How Many Twists Are Too Many? Jeethu Joseph’s Mirage Has The Answer

Jeethu Joseph, the filmmaker celebrated for Drishyam and his ability to weave suspense out of the ordinary, returns with Mirage, which hit theatres on Friday, a Malayalam-language crime thriller starring Asif Ali and Aparna Balamurali in the lead roles.

Co-written with Srinivasan Abrol from a story by Aparna R. Tarakad, the film is ambitious in its layering, but also reveals the dangers of mistaking convolution for complexity.

Spoiler Alert

Mirage begins with a railway station sequence, setting the tone for a mystery that quickly spirals into a labyrinth of lies, double games, and betrayals.

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Asif Ali plays Aswin Kumar, an online media journalist working for “Pure Facts Media,” who begins trailing Kiran (Hakim Shahjahan) in pursuit of a story on a shadowy finance company run by Rajkumar (Saravanan).

Meanwhile, Kiran’s girlfriend, Abhirami (Aparna Balamurali), newly arrived in Chennai for a finance job at the same company, finds herself entangled when Kiran suddenly goes missing.

Her police complaint pulls her into a dangerous web involving a mysterious hard drive, Rajkumar’s henchmen, and layers of deception that keep shifting like the title itself suggests —a mirage.

The first half establishes Abhirami’s search for truth alongside Ashwin. Soon, they learn that Kiran was actually collaborating with the police to expose Rajkumar. The supposed key to the mystery is a hard disk locked away in Kozhikode, but when Abhirami and Ashwin retrieve it, things only grow murkier.

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The second half detonates twist after twist: Kiran is revealed to be alive; Ritika (Hannah Reji Koshy), Abhirami’s friend, turns out to be a double agent working for Rajkumar; and Abhirami herself hides a turbulent past under a different name, Anjali. Jeethu and Abrol clearly aim for a puzzle-box narrative, but the sheer volume of twists leaves one more exhausted than exhilarated.

The screenplay strains under the weight of its ambitions. While thrillers thrive on misdirection, Mirage deploys so many red herrings that the emotional core of the story becomes fragile and almost invisible. Each revelation is stacked upon another with little breathing space, so that by the time the final “big twist” arrives, fatigue has set in.

Unlike Drishyam, where tension organically rose from character motivations, here the twists often feel like afterthoughts, as though stitched in simply to surprise the audience. Thematically, the exploration of betrayal, revenge, and justice is intriguing, but without sufficient grounding, it risks appearing forced.

Aparna Balamurali delivers a remarkable turn as Abhirami, portraying a character who is at once vulnerable, determined, and morally ambiguous. Her courage in confronting violence and her emotional turmoil during the revelations provide the film with its beating heart. She shoulders the film through its more implausible stretches.

Asif Ali, however, underwhelms. As Ashwin, his arc should have been morally layered, but the performance feels restrained and at times disinterested, especially when set against Aparna’s intensity.

Hakim Shahjahan as Kiran impresses in parts, oscillating between lover, victim, and betrayer, though the writing hampers the believability of his character.

The cinematography is competent, capturing the murky corridors and safehouses with atmospheric darkness. However, it never fully embraces visual storytelling; many scenes remain flatly staged, and the tension often relies more on dialogue than framing.

Vishnu Shyam’s score is one of the film’s stronger aspects. Tracks like Ilavenal Poove bring a melodic pause to the otherwise tense narrative, while the background score largely sustains the intrigue. The music consistently keeps the audience engaged, heightening suspense without losing its emotional undertone.

Screenplay is where Mirage falters most. The first half is sluggish and almost dull, taking too long to set up the narrative. The second half, conversely, barrels forward with too many narrative detours. This imbalance leaves the audience dissatisfied, feeling as though the film never found its rhythm.

At its core, Mirage attempts to question trust — in people, institutions, and even in storytelling itself. Every character is a potential deceiver; every revelation can be overturned. Yet, this very instability weakens the film, leaving it emotionally hollow. By prioritising shock over substance, Jeethu Joseph risks alienating his audience. The metaphor of the “mirage” is clever in theory, but fragile in execution.

Mirage is a thriller that mistakes noise for nuance. Despite strong performances, especially by Aparna Balamurali, and moments of genuine intrigue, the film collapses under the burden of its own twists. Jeethu Joseph, known for crafting thrillers with sharp clarity, here seems caught in his own web of misdirections.

For viewers, it becomes a test of endurance: how many twists are too many twists? In the case of Mirage, the sheer excess of turns weakens the film instead of strengthening it.

Timeline Verdict:

Jeethu Joseph’s Mirage is ambitious yet overindulgent, gripping yet exhausting. The film is intriguing in parts, but ultimately weakened by its barrage of twists.

Cast:

• Asif Ali

• Aparna Balamurali

• Hakim Shahjahan

• Hannah Reji Koshy

• Saravanan

• Sampath Raj

• Deepak Parambol

• Arjun Syam Gopan

Cre:

• Jeethu Joseph – Director, Screenplay

• Srinivasan Abrol – Screenplay

• Aparna R. Tarakad – Story

• Mukesh R. Mehta – Producer

• Jatin M. Sethi – Producer

• C. V. Sarathi – Producer

• Vikram Mehra – Producer

• Siddharth Anand Kumar – Producer

• Satheesh Kurup – Cinematography

• Vinayakh – Editor

• Vishnu Shyam – Music Composer