Eko̅ Review: Dinjith Ayyathan Delivers A Masterpiece In Mystery Storytelling

Dinjith Ayyathan returns after Kishkindha Kaandam with a work that feels both familiar and strangely new, as though he has taken the grammar of a mystery thriller and twisted it into something more meditative, more unsettling.

The mist-laden slopes of Kattukunnu become the film’s silent witness, with Bahul Ramesh’s camera treating the land as an organism that listens and remembers. The story, too, breathes in this rhythm.

It moves with the unpredictability of the forest and the patience of a man waiting for a truth he is not sure he wants to find. At the centre of it all stands Sandeep Pradeep, delivering a performance that is deceptively gentle until the layers start to peel back.

Spoiler Alert:

The film begins with a series of breathtaking frames and introduces Peeyoos, played by Sandeep Pradeep, living in a small home tucked deep in the hills of Kattukunnu, with Mlathi, the Malaysian woman he cares for, who has been living in Kerala for years.

The arrival of Narain’s character sets the mystery into motion. Narain plays a suspended Karnataka naval officer, acutely observant and slightly unsettling in his calmness.

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He approaches Peeyoos with a proposition to help him track down a shadowy figure named Kuriachan, a man so infamous that the government has announced a reward for anyone who can provide information about him. Narain promises Peeyoos more money than the police ever would, and Peeyoos agrees.

Through the eyes of retired Papachan, we hear about Kuriachan’s past. His name carries the echo of brutality, the “dog doctrine”, a man who trains local dogs to hunt down and torture Naxalites and others.

The film never shies away from the discomfort of this history, but it also refuses to simplify the man behind it.

Meanwhile, the story of Mlathi (known originally as Soi) starts to open up.

Her son came home,  spreading rumours about Kurian’s death so that he can claim the property. Her fondness for dogs becomes a thread that ties her past to the present.

In Malaysia, years ago, Mohan Pothan (played with nervous energy by Vineeth) and Kurian (a stern, haunting Saurabh Sachdeva) are shown travelling through a war-shadowed region, searching for strong, trainable dogs.

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Soi lives deep in a hilly village, surrounded by dozens of fiercely loyal dogs. These sequences, filled with growls, hesitation, and fear, stand among the film’s most gripping moments.

Bahul Ramesh’s writing dips in and out of different timelines and rumours, allowing characters to reveal themselves in fragments rather than full truths.

The dog sequences are the standout achievement of the film. There’s a particular stretch in the Malaysian flashback where the close-ups of the dogs do more storytelling than dialogue ever could.

Mujeeb Majeed’s background score functions almost like an internal monologue for the film. Instead of rising theatrically, it murmurs, pulses, and occasionally surges at the exact moment a character’s facade cracks.

Sandeep Pradeep is magnetic. He fills Peeyoos with an ambiguity that keeps you guessing. Narain, Binu Pappu, Ashokan, Vineeth, Saurabh Sachdeva, and the performers, including the Malaysian cast, all deliver remarkably grounded performances that elevate the film’s mystery and emotional depth.

We have seen Dinjith’s directorial brilliance in Kishkindha Kaandam, and this time too, he proves that his command over atmosphere, tension, and visual storytelling remains unmatched.

The second half shifts the moral centre of the film entirely. Every new revelation disrupts whatever certainty we had gathered.  Yet the film never allows the audience to fully understand. Even in its final moments, the plot remains elusive, only growing.

Dinjith treats nature like a living character and gives animals and landscapes a soul of their own. The music by Mujeeb Majeed is phenomenal. In Eko, the background score narrates, manipulates, and intensifies the mystery, combined with Sooraj E.S.’s editing, the film flows like a tense, rhythmic heartbeat.

Bahul Ramesh’s writing once again shows why he is one of the finest storytellers today. Like his work in Kerala Crime Files, he plays with time, truth, and perspective — but Eko is bigger, bolder, and far more emotionally piercing.

The closing stretch delivers a revelation that reframes not just one character but several, making us re-examine every assumption built over two hours.

Timeline Verdict:

A cinematic masterpiece in mystery storytelling.

Cast:

• Sandeep Pradeep

• Biana Momin

• Vineeth

• Narain

• Ashokan

• Binu Pappu

• Ranjith Shekhar

• Saheer Muhammed

• Sim Zhi Fei

Crew

• Director: Dinjith Ayyathan

• Writer & Cinematographer: Bahul Ramesh

• Producer: MRK Jhayaram

• Editor: Sooraj E. S.

• Music: Mujeeb Majeed

• Production Company: Aaradyaa Studios