Ziam is the kind of film that focuses on the aftermath of an event rather than going into the nitty-gritty of why it happened in the first place. The film has some serious adrenaline-pumping action sequences that make it an entertaining watch, but I don’t think it brings anything new to the table, especially when it comes to its storyline. I hoped that the film would have some engaging subplots, or some twist that would help it separate itself from other films of the same genre. A post-apocalyptic world, a zombie outbreak, and a protagonist who relentlessly fights to save his loved ones are tropes that we have seen in multiple movies. That said, you should give the film a watch and form your own opinion. Let’s find out what happened in the film and if the protagonist was able to save his and his family’s lives at the end.
Spoiler Alert
Why did Rin want Singh to work for Mr. Vasu?
Thailand, as a nation, had managed to provide for its people when the rest of the world was forced to endure famine. The increase in greenhouse gas emissions led to a global climate crisis. The situation became so deplorable that it felt like it was the end of humanity. Amidst all the chaos, a business tycoon named Mr. Vasu took charge of things and made sure that he provided food for the Thai citizens. Somehow, he had managed to procure fish that was safe for consumption, or at least so he claimed. Ocean life had suffered mass extinction, and so it was really a surprise when he told the country’s policy makers that he had been able to do the unthinkable. Though the government claimed to have tackled the crisis, the ground reality was a bit different. A common man never benefited from these policies that were to be incorporated for so-called social welfare. We saw how people went inside the sewer tunnels to find cockroaches so that they could eat them and survive another day. While the rich popped champagne bottles and celebrated how they had managed to survive an apocalypse, the poor and the downtrodden were left to die. So even in this post-apocalyptic world, class barriers existed; in fact, the differences increased significantly, and every policy just seemed to benefit the rich.
At the beginning of Ziam, we saw how difficult it was to transport food supplies from one place to another. A man named Singh worked in Mr. Vasu’s company, and since he was an exceptionally skilled boxer, he was given the responsibility of driving the lorries and transporting the food supplies safely to the safehouses. Singh’s wife, Rin, happened to be a doctor, and she was the one who was looking after Mr. Vasu’s wife. Rin had asked her husband to stop working for Mr. Vasu since she knew how he put his life at risk on an everyday basis. Rin wanted to move to Chiang Dao, their village and start afresh, though she didn’t know if the conditions there were better or worse. Singh probably wanted to earn some money, which was why, even after promising his wife that he would stop working as Vasu’s lorry driver, he didn’t do it. But I believe he had made up his mind that he would leave his job and do what his wife wanted him to. He often saw this dream, where he was with his wife in a beautiful cottage located in a serene place. I believe it was his dream that one day he would wake up from his slumber and find out that the global crisis had ended. Singh’s eyes longed for peace, but he knew that until that day he would have to fight for his survival.
How did people get infected?
Mr. Vasu, the business tycoon whose wife had been in a critical situation for the last five years, told the doctors that he felt that her health would get better if she consumed the fish liver. The doctors were not sure about it, but since Mr. Vasu was such an influential and powerful man and since he was ready to feed it to his own wife, whom he loved so much, they felt that they could trust him. Meanwhile, Mr. Purich, Mr. Vasu’s right-hand man, presided over the board of directors meeting and informed everybody about how they were going to manufacture fish now. He told them that it was safe for them to consume it since Mr. Vasu was going to feed his own wife some too. But then, just moments after he had a bite of that fish, he started choking and spewing blood. Mr. Purich was immediately taken to a hospital, where he eventually passed away. But then something strange happened. A few minutes after the doctors declared him dead, he came back to life, and he bit the doctor who was attending him. Mr. Purich had been infected, and the virus had transformed him into a zombie. Now, the big question was if he was infected after eating that fish or if it was some other food substance that caused that reaction. I believe that there was something in the fish, because the talk about it and the concern shown by Rin made me believe that it was not safe to consume it, even though Mr. Vasu was quite sure about it. Also, we didn’t come to know what happened to the rest of the board of directors, since they too consumed the same fish. Seeing them turn would have been solid proof, and then we could have said for sure that it was actually the fish that transformed Purich into a zombie.
How Did Mr. Vasu Die?
Purich escaped from his ward, and he started attacking everybody who came in his way. The moment a person got bitten by him, they got instantly infected and then transformed into a zombie. The moment Singh got to know that his wife was stuck in the hospital, he went there to save her. Singh met Buddy there, who was the son of one of the hospital employees, Rin’s good friend, named Minks. Minks got infected, and she asked Singh to take her son, Buddy, with her. Meanwhile, Rin was with Mr. Vasu, who told her that if she procured blood for his wife, then he would make sure that she too was safely escorted out of the hospital. At the end of Ziam, amidst all the mayhem, Rin and Singh finally got reunited. Rin told Singh that Mr. Vasu was arranging for a helicopter that they could use to escape. But Mr. Vasu’s instructions were very clear: apart from the doctor, i.e., Rin, he didn’t want to save anybody. So as soon as the national guard arrived at the hospital, they started shooting at Singh. He had to literally fight for his life and make sure that he got the better of them. Mr. Vasu wasn’t able to save his wife, and he chose to stay back with her at the hospital. They both got transformed into zombies, and that’s when Rin, Buddy, and Singh decided to make a run for the terrace, as a helicopter was still waiting for Mr. Vasu there.
How Did Singh Survive The Explosion?
Singh realized that they wouldn’t be able to escape together, and that one of them would have to stay back and buy some time for the others. So Singh went in a different direction and made sure that the zombies came after him. Rin and Buddy got the time to reach the terrace, and they asked the pilot to just wait for 5 minutes till Singh arrived. But Singh wasn’t able to make it on time. Also, the military had decided to blow up the entire hospital once Mr. Vasu was rescued in order to contain the outbreak. There was a huge explosion, and Rin saw the building crumble and presumed that the love of her life was engulfed in the debris.
Rin and Buddy went to the village where Rin and Singh were born. She still missed him, and there was a void created within her that she knew she would never be able to fill. So she kept on waiting for Singh’s return. But then there came a twist at the end of the film. We saw that Singh was apparently alive. During the explosion, he’d hid himself in a water tank on the terrace and survived the explosion. So if there is a Ziam part 2, then probably we would see Singh using his survival skills to stay alive and trying to reunite with his partner, who still hadn’t been able to make peace with the fact that she had lost him. I believe Rin did have a feeling that Singh was out there, but she just didn’t want to get her hopes up. We saw that she was going to take out her ring but then something inside her told her not to do so. She stopped and looked back, as if she felt his presence. Although he was not there, I believe that very soon he would reach there. Also, somebody has to be held accountable for what had happened, i.e. the zombie outbreak, and I believe Singh will play a significant role in that quest.
