Trance

Trance is a 2020 Indian Malayalam language neo-noir psychological thriller film directed and produced by Anwar Rasheed and written by Vincent Vadakkan. It features an ensemble cast including Fahadh Faasil, Gautham Vasudev Menon, Dileesh Pothan, Nazriya Nazim, Chemban Vinod Jose, Soubin Shahir, Sreenath Bhasi, Vinayakan and Arjun Ashokan. The film was produced by Rasheed himself under the banner of Anwar Rasheed Entertainments. The film's plot follows the events in the life of Viju Prasad, played by Faasil, a Kanyakumari-based atheist motivational speaker, who is hired by a fraud agency to work as a Christian pastor. The film deals with themes of substance dependence, religion, and the commercialisation of spirituality. Trance marked Rasheed's directorial return after a hiatus of nearly eight years since he directed Ustad Hotel (2012). Made on a budget of 35 crores, principal photography began in July 2017, and was completed on 1 September 2019. The film was mainly shot across coastal Kanyakumari, and across Mumbai, India, and Dubai. It was the first Malayalam film to use Bolt High-Speed Cinebot cameras and shot with sync sound. Newcomer Jackson Vijayan, composed the film's soundtrack album, with the title song being composed by Vinayakan TK; the background score was composed by Vijayan along with Sushin Shyam. The film's cinematography was handled by Amal Neerad, with editing done by Praveen Prabhakar. The film's release was postponed multiple times, with the initial release scheduled for March 2019, owing to production delays, as well as censorship issues. A week before the film's release, it was leaked on the piracy website. Trance was released in Kerala on 20 February 2020, and across India on 28 February. The film received critical acclaim, with praise on the film's technical aspects and performance of the ensemble cast. Even though receiving excellent reviews, due to the COVID-19 lockdown in India, the film suffered a financial loss and became a box-office flop. Plot Viju Prasad is a small-time motivational speaker living in Kanyakumari with his mentally unstable younger brother, Kunjan. When Kunjan commits suicide, Viju is devastated and relocates to Mumbai. There through a casting director named Kavitha whom he had once met at Kanyakumari, Viju meets fraudsters Solomon Davis and Issac Thomas, who hire Viju to pose as a Christian pastor and perform hoax miracles.