The Virus, a 2019 film, brings back those tension-ridden days in the summer of 2018 when the deadly Nipah surfaced in Kozhikode and Malappuram districts. It highlights the current pandemic COVID–19 that has spread worldwide. A review by Sukanya, exclusively for Different Truths.

Directed by Aashiq Abu

Produced by Aashiq Abu, Rima Kallingal

Written by Muhsin Parari, Sharf Suhas

Starring Kunchacko Boban Parvathy Thiruvothu, Asif Ali, Tovino  Thomas, Rahman, Soubin Shahir, Indrajith Sukumaran, Revathi, Rima Kallingal, Madonna Sebastian, Sreenath Bhasi

Music by Sushin Shyam

Cinematography Rajeev Ravi

Additional

Cinematography:  Shyju Khalid

Edited by Saiju Sreedharan

Production Co. OPM Cinemas

Release date 7 June, 2019

Running time 152 minutes

Country India

Language Malayalam

In the 2019 movie Virus, deployment of big-screen stars ensured memorability for each character, each character being a frontline soldier fighting the Nipah virus. It also serves to emphasise the truths that in the giant fight against Nipah even the apparently tiniest player’s activities could have implied the distinction between existence and demise

In the 2019 movie Virus, deployment of big-screen stars ensured memorability for each character, each character being a frontline soldier fighting the Nipah virus. It also serves to emphasise the truths that in the giant fight against Nipah even the apparently tiniest player’s activities could have implied the distinction between existence and demise, no cog in the wheel was/is secondary, and the states quietly involved diplomats, administrators, healthcare professionals, ordinary residents and all others involved are/were warriors no less than the flashy artistes playing fictionalised performances of them in this movie.

The investment in casting then is a tribute to these real-life heroines and heroes including Nipah’s victims, many of whom contracted the disease through an act of kindness.

As the potentially fatal virus begins to circulate, the state’s health minister gathers a team of officers, medics and volunteers to examine its origins and curb its spread.

The virus brings back those tension-ridden days in the summer of 2018 when the deadly Nipah surfaced in Kozhikode and Malappuram districts and highlights the current pandemic COVID-19 that has spread worldwide. As the potentially fatal virus begins to circulate, the state’s health minister gathers a team of officers, medics and volunteers to examine its origins and curb its spread.

With clinical efficiency reflective of the standardised manner in which infection restraint must perforce be completed if it is to be beneficial, the Virus goes about its business of tenaciously chronicling their painstaking job. The astonishment of seeing so many big names in subsequent frames and often concurrently wears off within minutes, as it becomes clear that there is nothing pretentious about this film and that its story is ultimate.

With clinical efficiency reflective of the standardised manner in which infection restraint must perforce be completed if it is to be beneficial, the Virus goes about its business of tenaciously chronicling their painstaking job.

In some senses, it plays out like an uncertainty drama, although we know that the outbreak did not eventually turn into an epidemic.

Now, will we survive COVID-19 or is this the end of the world? That is yet to be determined. Let us know your thoughts about COVID19 or the movie itself, in the comments section.

Photos from the Internet