfaz with Adam Ayub. To paraphrase the lines that open Level Cross, it is indeed situated at a fictional place in the imagination. That said, Arfaz deserves praise for the ambitious effort.
Level Cross unfolds at a lonely, decrepit, far-away-from-civilisation level crossing where Asif Ali is the gatekeeper. Adding to the surreal setting is the imagined donkey/mule, which Raghu and we see, nobody else can or so it seems. He lives alone until Chaitali/Shikha literally falls out of a train and he rescues her.
And it is a slow burn taking its time, making one wish it moves a tad faster. It is also a textbook psychological thriller featuring the workings of not one but two disturbed minds. Which two? You have to watch the film to know.
How the characters manipulate each other, and the audience is proof of clever writing. The film throws unexpected twists and turns, some delicious, such as the one in the end when we learn who Raghu is.
Level Cross
It opens with Raghu trudging along the railway track, going about his life — fetching water and letting trains pass. That is until a mysterious woman (Amala Paul) in a red dress winds up there injured and sets off the action.
The locale, a desert, is harsh and hard; the red dress is a symbol of vitality, desire and romance: all of which he begins to feel once Chaitali/Shikha arrives. The desert becomes a symbol of the aridity of Raghu’s life. However, the stunning location (Sahara Desert) is under-utilised as a tool that could have conveyed the harshness of life.
Amala Paul and Asif Ali in a still from ‘Level Cross’ | Photo Credit: @thinkmusicofficial/Youtube
Asif impresses as Raghu, seemingly a simpleton but turns out to be a man with a murky past and a few dark secrets. Especially good are the scenes where he emotes the expressions of a man who has not been around a woman in a long time. The eyes convey his curiosity about this strange woman, and the attraction he feels for Chaitali/Shikha. He delivers and how! Raghu follows in a line of characters that Asif has been delivering with effortless ease over the years.
Stuck in an unexpected and uncomfortable situation, the dynamic of the Raghu-Chaitali/Shikha relationship shifts from suspicion for each other to a bond borne out of similarities despite the overwhelming social differences. They both tell each other a story about their pasts, convincing the other and us. And then adding to the mix is Zincho who comes with his version.
An underlying note of madness runs through the film and everyone, essentially, is an unreliable narrator. The twists keep coming, the truth is not what it appears to be. When we feel that we have figured it out, there comes another which completely turns the story on its head.
Arfaz, an associate of Jeethu Joseph, works with a minimal cast of six actors, besides the three leads. The attempt was to focus on the narrative. He has extracted good work from his actors and the film rides on their performances. One comes away with a feeling of unmet potential, especially since the opening credits announce ‘Jeethu Joseph Presents...’ a lot of expectations ride that name.
Level Cross is currently running in theatres
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