‘Chithha’ movie review: Siddharth stars in a painfully-relevant and poignantly-brilliant drama

A nonetheless from ‘Chithha’
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

(This assessment would possibly include some spoilers)

In one among Chithha’s earliest scenes, Easwaran (Siddharth), realizing that his niece Sundari (a unbelievable Sahasra Shree) is hiding from him behind a tree, makes use of a cell recreation to lure her out for him to playfully catch her. Later in the movie, a pedophile, who kidnaps and abuses schoolchildren, makes use of the identical method to win the belief of a child earlier than abducting her. The human contact is one among our most simple and primal wants, however sadly, not everybody’s contact has the identical intent; SU Arun Kumar makes use of a slew of comparable incidents to level out how analogous actions can imply one thing worlds aside when the target differs. With such brilliantly-written and staged scenes together with a robust core, Chithha marks a befitting resurgence for each its director and lead actor.

Arun Kumar, proper from his Pannaiyarum Padminiyum brief movie that he developed into a full function for his debut, his sophomore flick Sethupathi, and his underwhelming third movie Sindhubaadh, has confirmed time and once more that writing relationships is his strongest go well with. This prowess is on full show with Chithha, his first non-Vijay Sethupathi starrer. Here, he explores extra than simply the bond between a niece and her uncle (chithappa). Of course, there’s the quintessential romance monitor, albeit with a twist, that includes Sakthi (Nimisha Sajayan, in what looks like an extension of the robust roles she’s recognized to painting in her Malayalam movies). But the movie subverts the traditional ‘establishing a new love track’ trope which not solely saves runtime, but in addition results in a handy but unsettling reveal. What works extra is the friendship between Easwaran and his cop buddy Vadivelu, and the cordial relationship Easwaran shares with Sundari’s mom, his lifeless brother’s spouse (Anjali Nair).

A nonetheless from ‘Chithha’
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement

And in the case of the connection on the centre of the plot, they kind among the most lovely and poignant sequences of the movie. A easy scene showcasing Sundari sleeping subsequent to her uncle usually is used as a callback when Easwaran has to establish a charred lifeless physique. He explains how he slept subsequent to it and seen a top distinction, which proves that it’s not his Sundari. Speaking of characters, Arun Kumar has painstakingly written even the tertiary ones with utmost care. For instance, most of them who exit of their method to assist Easwaran are dad and mom who can’t think about themselves in his sneakers. The movie can also be pleasantly crammed with robust ladies characters; those that’d take cost even when the lads are down and weeping over their circumstances.

A examine tells us that 90 per cent of kid victims know their offender, with virtually half of the offenders being a member of the family; Chithha, like final yr’s Gargi, reiterates that the horrors lurking round our youngsters are nearer than we consider. What makes the depiction of abuse extra hard-hitting are the sequences that occur behind closed doorways, letting our horrid impulses fill in the blanks. No surprise it makes your pores and skin crawl when the predator’s provision record consists of child meals, lollypop and petroleum jelly. The movie additionally tries to realistically seize the legal proceedings of a POCSO case with a highlight on how cops clear up (or attempt to clear up) them.

Chithha, as a script, provides two main conflicts. One is when Easwaran is accused of sexually abusing his niece’s classmate Ponni, the place some glorious POV cinematography and slick enhancing make us virtually consider that our protagonist has dedicated one thing heinous. The transition in the supporting characters when there’s an iota of doubt in the direction of Easwaran — and how he reacts to them — showcase the actor in Siddharth, which we dearly missed in his previous few movies. Another battle comes in when a serial intercourse offender kidnaps Sundari. Arun Kumar, who proved his mettle in drama together with his debut movie and tried his hand at thrillers in his subsequent two movies, blends each these genres into Chithha and pulls it off virtually convincingly; if solely the development had been extra natural.

When Sakthi opens as much as Easwaran about her sexual abuse by the hands of a relative, Easwaran retorts with the place he can discover that perpetrator as a substitute of asking how she overcame the ordeal solely to be schooled on how a violent response of his would possibly flip her ordeal into her id. The splendid performances from everybody in the forged apart, it’s messages like these that make us forgive the niggles and have fun Chithha as one among this yr’s most necessary movies. Talk about good touches!

Chithha is presently operating in theatres