Vishudha Mejo Malayalam Movie
Visudha Mejo is the story of a man who is so introverted that he could not muster up the courage to speak to the girl he likes. A young Mejo falls for a young Jeena when the latter helps him out in church school class. Years later, a grown-up Mejo sees an adult Jeena in the church cemetery, but he is so shy that all he could do is make a quick, nervous movement around her. She sees him move away, walks up to him, and talks to him. This is such a lovely scene but is not the usual meet-cute we see in rom-com films.
Jeena acts as more of a guardian angel of Mejo. She holds him by hand and takes him to places he would not visit otherwise. There is a scene on a lighthouse where Mejo starts sharing his tragic backstory with Jeena, and Jeena says he could share such things with her at any time. Their relationship may be platonic but is borderline romantic.
A lot of the things Mejo does to impress Jeena are cute. He goes to her house virtually every day with some excuses to see Jeena. She treats him like a baby but does not know that he loves her. The central point in the film is about what happens when Mejo proposes marriage to Jeena. In a clever piece of narrative, Kiran Antony shows us the proposal scene a lot earlier in the movie and works his way back to the explanation behind the proposal.
The movie raises some interesting plot points for us to think about. Can an introvert and an extrovert be together as a romantic couple? It also makes us wonder why a woman in a movie spends so much time with a man who hardly speaks. In real life, you rarely see a woman who holds a man by his hand and treats him like a small child. You can often find a girl who does that to a boy, but not a woman to a man unless that man is a dimwit.
I wish the father-son scenes had a lot more depth here. The father-son relationship is integral to the plot of the film, but writer Dinoy Poulose and director Kiran Antony fail to explore this deeply enough. Without a deep exploration of the relationship, the film becomes simplistic.
The ending of Visudha Mejo is also a tad simplistic, but the film is engaging throughout thanks to the performances. The 2-hour film does not take its sweet time to reach its point and benefits from some good central performances. Dinoy Paulose is an apt choice for an introvert. While you wish that Dinoy had some more acting chops for his character arc to be more solid, his mannerisms suit the character quite well. It is easy to see why Jeena would like Mejo. He is upstanding and has a heart of gold.
Mathew Thomas is a hoot as Mejo's freaky friend and offers some much-needed comic relief whenever we feel that the movie is becoming a tad too serious. But the star of the show is Lijomol Jose, who is just terrific as Mejo's love interest. Besides being lovely, Lijomol is intense enough wherever the movie requires some intensity. It is easy to see why Mejo would fall for Jeena. She is graceful and caring and has a pure heart.
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