Anveshanam

Good Movie. Everybody acted well in the movie. The movie was somewhat interesting and thrilling at 1st half. The movie bored and dragged a lot at 2nd half. Good Movie.

What begins as a gripping procedural ends up a half-baked message-movie in the end - that's Anveshanam summed up in a single line. The first half of Anveshanam displays plenty of promise, though it gives us early hints that it isn't a whodunnit but a whydunnit/cover-up. Sujith Vaassudev employs an interesting colour palette that suits the storyline well. While I enjoyed the non-linearity in storytelling in the first half, the writing goes a bit haywire in the second, and when all the puzzle pieces come together at the end, it has a lacklustre feel to it.

The performances are uniformly good - a steady Jayasurya, a more-than-good Vijay Babu, an efficient Nandhu & Lena, and a neat Leona Lishoy. The sentiment-heavy sequences that take over the second half of the film thankfully do not descend into soap opera territory because of the actors mentioned above. While the film stays watchable throughout (with a run-time of 100 minutes), it fails to capitalize on its initially intriguing premise.

It is true that Anveshanam (Investigation) hits hard, especially if you are a short-tempered parent and can relate with the main conflict in the film. It is also true that director Prasobh Vijayan likes to picturize messed-up human behaviour, first giving us a slight hint in his debut thriller Lilli (2018). And as with that film, this mystery thriller takes the messed-up route, this time originating in a hospital. But as the story is narrated through a confusing non-linear line, it soon becomes self-occupied, eventually turning into a hot mess where twists keep adding on. At one point, you feel there's no clarity in what's happening and would want to get up and shut the film. But if you persist and keep going, there's a fabulous scene towards the end that could very well be called one of the most haunting sequences in Malayalam cinema in recent years. But don't get hyped up because the film goes down after that scene and ends with a whimper. Lot of awkward sequences and dialogues - all mark of average direction - coupled with the non-linear narrative makes Anveshanam a below average thriller. But thankfully it's short at around 100 minutes, which is perfect to spend time during this self-quarantine days. TN.

Feeling sad . .parents don't understand the value of a child