Bold and Brave: My quick take on “Kuruthi” (Available on Amazon Prime)
Let me admit that I have a bad habit of forming an opinion on a movie within the first 10 minutes of watching it. If a film does not captivate me within the first ten minutes, I will abandon it. Kuruthi was one of those films that required almost three or four viewings for me to become engrossed in a great work. I wasn't drawn in by the narrative because of its slow start, which was more confusing than intriguing. For the first 25-30 minutes I had no clue what was going around.
But then enters a new character in the plot, Murali Gopi who plays a battered cop. He is escorting a teenager who is a murder accused. They have to take shelter in this secluded home in a thick jungle near a rubber plantation as their Jeep is ambushed by unknown elements, and the speed of the film quickly picks up; kudos to the writer and director for this fantastic twist in the narrative.
The director mounted the film in a classic theatrical style, with only one stage and the characters coming one by one, and with each arrival, the "drama" aspect of the tale takes a quantum jump. I only wish the film was accessible in English or Hindi since keeping up with reading the subtitles and what's going on screen is a bit difficult.
Hats off to the director of photography for his exquisite camera work in low-light shots. Second, even though the major part of the setting is a small house, the camera frames are so smartly framed that there is no sense of claustrophobia. It's astonishing to learn that God's own country seems even more beautiful at night; the night shots in the woods are just stunning (especially the Top Drone shots).
On the subject of performances, I am still in awe of how many talented actors there are in the Malayalam film industry. Except for Murali Gopi, Prithviraj, and Roshan Mathew, the entire cast was new to me, and after seeing the performances of other actors, my list of favorites has grown. Mamukkoya deserves special attention; he was just fantastic.
The writer should be commended for addressing the 'touchy' issue of faith in the film. In the film, there is a reference to a 'wasp' colony, and the writer has ventured to touch and disrupt a wasp hive of the audience's belief system. The strong writing has been complemented by the director's inventiveness.
I only wished the movie had ended on a positive note like Mamukkoya’s dialog the “it's my home, I have built it and whosoever cast an evil eye on it will be condemned to hell”. It’s a need of the hour, instead of getting swayed by WhatsApp university messages and external ideologies who are hell-bent of putting a wedge of hate and exploit the differences between us, we need to stay firm and save our “HOME”
It is a daring and gutsy film, loaded with outstanding performances and supported by superb writing and directing; watch it.
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