Marupadi Malayalam Movie
With the rising of atrocities against women in the society, recent movies dealing with such topics are dime a dozen. No film has presented this subject delicately and convincingly as Hindi film "Pink" in recent times. In "Marupadi", this plot appears to be melodramatic owing to the frivolous script written by Julaina Ashraf.
Director V.M. Vinu, who returns after a hiatus, tries to drive home the instances of abuses against women rather than fine tuning the plot. The insignificant scene in a supermarket where Riya is caressed by an old man and the director's haste to wind up the proceedings to present a trite speech about women's plight in the climax throw glimpses on the inconsistency in the screenplay.
Garnished with excessive sentimental elements, "Marupadi" is a tailor-made emotional drama apt for catering to the sensibilities of soap opera lovers. Vinu has made no attempt to bring in innovation in the filmmaking and the whole action reminds you of some of the tearjerkers in the 90s. The customary inclusion of songs and narration proves that as a filmmaker Vinu has not moved ahead from his last outing's ("Face to Face") debacle.
Sara Elizabeth (Bhama) with her husband Abraham (Rahman) and daughter Riya (Baby Nayanthara) leads a happy life until Abraham gets a punishment transfer to Kolkata due to his official negligence in bank. The family reaches Kolkata. On their way to their new residence, anti-narcotic squad inspects their car and finds drugs in a bag. So they are sent to Kolkata jail. The rest of the action is in jail where Sara and Riya face attempts of sexual assaults from inmates and senior police officers.
Though the second half promises overtures of a decent story, the film abruptly meanders and ends in a tedious climax. Adding to the burden is the crude speech by Bhama's character about women's rights. Bhama as Sara is mediocre in performance especially in the climax. Baby Nayanthara does her part well while Rahman seems to be not flexible in his role.
Venugopal's camera captures good visuals according to the mood of the film, while Gopi Sunder's BGM is passable. As the tagline says "Marupadi" is based on a true story. Unfortunately, the makers have made it a make-belief tale.
The bottomline is that "Marupadi" is plugged with overdose of emotion and fizzles out providing disappointment.