Jallikkattu

Jallikattu is a 2019 Indian Malayalam-language independent action thriller film directed by Lijo Jose Pellissery with a screenplay by S. Hareesh and R. Jayakumar, based on the short story Maoist by Hareesh. The film stars Antony Varghese, Chemban Vinod Jose, Sabumon Abdusamad and Santhy Balachandran. In the film, a bull escapes from a slaughterhouse in a hilly remote village and the villagers sets out to hunt it down. Jallikattu was premiered on 6 September 2019 at the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival and received widespread critical acclaim. The film was showcased at the 24th Busan International Film Festival under the section 'A Window on Asian Cinema'. It was released in the home state Kerala on 4 October 2019. Lijo Jose Pellissery received the Silver Peacock-Best Director trophy at the 50th International Film Festival of India. It was selected as the Indian entry for the Best International Feature Film at the 93rd Academy Awards, but it was not nominated. It was third Malayalam film after Guru and Adaminte Makan Abu to be chosen as India's official entry to the Oscars. It was included in The Hindu's top 25 Malayalam films of the decade and is widely regarded as one of the defining movies of the New Wave Movement. Plot Kalan Varkey is a butcher at a rural village in Kerala who meets with his assistant Antony before dawn each day to slaughter a buffalo and prepare its meat for sale in the market. One morning, a buffalo slips its bindings before Varkey can kill it, escaping into the hilly forest. Soon after, a large haystack is set ablaze and the entire village wakes up to put out the fire. Hearing of the buffalo's escape and believing that it was responsible, the men of the village begin an urgent hunt for the animal. As the day progresses, the villagers repeatedly try to corner the buffalo and kill it, but to no avail. The crops at the rubber plantation are trampled, a drink vendor's cart is smashed and the village's bank and convenience store are both destroyed. The villagers begin to turn on Varkey, blaming him for the destruction. Meanwhile, the police refuse to help as killing cattle is illegal - instead, they focus on merely warning people to stay inside until the buffalo is caught. The frustrated villagers call Kuttachan, a renowned local poacher, for help. Antony is unhappy to see Kuttachan back in the village; in a flashback it is revealed that, before Antony married his wife Sophie, the two men had been rivals over her.