Official Trailer:

Puzhu is a psychological thriller beautifully imagined in a home invasion genre. Better way to say, it is the invasion of the mind. Kuttan, portrayed by Mamootty, the brahmin protagonist feels his territory is being violated when his sister, Bharathy, portrayed by Parvathy Thiruvothu, moves in with her husband, Kuttappan, portrayed by Appunni Sasi, in the same apartment complex. Kuttan feels the environment is polluted by their moving in. Reason: Kuttappan is from the scheduled caste. While Bharathi and Kuttappan has moved ahead with their progressive thoughts Kuttan is stuck in a majority persecution complex. Kuttan’s character as caste-bigot is well developed and Mamootty nails the character wonderfully. I was impressed by how effortlessly this actor makes us feel the revulsion especially in the scenes where he terrorizes his son in the name of stifling discipline, self-sacrifice (why he didn’t marry after his wife’s death), and emotion. Father and son go through the ritual of watching a home video every day and Kuttan stops it at a particular place every time. What is after that gets revealed towards the climax.

As the story progresses, Kuttan starts to feel there is someone out to kill him. He starts to feel like a victim. Is this for real or is he hallucinating? Due to his helplessness not able to get Bharathi and Kuttappan out of the complex? His space is being polluted by someone lower in the hierarchy? This is the portion of the movie that worked brilliantly as a political commentary where the religious majority feels threated by the minority even though they are the ones in positions of power and the victimizers.

The narrative is a slow burn but gripping except for the letdown by the climax. I felt movie would have worked much better without the final twist with Ameer. The forced climax confuses what the movie is trying to say. Without that twist, Puzhu would have been a perfect psychological drama and audience would be left to interpret the message. The intercut with Thakshakan and Parikshit play worked well as a narrative prop but also came across as spoon feeding. Since I liked the Thakshakan story, this is a minor nitpick 😀

Due to relentless focus on Kuttan, rest of the characters are not well developed. More screen time to two other key characters Bharathi and Kuttappan would have added better shades. While Mammooty is spectacular to watch, even with limited screen time Parvathy, Appunni Sasi, and Indrans leave an impression. Along with impressive cast, score by Jakes Bejoy and cinematography by Theni Easwar add extra layers to the narration – the way the interactions between the father and the son are shot come across as formal with an undercurrent of threat and violence. Even with its shortcomings Puzhu leaves you with few perceptions and prejudices to think about.