Sasneham (1990)

TRIGGER WARNING FOR ATTEMPT TO SUICIDE.

KPAC Lalitha has been in 4/5 of the Malayalam movies I've seen, and god knows I am not yet close to having had enough of this vastly talented woman. 

Coming to the movie itself, as progressive as the overall story is, there are still some bits that haven't aged well (of course, it's a product of the 90s). I found it very sweet and engaging, a feeling that was heightened by K.S. Chithra's song Maangalyapoovilirikkum. I was personally cringing the most at the Brahmins, which is but natural after a lifetime of listening to this crap. But again, it's annoying how the issues raised in the movie, be it inter-religion marriages, or the concept of paternity leave, are STILL radical ideas, 30 years after this movie came out. Where are we going as a society, I just don't understand.

In my opinion, Shobana was kind of underutilised here- this is not to say that she didn't do a very good job anyway. Balachandra Menon though, shines in his performance as Thomaskutty, a deeply individualistic man at his core, who is nevertheless torn between his internalised understanding of traditions, and his single-track focus on doing things and living life his own way. The way he hovers around his pregnant wife, and takes care of her in his own slightly neurotic way (the scene where he tells her not to sing too hard was both cute and hilarious) is literally what all "woke" content aspires to be these days, but can't match the naturalness of Menon's acting.

However, the climax was truly fucked up. I was not prepared for that graphic suicide attempt, and gah, it lowkey ruined the experience for me. Not cool, Sathyan Anthikad. Not cool.

In conclusion, a decent watch if you're looking for a sweet little family drama from the 90s, which has both funny and progressive elements. Quite the opposite of what was going on in Bollywood in the 90s, actually. Probably why I stan, despite the massive trigger. Also, young Shobana is impossibly BEAUTIFUL, and that's about that. 

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