‘Keedam’ movie review: A discourse on the ethical concerns around surveillance and cybersecurity

Assumptions on what the title Keedam (Pest) signifies may be deceptive so far as this film goes. Chances are high that one would assume the title to be pointing at one of many villainous components within the film. However, because it seems, it’s a time period {that a} set of harmful antagonists use to explain the protagonist Radhika Balan (Rajisha Vijayan), a cybersecurity knowledgeable. And, then you definately start to see the time period in a brand new mild and context.

Radhika, who heads a start-up, is an knowledgeable at her job, however ethics reign supreme for her. Her introduction scene itself is supposed to underline this level. A rich consumer has walked in with a requirement to snoop the non-public communications of his spouse to bolster his divorce case. Regardless of the cash on provide, which is large for a fledgling start-up, she refuses to take up the job. But, this resolve crumbles when she is confronted with a bunch of goons, who would go to any lengths to place her and her father Balan (Sreenivasan), a retired lawyer, in hassle.

Director Rahul Riji Nair had made a promising debut a couple of years in the past with Ottamuri Velicham, following it up with some selection fare; a few of which labored, whereas others didn’t. The writing of Keedam has clearly been motivated by considerations round surveillance and cybersecurity. As one of many characters within the film says, it is a time when even governments are accused of snooping.

However it appears the filmmaker leans in direction of the concept hacking and surveillance needn’t at all times be moral, if the aim is virtuous and those who’re being snooped upon are prison components. The query of what if the identical powers of surveillance are possessed by the prison components or these in energy with evil intentions don’t get explored right here, as a result of it’s at all times the nice people and well-intentioned cops who’ve snooping powers within the film.

In actuality, that’s not essentially the case; the limitless energy that those with surveillance instruments have over these being snooped upon are clearly showcased.

Setting apart the moral half, the film may be considered positively as one lady’s valiant fightback, utilizing her personal instruments, in opposition to a gaggle of thugs who intrude into her private house. However, after the excessive attained on the midway level, when she begins the combat again, the script doesn’t take it any additional, selecting to journey alongside the same old predictable path. It solely retains that reference to cybersecurity and surveillance until the final level.

In the long run, the viewers is left with the query as as to if the title Keedam has a destructive or constructive connotation. The reply will depend on the place you stand on the query of limitless surveillance; the context isn’t at all times not so black-and-white, as it’s within the film.

Keedam is at the moment operating in theatres