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  • 2/17/2025
The film has strong performances from Asif Ali, Vijayaraghavan, and Aparna Balamurali

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Transcript
00:00This is Manjusha Radhakrishnan from Gulf News. I'm the entertainment editor and today I'm
00:13here with the review of Malayalam language film Kishkindha Kandan. It's a tough name
00:19to say and I have been trying to say this for quite a bit but it's one of the best thrillers
00:25that I have seen of late. It stars Asif Ali, Aparna Balamurali and Vijay Raghavan in crucial
00:32roles. Now this is a masterpiece in slow burn thrillers that works so effectively. I mean
00:38it's got great emotional depth, it's very nuanced and it's one of the thrillers that
00:44makes you think and actually your heart goes out to each of the characters. The movie opens
00:50with Aparna Balamurali getting married to Asif Ali's character. She goes into this new
00:55home as a bride. Vijay Raghavan is her father-in-law who is like an ex-military man. He runs the
01:02house with an iron fist. He's a disciplinarian of her dad, is very strict with his son but
01:08they all live together. She's learning the new dynamics of her new life and she finds
01:13everything very strange. There's a lot of buried family secrets and this movie explores
01:21how she uncovers certain uncomfortable truths. What I loved about this film are the performances.
01:28Asif Ali is brilliant as this dutiful son. He's torn between being a good husband and
01:34a dutiful son. You could see the kind of struggle that happens mentally to him and you can almost
01:39feel it. And then there's Vijay Raghavan who is such a seasoned actor. You have seen
01:44him in movies like Deshardanam etc. where you know he's got a great heft as an actor
01:49but in this one where he plays this father who is grappling with perhaps a debilitating
01:55medical condition yet trying to age gracefully, trying to actually keep his family together.
02:02It's quite interesting. I mean the conflict that you see like how do you embrace ageing
02:07gracefully and the kind of like fragile egos that he's handling, all of it is explored
02:16in great detail. What I loved about the film is also how Aparna Balamurli who plays the
02:22new bride is trying to understand the nuances of fitting into a new family. And then there
02:27is Asif Ali as well. He plays a very complex part. Each character in this movie, they have
02:35such complex parts. I mean there is a missing son, it's Asif Ali's, his character's second
02:44marriage, what happened in the previous. It's almost like very Rebecca like. What happened
02:50to the first wife, the missing son etc. is explored in great detail. One of the best
02:55parts about director Dinit's film is that it doesn't try too hard. Everything is nuanced,
03:02everything is not spelt out. Every glance and perhaps every tear has a backstory behind
03:08it which is what compels you. Be warned, it's a very slow movie. It takes some time for
03:14it to come into its own. It takes at least like, there are times when you're thinking
03:19where is this all heading but the cinematography, the atmospherics, the eerie, the murky past
03:24etc. keeps you hooked. And I loved its ending as well. There's an interesting nugget that
03:30Aparna Balamurli's character says, which says that all worlds are staged and we are
03:34merely its players. It's a Shakespearean nugget but it kind of also talks about the tragedy
03:39of life, it talks about conflicts. You know the dynamics in a family, how many family
03:46members come together to watch out for each other even without you knowing. It's a very
03:52interesting take on secrets being buried and family conflicts coming to the surface. I'm
03:59going with 4 out of 5. Even if you don't understand the language, you can watch it
04:03with subtitles. It's still effective. Watch it for the performances, watch it for the
04:08twists and watch it for the complex storytelling. This is an example of Malayalam cinema doing
04:14so exceedingly well with limited characters but smart writing as well. It doesn't fall
04:20flat and it's also a thriller that doesn't try too hard. It does not fall on the usual
04:27crutches of jump scares and crazy twists. People are ordinary but extraordinary secrets
04:33buried. I've gone with 4 out of 5.