I had heard about this movie in 2020 in a review stating one among the top 10 Malayalam movies one should watch. I got to watch it recently
And within the first 5 minutes - I was absorbed in it
It is a brilliant movie. A Class apart that reflects a hidden dark truth of Indian society in general - more pertinently of the Brahminical higher class families who see women - as servants and the ones who do work and cook and serve the males.
The issue is old and told many times before, but this time the Screenplay writer turned Director Jeo Baby has hit the nail hard not shying away from showing the truth as is.
The story is simple. An educated dancer (several award-winning actress (Nimisha Sajayam) gets arranged-married to a teacher (Suraj Venaramood) in a traditional patriarchal family. Life as a newlywed bride with domestic routines starts with a bliss but slowly turns into a realization of the ugly truth of drudgery and patriarchal exploitative undertones - of how religious yet dirty these family men can be.
Joe Baby through his tightly knit script does not miss a beat in every little detail of how insensitive men treat women - more in case their wives. Juxtaposed to the wife - the director has also shown other women - normalising the drudgery life with happiness and servility
Nimisha Sajayam has done a brilliant job in acting through all the hard-work and dirtiness of daily household work load. The best part is there is not a single thing told as being preachy or shown negatively to create our audience's sympathy for the wife.
Yet the sensitive audience will root for the wife. The best part of the movie is the ending which I won't reveal here to lukewarm it. It is dirty and good.
Frankly I have seen a really good movie after a very long time. Surely all men who are patriarchal and pretending to be goody-goody husbands and kind - would find it very difficult to sit through this movie. They might not even understand - what is going on.
It is also possible that many wives and women too would not be touched by the subject shown in the movie
This movie is a brutal truth as a tribute to the Indian wives married in an arranged marriage setup.
I can keep on adding praise - worthy for his movie. It is once in a decade that such movies are made that are not only educational but socially changing.
Brave, exceptional, powerful, must watch, classic - a hard slap on all the Indian mentality (which includes all family members who think women are here to do household chores)
I recommend this movie to every husband, wife, in-laws and family members as compulsory viewing; and have discussion around their own households and daily lives.
I would go with 8.25 out of 10
One of the highest rated movies of mine on IMDB (there are only 2 other rated so high by me)
