Adrishyam (Malayalam-Tamil Bilingual)
Rating: * ½
Surrogate parenthood is given the sledgehammer treatment in this awful Malayalam-Tamil bilingual about a bunch of ill-conceived characters who suffer and suffer, but not as much as we do.
I asked myself at least 6-7 times, should I give up, use this time to do something more creative, like digging a trench or blowing bubbles?
Adrishyam is ample proof that not all work being done in Malayalam cinema is worth our while.The screenplay strewn with outrageous twists and turns, includes a woman Karthika (Anandhi) who is held captive by a despicable rich man and a lady doctor (played by Vinodhini Vaidyanath whose only brief from the director seems to be, ‘Act evil’) to become a surrogate mother.
Surrogacy is reduced to a cheap gimmick in this tasteless tacky ‘thriller’ where good actors like Joju George and Sharafudheen struggle to inject some sense in the persistently nonsensical content.The latter plays a man in search of a missing person. He should have looked for the screenwriter before accepting this rudderless ratpoison of a film.
In hindsight I seriously wonder why I sat through what is clearly a fractured cut-and-paste job with the plot moving in a bipolar direction from a thriller to a sloppy surrogacy drama , falling between the two themes with a loud thud.
There are so many loose ends and losers in the plot, the film feels like a feedinground for malnourished homeless destitute crammed into a shelter.
I still don’t know what Joju George plays and ehat is Pratap Pothen playing a disgraced cop is doing in the film.He is not up to any good. Just like the debutant director Zac Harris who it seems has watched Drishyam multiples times. He still doesn’t get it.
Whoever decided to make Adrishyam as a companion piece to the much-loved Drishyam needs to be shaken by the shoulder to be reminded that the first rule of making a thriller is a thrilling plot concept. Adrishyam is as thrilling as molar surgery that doesn’t dig deep enough.