Aashakal Aayiram Review: Jayaram, Kalidas Hold The Centre In Family Drama
Watching Jayaram return to a Malayalam family drama feels a bit like opening an old album except the photographs have aged, and so have the people inside them. Aashakal Aayiram understands this emotional math and builds its story around what time changes, what it erodes, and what it stubbornly refuses to take away.
The reunion of Jayaram and Kalidas Jayaram forms the emotional spine of Aashakal Aayiram. What was once an effortless father–child rapport has evolved into something more tentative and layered. The film wisely lets their old warmth reappear in flashes through shared glances, gentle humour, and moments left unsaid.
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Directed by G Prajith, Aashakal Aayiram places itself firmly inside an ordinary middle-class household. Kalidas plays Ajeesh, a young man chasing an acting dream that feels reckless to everyone except him. Jayaram’s Hariharan, juggling responsibilities and disappointments, belongs to a generation that equates stability with silence. Between them lies a familiar emotional deadlock, both wanting understanding, neither knowing how to ask for it.
Jayaram is in remarkably good form here. There is an ease to his performance that Malayalam audiences have missed for a while. He doesn’t overplay the tired father or the wounded ego; instead, he lets restraint do the work. His humour slips in gently often disarming, sometimes masking deeper hurt. It’s the kind of performance that reminds you why he once defined the family-drama space so effortlessly.
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Kalidas complements him well. His Ajeesh isn’t written as a rebel or a dreamer given to grand speeches. He is restless, occasionally selfish, sometimes immature and recognisably human. Kalidas plays him with a casual honesty that keeps the character grounded, even when the narrative treads familiar ground.
Asha Sharath brings quiet strength as the emotional buffer of the family, the one who listens, absorbs, and endures. Sharafudheen’s role adds friction to the story, though it remains within expected contours. The film works best when it trusts silence and small moments rather than external conflict.
Yes, Aashakal Aayiram leans on nostalgia, sometimes heavily. The film is aware of the emotional history the audience brings into the theatre, especially with this casting. While a few scenes feel a touch too conscious of that legacy, most of the time it allows the bond to speak for itself. When it does, the effect is genuine.
The film’s final act follows a familiar emotional arc, but what saves it from predictability is its restraint. There is a deliberate refusal to over-explain feelings or manufacture drama where silence will suffice. One understated visual moment in the closing stretch quietly brings the film full circle, reaffirming its faith in subtlety over spectacle.
Aashakal Aayiram ultimately succeeds as a clean, emotionally sincere family drama anchored by a time-tested pairing. Jayaram looks completely at home in Malayalam cinema again, and Kalidas matches him with ease. For audiences willing to engage with its gentler rhythms, the film offers a shared emotional space.
