MOVIE REVIEWS

22 Female Kottayam Review

Aashiq Abu is back with another of his experimental movie 22 FEMALE KOTTAYAM starring Rima Kallingal and Fahad Fazil. After the path breaking SALT N PEPPER, which had an unusual theme for a not so unusual story, Aashiq has picked up another contemporary subject and made it in to a refreshingly different story.

Violence on women is in the news as much for the humane aspect as for the sensationalism it causes. Aashiq Abu looks at it from a different angle and brings out the stark facts in a subtle yet humorous manner making for compelling viewing. The story, written by Abhilash Kumar and Shyam Pushkaran is all about Tesse Abraham and Cyril Mathew, (Rima Kallingal and Fahad Fazil), their love, their travails and their relationship.

The story also deals with eve teasing, photographing of unsuspecting females followed by blackmail and other kinds of silent violence on women. The boldness shown by the director in speaking out against such outrageous acts and the reactions of the women concerned will hopefully bring about a change among the youth in Kerala. The very good technical support and some extremely good and matured acting along with the effort of the director makes the movie stand out from the run-of-the-mill stuff served on the unsuspecting public. This is a movie which takes a socially significant theme, dissects it threadbare and comes out with solutions. The movie makes you ponder at the unfairness of it all.

If you are expecting the usual slap-stick comedy and ferocious fist fights combined with hip shaking dance scenes, this is definitely not the movie for you.

Tessa K Abraham(Rima Kallingal) is a qualified nurse from Kottayam working in C M S Hospital, Bangalore. As is the wont of present day nurses, Tessa too has dreams of going to Canada and for this purpose, she approaches a Visa agency. There she meets Cyril Mathew (Fahad Fazil)and very soon their acquaintance blossoms into love. But things don’t turn out the way she wanted and she has to face some stark and brutal realities which are prevalent in today’s society. She turns into an avenging angel and the way she sets about to achieve her ends is what the movie is all about.

Rima Kallingal is scintillating in the title role and packs enough punch to make her role very convincing. This must surely be her best performance so far. Fahad Fazal, as Rima’s pair, gives a subdued yet effective performance. Resmi Sathish (Subaida) be noticed for her acting. And the veterans Prathap Pothan, TG Ravi and Sathar do their roles effortlessly.

Cinematography by Shyju Khalid is blemishless. Rex Vijayan’s music is pleasing and the sound effects are very impressive, merging with the sordid theme of the story. Vivek Harshan has done a decent editing job further enhancing the quality.

Verdict: Excellent.