Makalkku (2005)

Makalkku had a lot of potential- and to be fair, it lived up to quite a lot of it. Where it failed though, was in achieving some kind of coherence. I would have loved to see a deeper storyline connecting the sub-plots together- I kept waiting for the point it was trying to make, but to no avail. Another issue for me was the Shobana character. Since we enter the movie through "Killeri" and the deeply traumatising experience she's just had, I felt a little cheated at having absolutely no answers for her situation. Forget answers, no one even questions her situation after a point. Shobana puts up an excellent performance that could have haunted the viewer for years, but sadly, she is not given enough room to really engage with the audience, and one suspects, even with her character. 

However, this is not to say that the film is absolutely lacking in merits. I felt emotionally connected to the inhabitants of the mental asylum, and my heart ached for them, thinking of the cruelty that they had been dealt with their entire lives. The movie is also a very strong commentary on the absolutely deplorable condition of mental health infrastructure in the country, and how "insanity" has become a convenient cover for doing all kinds of illegal and shady activities. Suresh Gopi's character is well-written and reflects the anguish of the audience as he deals with apathetic colleagues and bureaucrats. I appreciated the stand Makalkku took vis-a-vis human rights, but again, I'm sorry to say that the message or stance just wasn't strong enough. 

I really wanted to love this movie for its performances and the way it deals with mental health, but the confused storytelling lost me somewhere. I still feel a little confused about how I feel about it, to be honest. Also, why would you give Shobana this role, have her perform so wonderfully, and then not have her in the majority of the movie?? Make it make sense, please.