'Sookshmadarshini' Review: Slow Reveal, But Finds Pace With Twists And Performances (Image-Instagram/bhavanastudios)
Sookshmadarshini has a slow reveal approach. But, when the progressive build-up reaches its zenith, the Nazriya Nazim-Basil Joseph movie unleashes the full potential of a crime thriller.
The movie does the inquiry of human interactions in close neighborhoods where often the dealings resemble the workings of microscopes (Sookshmadarshini), magnifying details of others’ lives with intense scrutiny. The drama-thriller movie, directed by MC Jithin, carries forward the amplified observation of a housewife led by hyper-awareness with how trivial actions of her neighbors take on exaggerated significance.
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Her observations, stemming from the ambiguities of the resulting environment that fosters conformity, lead to findings that are unusual and emerge from microscopic relevance, even though she tries to break personal boundaries.
Nazriya Nazim, as she returns to the Malayalam big screen in a big role after Trance, starts as a housewife but concludes her role as a detective in Sookshmadarshini. The shallow writing in the first half makes the movie dull and unconvincing, and the underdeveloped characters would make you ponder why you are in the theater. In this period, you would see the underdeveloped character of Nazriya with shades of what you have seen in Bangalore Days and Om Shanti Oshaana. Unlike what you may have seen in the promotions and the trailer of the movie, Nazriya’s Priyadarshini is not an all-jolly character but confused and aimless, especially in the first half.
But, in the second half, as the story and the writing find the rhythm, Priyadarshini attains freedom and promise. Nazriya, if you take the second half of the movie into consideration, has done a good job, but you will be wondering whether the ‘young’ actress really had the ability to helm such a powerful character as you leave the theater.
On the other hand, Basil Joseph, as Manuel, remains convincing as a dubious and psychotic character all the while. His previous avatars as clueless, funny, and careless characters in Guruvayoor Ambalanadayil, Falimy, Jan E Man, and Palthu Janwar are all over in the first half, but he attains a class in the second half as you may have experienced in Jaya Jaya Jaya Hai and Karina Kadoramee Andakadaham. That performance shows the potentiality of a serious and mature actor, and it manifests how far he has gone to become an improved actor. The ‘psycho’-ness of character has not been imprinted in the performance of Basil as Manuel, who has the hues of a doting son trying to do everything for his mother.
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Sookshmadarshini has a story that can be made with hundreds of experiments. But the execution here is not so boring, and as mentioned earlier, it becomes strong in the second half. If the first couple of scenes had been written with a bit more unruffledness, the visual experience would have been completely different.
Spoiler Alert!
Sookshmadarshini has an important element in the story that has not been detailed and attended less. The movie’s entire plot deals with honor killing (which you would get to know in the last scenes of the movie) that happens when one aristocratic family’s pride comes in the way of a lesbian relationship. That is the major twist in the movie. The viewer is left to guess and deduce who is the real villain and motive for the crime (good treatment for a crime thriller, anyway) till the end, and it feels like one is cheated at the end when you connect the dots. In fact, the makers should have been a bit more cautious in approaching a serious issue.
Timeline Verdict: To enjoy this Nazriya Nazim-Basil Joseph thriller, what you need is a little patience, as the first half of the movie has inadequacies. But it gains a pace with more details on the characters and the story in the second half.
Sookshmadarshini Crew
Director: MC Jithin
Writers: MC Jithin, Athul Ramachandran, Libin TB
Cast: Nazriya Nazim, Basil Joseph, Akhila Bhargavan, Pooja Mohanraj, Deepak Parambol, Siddharth Bharathan, Merin Philp, Kottayam Ramesh
Cinematography: Sharan Velayudhan Nair
Editor: Chaman Chakko
Music: Christo Xavier
