Prior to the announcement of the 52nd Kerala State Awards, I presume most would have expected Rojin Thomas's "Home" to be bestowed with quite a few honours. Surprisingly, it didn't & I was flabbergasted as to how Indrans was overlooked for his brilliant performance in the same movie. This diminutive & humble artist has been an absolute revelation over the past few years to the extent that whenever his movie comes out, we can rest assured that he would have aced his part. Another example for that is his latest movie "Udal" helmed by the debutant director, Ratheesh Reghunandan; which focuses on the drama that unfolds one night in a house during the pandemic.
Shiny (Durga Krishna) & her son stayed along with her in-laws while her husband, Reji (Jude Anthany) was based in the city. It was an arrangement that Shiny didn't approve of as she was forced to take care of her bed ridden mother-in-law. The situation became unbearable for her when the home nurse decided to leave despite the fact that her father-in-law Kuttiyachan (Indrans) pitched in with help in whichever way possible. The only solace for her was the extra-marital affair that she had with her friend & junior in college, Kiran (Dhyan Sreenivasan). However, the latest incident of the home nurse leaving pushed Shiny to the brink of her patience & she decided to make things right in her life in the manner that she wanted.
Apart from calling the shots, Ratheesh has penned the script which though reminds one of "Don't Breathe" was rooted in the milieu that we are accustomed to. I wouldn't be surprised if quite a few would have expected it to have a lot of sleaze. well it does have but doesn't get overboard with it after all the focus is on how the hunter gets to become the hunted. Without going into the details, it would be fair to say that in the initial phase we would be empathetic towards Shiny's situation. However, the choices and decisions that she takes as the story unfolds makes it a hard pill to swallow & makes us realize the extent to which she has been pushed. At the same time, the helplessness of Kuttiyachan & the stand he takes when his life gets crumbled in front of his eyes; all of which makes for an engaging viewing experience. The violence & the physical ability of Kuttiyachan might feel a bit far fetched, but I certainly didn't feel that dampened the impact of the tale.
On the technical side, Manoj Pillai has done an impressive job as the cinematographer since it is not an easy task to shoot the sequences in a claustrophobic environment & that too in dim light. He was able to create that tension & helping him out in that task was William Francis's BGM which complimented the overall mood of the movie. Indrans was brilliant as expected & proves yet again that irrespective of what might be the genre, he will be absolutely spot on. Durga is an artist who hasn't got much opportunities & when she was offered a meaty role as Shiny she was spot on. It was not an easy role to portray as she had to pull off the femme fatale character convincingly by maintaining a proper balance between the two variations of her character. Dhyan was average at best as his dialogue delivery at times turned out to be unintentionally comical.
Verdict: With a run time of about 2 h & majority of the sequences shot as the events that unfold inside a house on one night, it definitely manages to engage the audience. In short, do check it out!!!
Rating: 2.75/5
Regards...Ben
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