Language: Malayalam
Director: V K Pavithran
Writers: M. T. Vasudevan Nair, Daphne Du Maurier (book story)
Cast: Mammootty, Sukumaran, Parvathi, Suparna Anand, Sankaradi, Sukumari
Genre : Drama | Mystery | Thriller
Utharam (1989) is a masterpiece crime thriller shot in the 80’s directed by V.K Pavithran based on the screenplay by writer M.T Vasudevan Nair which was in turn based on Daphne Du Maurier’s short novel ‘No Motive’.
The movie starts with establishing an enormous house & plantation. It was a usual day for everyone, Achuthan (Sankaradi) who took care of everything in this house was working and heard a bullet sound. He thought it was Mathew (Sukumaran) who went hunting pigs, but he doesn’t seem convinced and he goes to check in the house. Suddenly he finds out Selina Joseph (Suparna Anand) is dead in her room. The movie goes into the next gear, when Balachandran Nair/Balu (Mammootty) comes into the picture and Mathew is narrating to him what supposedly had happened. Celina Joseph is not dead by accident, it was a suicide. She had taken the gun and loaded the cartridge from the drawer. Mathew insists Balu to personally investigate this and find out the real reason behind this.
This journey of Balu gives us an edge-of-the-seat experience at each turn. The film is treated so brilliantly and all the characters in it have a pivotal role in this ensemble, we slowly understand each character, their role and how they are connected to each other. M.T.’s screenplay is so engaging, that this pace itself makes us eagerly want to know what’s going to happen next. It’s very safe to say that this movie had created a benchmark in the Thriller Genre in the Malayalam Film Industry, and definitely deserves your attention.
Verdict: 5/7 stars
Excellent.
Trivia
This movie is written by M.T. Vasudevan Nair based on a short novel ‘No Motive’ by Daphne du Maurier.
