Lockdown, Quarantine, N95 masks, PPE Kits are the words that we come across daily during this lockdown. We all are just waiting for the war against the coronavirus to end! But did you know, there was a virus before coronavirus that did spread in India? Yeah, there was one virus that was deadlier than coronavirus. Though, it didn’t spread much in India as it was contained and handled in a more intelligent and better way.
I’m talking about the Nipah Virus outbreak that took place in Kerala in 2018. It had a death rate of 40-75% and is superior to coronavirus’ death rate which is hardly 20%. But, the world was never exposed to it as the government of Kerala did everything in its power to prevent the spread & turn the outbreak into an epidemic. The movie “Virus” is all about the events that took place in this outbreak.
Trailer for the movie:
https://youtu.be/38MijVTyP7s
“Virus” is a Malayalam medical thriller and is based on True Events. In the first scene itself, we hear these dialogues,
“Sir we have run out of ventilators in the medical college,
What do we do when more patients arrive?“
And as we know how important is to have ventilators, these two sentences can easily horrify us and tell us how alarming the situation is.
When the Outbreak takes place in the movie, but people still don’t know about it, we as an audience fear for the people standing near the patients affected by the virus. The movie then nicely portrays the discussions among the doctors and authorities, tests, and the ultimate knowledge of the Virus’ activeness. After the virus is known we are taken through a series of events which we are currently going through due to the coronavirus i.e. contact tracing, quarantining of potential patients, fear amongst the people, news anchors discussing it on TV, etc.
In the movie, we see how our dear Health Minister of Kerala K.K.Shailaja (fictionalized as CK Prameela) is guided about the virus and how she has to take important decisions at various steps to prevent unnecessary controversies during tough times and respect every religious sentiment. This is a medical thriller because the thrill part starts when the investigation starts of how the first victim got affected and how other patients are related to him or came in contact with him. The investigation makes you aware that how easily we are exposed to viruses.
The movie shows the tough times the doctors, nurses, other health workers & concerned authorities go through to prevent the spread. The movie acts more as a tribute to the Health Workers and authorities who selflessly keep helping others no matter whatever the situation is.
What I like about this movie is, it portrays the virus outbreak as it is. Nothing more, nothing less, just what is necessary is shown and shown remarkably. The acting in this movie is never overdone and effortless. The background score is so good that it keeps your heart pounding & the nonlinear narrative makes it more interesting which keeps you glued to the screen.
In the last few minutes, the Health Minister is shown giving a speech wherein she discusses humanity and announces the state, “Virus free”. The speech makes us feel good, and provides us all with the hope we need to fight this war against the Coronavirus.
It is available for viewing on Amazon Prime.
Thanks for Reading.
Sharing a few bits about the real incidents that took place and how the media reported it:
1.https://www.bbc.com/news/amp/world-asia-india-44207740
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