‘Kaanekkaane’ movie review: Manu Ashokan returns with tightrope thriller-drama, that finishes tamely

Someplace alongside the method of scripting Kaanekkaane, Bobby-Sanjay may need thought concerning the form of steadiness that they would want to maintain between its thriller and family-drama parts. All by means of the extreme first half of the movie, the pull in direction of each these sides is obvious, in what turns into fairly a tightrope stroll. This tussle within the construction is sort of as partaking because the one inside the story… till it lasts.

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On the centre of the story is Paul (Suraj Venjaramoodu), a Authorities worker, who’s but to get better from the dying of his daughter Sherin (Shruti Ramachandran) in a highway accident one 12 months earlier than. He’s nonetheless pursuing the hit-and-run case in courtroom. On a go to to the home of his son-in-law Alan’s (Tovino Thomas) home, who’s now married to Sneha (Aiswarya Lekshmi), he feels that everybody else has moved on. However niggling doubts concerning the daughter’s dying makes him pursue the case additional.

After his profitable directorial debut Uyare, additionally written by Bobby-Sanjay, Manu Ashokan returns with a movie which is considerably totally different in its content material and pacing. We delve deep into the minds of the central characters, getting a way of the overwhelming feelings that drive lots of their actions. For a movie through which a single occasion from the previous has a bearing on virtually all that’s occurring within the current, flashbacks seem seamlessly within the narrative, generally with the viewer taking a while to grasp the very fact. One or the opposite character slips right into a reminiscence from the previous, and sees it in a brand new gentle from what they’ve discovered within the current, as within the case of a New Yr’s Eve celebration from earlier.

Whereas on one facet, we’ve got Paul in dogged pursuit of 1 clue after one other, on the opposite, there may be Sneha, who’s scuffling with the indifference of her husband. The movie, with its measured, comfy tempo, stays regular and fascinating in these preliminary elements. The pure pull in direction of a contented ending begins simply after the midway level, when the thriller behind the circumstances that led to Sherin’s dying is revealed. Though one will get a way of the reveal having come just a little too early, it additionally brings to us the expectations of what the writers will do with these characters within the remaining time. These expectations are belied when the movie strikes in direction of a slightly tame climax, that additionally appears to be too forgiving of a heartless act.

There may be additionally multiple case of characters behaving out of character, seemingly for the comfort of the narrative. The ever-dependable Suraj carries a lot of the movie, however even his shift comes throughout as unconvincing within the climax. Kaanekkaane works when it patiently unravels its many layers, however spoils it with a handy stitching-up.

Kaanekkaane is at present streaming on SonyLIV