Two movies. One packages a good cinema while giving space to the heroisms. Second one fails to impress as a cinema but scores in tugging our hearts with its core message of humanity.

Ayothi: Ignore the flaws this is a movie highly needed for the current India we live in 👏

Looking at the name I feared the movie is a Saami Padam, a movie about God. What a pleasant surprise…this is a movie about being human. Religion and Gods in the name of religion divide people. All through the movie, director keeps the focus on humanity that transcends religion and beliefs. A four-member family headed by Balram, a religious patriarch, his wife Janaki, daughter Shivani, and son Sonu come on a spiritual trip to Rameshwaram from Ayodhya. Altercation between Balram and the cab driver results in an accident leading to the death of Janaki. Family is stranded in Rameshwaram with no money and not able to speak or understand Tamil. Taking back the remains to Ayodhya requires multiple procedural approvals, FIR, postmortem, embalming, approvals to take it in flight as cargo, etc. Did they get the required help and did they make it back to Ayodhya forms the rest of the story. The thread that worked me is Balram’s character transformation arc from being a conservative, insensitive patriarch to the realization of how his behavior has hurt his family members and also caused the death of his wife. In each procedural hurdle, director keeps the issue resolution simple but stresses on humanity. I would say this trade-off helped to pull the movie up irrespective of the other flaws in the making. There is no place for Sasikumar intro fight sequence or songs (especially the one in the police station) in this movie. I would have preferred him to play down the melodrama and the background score. The background score tries to unnecessarily amplify the emotions when the scene speaks for itself. Excellent performances by Yashpal Sharma as Balram and Preethi Asrani as Shivani. Balram’s characterization is one-dimensional, but Yashpal Sharma manages to bring in the shades. A big applause to Sasikumar and Pugazh for playing the foil to the protagonist. Ayothi is worth the time investment.

Kannur Squad: A well-made police procedural in the lines of Dheeran Athigaram Ondru

Kannur Squad tracks the challenging journey of ASI George Martin and his team across India to nab a criminal gang. Don’t watch expecting a Missing Impossible or a James bond style action. Or a high octane over the top police movies like Singam, Saami, Kaaka Kaaka. Similar to Dheeran Athigaram, this is closer to reality focusing on police procedurals details, chain of command hurdles they face within the system, save the bills for reimbursement, house loan approvals, etc. What to make of the fact that George and his team are not eligible for flights because of their pay grades which means they need to travel by road from Mumbai to a village in UP when the culprits are way ahead of them closer to Nepal border? Shared accommodation? Long distance travel in hot weather? How about even a cop is expected to pay a bribe to get a loan? This level of detail humanizes the cops we see. We also feel their loneliness in their long journeys away from the family. We don’t get to see their families except families of two cops for few seconds. Else we hear only their voices from the other end of the phone line. The squad leader’s, George Martin, family doesn’t get a space in the screen play. I liked the way director starts the movie. The squad is on a watch and the informer leads them deep in a forest area to nab few culprits. The chase leads to a dead body hung from a tree. Investigation of the dead person leads them to Coimbatore and the story we hear is heart-wrenching. We would think the squad would let the woman and man free (close the case as suicidal death – that is what the chief tells them…why bother about investigating a tribal’s death) for the sake of the small girl. No, they get arrested because we are cops. This sequence has no connection to the main story but gives a brilliant introduction to the squad and the investigation process. The village fight sequence is full of brutal energy and excellently choreographed. Forest shooting shot shows how the writers have seamlessly built-in Mammootty’s heroism in the scene. There are few other hero scenes, but they blend and doesn’t interfere with the mood of the movie. There is a nice touch with the Tata Sumo, we also feel a tinge of sadness when the squad members look at the damaged Sumo with affection and sadness, they have lost their companion. A well-made realist police investigation drama 👌🏼