Vikrithi Review: Suraj Venjaramoodu is amazing in this real-life inspired film!
Suraj Venjaramoodu and Soubin Shahir play the lead roles in debutant director Emcy Joseph’s ‘Vikrithi’. Ajeesh P Thomas has scripted this film based on a real incident that occurred just a couple of years back in Kochi. Inspired from this incident, the makers have worked on an emotional drama that works to a large extent on screen. Let’s get into the details.
‘Vikrithi’ is the story of two individuals – Eldho and Sameer. The former is a speech-impaired middle aged man working in a private school in Kochi while Sameer is a Gulf Malayali, who is on his yearly vacation. The film starts off with a montage song that follows the daily life of Eldho, who lives with his wife and two kids. Eldho’s wife is also speech-impaired but their psychical disability is never a hindrance to them leading a peaceful life.
Meanwhile, Sameer who has been carrying feelings for a girl in his neighbourhood for years finally manages to open up and gets his marriage fixed with her. As things look all good, there arises the inevitable conflict when Sameer does something that turns Eldho’s life upside down. Anything more from here on will end up as spoilers, so let’s stop there.
‘Vikrithi’ is basically about the evil side intruding into others’ private space and the nasty knee-jerk reactions in social medias. The film is also a firm reminder about the hypocritical nature of humans. The narrative structure employed here is traditional – setup, conflict, resolution. Lion’s share of the first half is about establishing the two lead characters and their daily lives. Towards the interval block arises the conflict and it ends on a very promising note.
Following the conflict, we, the audience, might despise Sameer’s character but the makers gradually draw us into his life and helps us understand his psyche as well. However, these portions does seem to drag around a bit and felt as if it was running out of steam. Even though the climax is predictable from miles away, it’s still rewarding and comes across as satisfactory without any over-the-top moments.
Suraj Venjaramoodu as Eldho has delivered a marvelous performance and is the biggest positive aspect of the film. Since Eldho is speech-impaired, the emotions had to be conveyed solely through his eyes and body language, and Suraj has done it extremely well. There already exists a usual template of how to play a mute person, but Suraj has steered clear of that and presents himself very convincingly by making the occasional sounds and mumbling. Though this character doesn’t speak, his performance speaks volumes of his growth as an actor.
Suraj is ably supported by the National-award winning Surabhi Lakshmi, who finally seems to have grabbed a role in a mainstream film that does justice to her potential. There is a particular poignant scene between the two and even their gestures move you to tears. It was like both of them competing to outperform each other.
On the other hand, Soubin’s performance is nothing but usual. It is a character within his comfort zone that he has been doing since long. But within the limited range, the actor has delivered the goods. Debutante Vincy, who is paired with him is impressive and has her share of moments in the film. The actress who played the character of Soubin’s mother is a real find and her performance in the climax portions was moving. Among the supporting cast, Baburaj, Nebish Benson, Jaffer Idukki, Bhagath Manuel, Riya Saira, Irshad Ali and Sudhi Koppa have all done their parts well.
Overall, ‘Vikrithi’ is a well made film that doesn’t have any overblown ambitions. So it’s safe to say that it achieves what it intended to. A socially relevant film that can be enjoyed with families.
