In every neighbourhood, there are detectives and the supposed mysterious characters. Every family holds that one character who tends to get sceptical of everything and does not and will not accept anyone’s word for it. There are also those who are on their bandwagons: those who follow their scepticism—curiosity even—into the abyss. There are also those who are extremely suspicious—they shield their lives so much so that their life depends on it. And when you bring together all these characters, you get a mystery thriller.
MC Jithin’s directional ‘Sookshmadarshini’ is a Malayalam fun thriller, moves away from a conventional police procedural, where a crime happens, and the police start chasing the culprit, into a cat-and-mouse chase between those who have committed or might commit a supposed crime and those taking cues from it.
The story begins with Manuel (Basil Joseph) returning to his ancestral home with his ailing mother, in the neighbourhood where Priyadarshini (Nazriya Nazim) stays with her husband and daughter. Priya is an inquisitive neighbour whose curiosity leads to a web of mystery. They say curiosity is the mother of invention, but in this movie, this adage takes a new form: curiosity is the mother of interrogation.
Priya is bored at home and is looking for a job. And, meanwhile, Manuel is mysteriously planning something with his two relatives: one, an old uncle; and the other, a UK-trained doctor. When Priya is told that Manuel’s mother suffers from Alzheimer’s disease, she is automatically intrigued and curious. She could not believe that Manuel’s mother was forgetful. And she could not trust that Manuel’s mother could walk up to the railway station all by herself.
And then, there is Manuel’s sister, who is settled in New Zealand and visits them in India. The doctor character (played by Siddharth Bharathan) is the funniest and most relatable. Despite all the crime he seems to be committing, he appears to have a ‘bro-like’ attitude of calm, panic, and enthusiasm, all at once.
Nazriya Nazim, whose movie was the first Malayalam movie I watched: ‘Bangalore Days’, marked her return to Malayalam cinema after a long hiatus. And she delivers a power-packed performance as Priyadarshini—a homemaker-cum-detective. Basil Joseph, too, is nuanced—he is calm and calculative. Other characters, too, are very relatable. Siddharth Bharathan, especially, brings hilariousness to the otherwise very sharp thriller.
‘Sookshmadarshini’ somewhat matches the nuances of a ‘Rear Window’, the 1954 American thriller directed by Alfred Hitchcock, but with a little more than a window in this one. However, all the while it may seem that some aspects of the movies could be easily guessed, there is a little too much suspense in store for you to hold onto it.
The narrative throughout the movie is held intact. There are no artistic breaks. The characters are beautifully crafted. And as a result, ‘Sookshmadarshini’ comes out as one of the best films of 2024. If you haven’t already, go watch it on Hotstar.