REVIEW: KURUTHI (Malayalam)

Producer- Supriya Menon

Director-Manu Warrier

Star Cast- Prithviraj Sukumaran,Roshan Mathew,Sridaa, Murali Gopy, Manikanda Rajan, Mammukoya and Naslen

Genre- Social

OTT Platform –Amazon Prime Video

Gripping Thriller!

Rating- ***

Jyothi Venkatesh

Right at the outset, let me clarify that Kuruthi is about the war within that threatens to drag India back to the dark ages.

The gripping thriller plays out for the most part in a single house over a 24-hour period that sees two small groups of men pitted against each other in a violent battle of attrition.

Ibrahim (Roshan Mathew) lives in a remote high-range village where a fatal landslide has created great havoc a year back. His wife and daughter lost their lives in the tragedy.

His ailing father Moosa (Mamukkoya) and brother Resul (Naslen) also live with him there. Suma (Srindaa), who lives nearby with her brother Preman (Manikanda Rajan) cooks food for Ibrahim’s family.

She wants to marry Ibrahim and believes that the difference in their religious beliefs won’t be an issue.

It would have been yet another normal night for the family but things take an unprecedented turn as SI Sathyan (Murali Gopy) all of a sudden lands there with a young convict named Vishnu (Sagar Surya).

This incident starts a series of events and sometime later, more characters join the action and the real faces of some of them are unveiled slowly and steadily.

The complex film has been deftly directed by Manu Warrier, aided and abetted by an engaging script by Anish Pallyal, and full credits ought to go to Abhinandan Ramanujam for his brilliant cinematography especially for succeeding in fetching a big round of deserving applause from the viewers who actually feel like they are in the house watching the events unfold that too right in front of the eyes.

The film is a gripping thriller, set for the large part in a remote house in a village and held over 24 hours, the plot amazingly, deals with the communal dynamics in the country.

I should say that without even an iota of any doubt, while the characterizations are brilliant, special applause and encores ought to be given to all the actors, including Prithviraj Sukumaran, Roshan and Murali Gopy but Mamukkoya and Srinda keep us glued to the OTT screen with their involved and almost effortless performances.

As the hate-mongering Laiq, someone with no morals, Prithviraj Sukumaran turns in a powerful performance, in a role which does not have more footage even though he is the producer of the gripping film.

I’d say that the film also succeeds to a very large extent in driving home a very pertinent and poignant timely message through the character of the old man Moosa, which has been brilliantly enacted by Mammukoya, in whose house the Hindu boy takes refuge.

The film makes observations about the sad state of affairs in our country were communal hatred has been driving men as well as women to commit grave crimes for generations.