Official Trailer:

 Writer Bahul Ramesh asks an interesting question, is it protection or restriction, and then builds a wonderful mystery story around it. To expand the question, Kuriachan asks what do we train the dogs for, protection or restriction of the people? The question applies not just to people but also to the dogs. We get Eko from the same creative team that gave us Kishkindha Kaandam. In Kishkindha Kaandam it was the missing gun. Here a person goes missing. We are thrust in the middle of search. Many people are looking for Kuriachan, the missing person. We get bits and pieces of the details as the story progresses. It is like a jigsaw puzzle. Not everything fits immediately. Every character we encounter has something we don’t know about which get revealed later down the line. Whether it is Appootty, Mohan Pothan, Lorry driver, Lorry cleaner, Peeyoos. All of those pieces, erase that…not all questions get answered, come together as the slow burn thriller builds up to the riveting climax. We don’t get a backstory what crimes Kuriachan committed. Yes, we do get to know about two betrayals, and an ex-cop talking about how the police used him and his dog against Naxalite prisoners. But no details on how he got mixed up with Naxalites or say how Kuriachan and Peeyoos got connected or why the Navykkaran is looking for Kuriachan. Of course, these gaps do not impact the movie much but left me little frustrated, if I can say that!!

Small touches add to the character flavor, like Appootty checking his watch before knocking the door, Mohan Pothan using a certain word in the jeep about the dog, the ex-cop putting the money envelop in the glove box, Peeyoos keeping playboy magazines near his bed, or that he writes erotic short stories. Then the unpredictability of the story. Towards interval point we see a person sneaking behind another standing on a cliff with a binocular. We make the high probability guess. But what we get is something we couldn’t have imagined. We have to go back and connect few pieces post the climax, like why Mlaathi didn’t reply anything when her son discusses the property or why she said I am not alone. Every scene is there for a purpose, if you miss you fail to make the connection. It felt as if Bahu Ramesh is asking us are you watching closely? It reminded me of the dialogue from The Prestige movie. Wonderful performances by everyone but Sandeep Pradeep as Peeyoos stands out though. Then the dogs – it is hard to make out which is VFX and which is not, they look so real with their behavior. We may have to use our imagination as to what could have happened to Kuriachan, but we do get a clear answer to who the most loyal dog is!! What about the question, is it for protection or restriction/imprisonment/trap – watch the movie 🤩