‘Oru Durooha Saahacharyathil’ movie review: Falters after a glorious opening hour

A precise sense of rhythm courses through the best of Ratheesh Balakrishnan Poduval’s works. Like a raconteur in full flow, he packs the narrative with intriguing events and funny throwaway lines that hardly cause the attention to waver. Even when some of the jokes don’t land, we remain engrossed and go with the flow. Yet, when his rhythm falters, as it does in the last act of Oru Durooha Saahacharyathil, we sense it too. Then it is just a matter of waiting for the inevitable train wreck.

One of the reasons perhaps for the film going off track is its shape-shifting narrative, with the sudden turn in character in the last act not fitting well with what had transpired. It almost feels like a copout rather than something that would evolve organically from the story.

The most rewarding phases of Oru Durooha Saahacharyathil in its glorious opening hour take place inside an isolated house located on the forest borders, during the interaction between two brothers with a tragic past. Sethu (Kunchacko Boban), a health department employee, plans much of his day around his elder brother Madhu (Dileesh Pothan), a bedridden man who frequently has hallucinatory visions of his dead uncle. When the visions break, Sethu steps in to keep the illusion going, producing some touching moments.

The brothers are a study in contrast. Sethu is a timid man, hesitant to react even to the worst insults, while Madhu exhibits the energy and courage of his younger days, even when he is unable to move from the bed. It takes Sethu’s prospective bride, Mini (Sharanya Ramachandran), to lend him some courage to stand up for himself.

Parallel to their story happens the hunt for Maoists in the neighbouring forests, led by their cousin Armiyas (Chidambaram). It becomes the launchpad for the filmmaker to make some peripheral political commentary on encounter killings and the way governments handle dissidents. The story arc of Rajendra Prasad (Sajin Gopu), whose one act fuelled by justified anger turns his life upside down, adds colour to the narrative.

When these two parallel tracks meet, things are initially quite smooth, especially the beautiful way the screenwriter uses the presence of a third individual in the brothers’ household. However, before long, things start to go downhill when the movie tries to replicate the inner workings of Sethu’s troubled brain on screen. The story of the brothers provides remarkable emotional depth to the film until the filmmaker decides to squander all the hard work for the sake of shock value.

Despite the flaws, we remain engrossed thanks to commanding performances from Kunchacko Boban and Dileesh Pothan, and memorable turns from Chidambaram (in his acting debut) and Sajin Gopu. Oru Durooha Saahacharyathil serves up enough warmth and intrigue, but just not enough to make it an unforgettable film.

Oru Durooha Saahacharyathil is currently running in theatres