Malayalam cinema’s one of the strongest genres, thriller is often the best in Indian Cinema with gripping, grounded yet complicated plot that unravels in the perfect way, making it seamless and fair for keeping the audience engaged. This description also fits well for the MC Jithin directorial movie, ‘Sookshamadharshini’ starring Nazriya Nazim, Basil Joseph. The thriller is filled with humble, unexpected twists in the first half while unravels the said thriller in the second half.
Sookshamadharshini Plot
Manuel (Basil Joseph) moves in with his grandmother in their ancestral home, a small colony of close knit families, including Priyadharshini (Nazriya Nazim) with her husband and daughter, who are everything nosy, fun and are updated with the area’s happening in their WhatsApp group. The plot shifts from funny, grounded and realistic bonding to tension when Manuel’s grandmother goes missing.
Although Manuel points to Alzheimer’s for the missing, Priya smells lies and suspects foul play. The neighbourhood and police on alert, the grandmother is found far away from home and goes missing again, making Priya delve deeper into the lives of her neighbour. Will she prove Manuel’s foul play? Is the grandmother really in danger or vice versa?
The Positive Aspects
The story like any other thrillers lays the humble floor plan of a lovely neighbourhood that consumes gossip and welcomes their new neighbour Manuel and his ill grandmother, who are returning after decades. The most interesting play that stages the story convincingly is the positioning of the houses and how it sits just right, almost like every other neighbourhood around us, making it easy for the nosy neighbours, in Sookshamadharshini’s case the saviours of the movie to involve with the tangled plot.
The way the writers – MC Jithin, Athul Ramachandran, Libin T.B have spun the audience to distract them away from the actual plot while keeping them engaged thoroughly into the missing of the grandmother was brilliant. Especially cementing the attention in the first half, leaving a cliffhanger for the second works best for the thrilling plot.
The actors be it Nazriya Nazim who is returning after four years has given both the mischievous side of Priya and the solid nosy neighbour who has found the foul play and lies that is told to them but doesn’t just stop with lies. As the plot thickens, Nazriya grows and places herself as the anchor of salvation.
Basil Joseph easily switches between the awkward, funny unsuspecting neighbour to an active grey character. His subtle yet affecting acting pulls the strings of the act for the movie to be on wheels. Apart from these two actors such as Akhila Bhargavan, Merin Philip, Deepak Parambol, Pooja Mohanraj bring in their immense talents as the ever curious neighbours and as the humble husband. Sidharth Bharathan and Kottayam Ramesh strike not just as threatening pawns but also as a ‘Breaking Bad’ humorous duo at times.
10 Classic Movies From Malayalam Remade in Other LanguagesThe plot thickens and stretches in the second half with a perfect call back, tying the beginning to the end in a humorous flashback also giving pieces of small twists that binds the story whenever there are lags.
The Negative Aspects
As engaging and high strung the first half of ‘Sookshamadharshini’ is, the second slightly stretches the patience of the audience, with the scenes of Priya finding blood stains through her neighbours and Manuel confronting Priya indirectly was a reach. Audience wanted the moments to pick up speed and unwrap a known package of surprise, awaiting a daring and direct confrontation.
Although the devil was revealed in the second half, a mysterious character, many had their doubts and resolved the plot way before the reveal, making the reveal slightly fall flat. The reasons and the aftermath of the said murder revealed in a flashback works fine in terms of time constraint but doesn’t evoke anger or emotions for the suspects as they eat up the majority of the plot, gaining the space and time from the first half.
The Verdict
Sookshamadharshini creates a story and sticks to the plot and characters loyally, earning the attention and distracting the audience for a clean thriller. Kudos to the writers for their neatly packed first half that is almost torn in the second half but is saved by the talented actors who run the show, be it at tense and volatile scenes but also with their humour and realistic subtlety.
