Watch “Kaathal” ditch “Adhrishya Jalakangal”
One is a must, the other to be ignored.
You’ll love the content in “Kaathal — The Core”, i.e. the acting, dialogues and the Malayalam besides the adept handling of the sensitive topic of homosexuality. For me, it would have been a difficult watch if the film had shown men getting physically intimate but that is where the talent of director, Jeo Baby shines. You still get the feeling of the two men who are gay without any intimate scenes between them. The court scenes are a treat with actors Muthumani and Chinni Chandni as advocates and Kalabhavan Haneef as the judge stealing the show with impeccable acting and dialogues. The roles played by the actors as activists behind the election campaigns and their dialogues also deserve mention.
Jyothika could have been replaced easily by someone else as she is definitely a misfit in this film. I thought Shobana or Asha Sharath could have easily portrayed the pain of a woman living with a gay may more poignantly than her. One can certainly expect more from Anagha Maya who ironically plays a lesbian lover in the popular YouTube short movie, “New Normal” which has over 4.7 million views as of this writing.
While I highly recommend “Kaathal”, avoid the Tovino Thomas film “Adhrishya Jalakangal”.
I call it a Tovino Thomas film because he also produced it. One wonders why someone would make a film as this, dystopian and dysfunctional. The film also leaves you hanging for a conclusion. I saved a ton of time by forwarding scenes that were terribly boring and dragging. Did Tovino make a different movie just to add variety to his repertoire of films?
