24 frames per second

“Sometimes, a cigar is just a cigar” — Sigmund Freud (according to some accounts)

Odd quote with which to begin a review of a film where, when faced with a request to speak to the “man of the house”, a woman pulls out a loaded gun held at waist level and says “Believe I’m a man.”

But here’s the thing: The film is directed by Aashiq Abu and stars, among others, Dileesh Pothan, Darshana Rajendran, Vijayaraghavan and Anurag Kashyap. It comes at the fag end of one of the most successful years Malayalam cinema has had in a while. And the first word that comes to mind while talking about the film is fun.

There is a moment in the third act when, in the midst of the fight of (and for) their lives, one member of the rifle club turns to another and says, “Tell me the truth, haven’t you dreamt of a moment like this your whole life?” And other one smiles in silent admission. Watching the film, I wondered whether all these serious actors and filmmakers, with such excellent, oh-so-serious films under their belt, would’ve had this exact same exchange while making Rifle Club. It’s almost as though you can sense their palpable glee at getting away with a film like this.

The plot is simple: a romantic actor goes to a rifle club near Kannur in preparation for a role. His cousin lands up there with a newly minted girlfriend — they’re both on the run from a gun-dealing gangster, whose son said cousin has defenestrated. The gangster and his crew land up at the rifle club and discover that they have to contend with a bunch of gun-toting maniacs in order for the son’s death to be avenged. Some shots are fired, in roughly the same sense that the Pacific ocean has some water in it.

I’m sure it is possible to find layers in this film, as with so many of the excellent Malayalam films we’ve seen over the years. The preponderance of phallic symbols. Man versus and as beast. Hunters versus and as the hunted. A man in boxers depicting the stars and stripes, in a film about guns. A yellow jacket with a black stripe along the side, as though to remind us of a gore-fest set in Tokyo in a Quentin Tarantino film. I also realize, now that I reflect on it, how even in a film like this, there is room for the characters to be just a little bit mad, but not uniformly so.

But all of that happens after the fact and is pretty much unnecessary. Why should you watch this film? Because it’s fun.