Neru Movie Review: Mohanlal delivers compelling courtroom drama with few misses – India Today

Earlier than the discharge of ‘Neru’, the movie’s director Jeethu Joseph stated that he had the thought of a courtroom drama for over 10 years. After toying with the thought for a decade, the ‘Drishyam’ director lastly discovered the arrogance to convey ‘Neru’ to life with Mohanlal. This time, the 2 tackled the delicate matter of rape and the judicial process that follows.

Sara (Anaswara Rajan), a visually-impaired girl, is raped by Michael, the son of a businessman (no surprises there!) in broad daylight at her house, which is her protected area. As a substitute of taking the melodramatic route, Sara and her dad and mom select the authorized path. Each Sara and her step-father are good sculptors, and it’s their ability that helps the police nab Michael simply as he’s about to flee.

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Nevertheless, Sara and her dad and mom face a setback to find a prosecutor until they meet Vijayamohan (Mohanlal), who hasn’t stepped inside a courtroom since being suspended years in the past. Nevertheless, he’s not out of contact. It takes so much to persuade Vijayamohan to take up the case. Nevertheless, as soon as he agrees, he diligently challenges a senior Supreme Court docket lawyer, Rajasekar (Siddique), with whom he shares a historical past. How Vijayamohan tries to show Michael responsible and brings justice to Sara varieties the story.

Here is the trailer:

Director Jeethu Joseph’s ‘Neru’ doesn’t waste time in establishing the character. It dives into the story proper from the get-go with out a lot melodrama. We all know that Michael raped Sara, and she or he is scarred. However, her innate energy helps her battle it out legally. The vast majority of the movie occurs inside a courtroom, and we get a glimpse of how instances of rape and sexual harassment are handled in courts. There’s sufferer shaming, character assassination and the battle of recalling the traumatic incident that the sufferer needs she had forgotten.

And, when the accused belongs to a rich household, cash and energy come into play, influencing proof tampering and turning witnesses hostile. Jeethu exhibits sensitivity in portraying the case. With dialogues on consent and character assassination, he retains the proceedings attention-grabbing. There’s additionally Mohanlal and Siddique making an attempt to one-up one another with proof and counterarguments.

Nevertheless, ‘Neru’ just isn’t with out its shortcomings. The staging of the courtroom scenes appears inorganic, and the screenplay tends to be fairly predictable. Moreover, some parts involving Priyamani (daughter of Rajasekhar) and a witness come off as infantile. Throughout the witness interrogation, Priyamani, appearing as a lawyer, makes use of gestures to immediate the witness on methods to reply publicly, and will get away with it. Whereas the filmmaker took a inventive liberty, the execution might have been much less overt.

‘Neru’ can be particular as a result of it’s a narrative about Sara and never Vijayamohan. On this movie, Mohanlal performs an ally to sufferer Sara and his efficiency is well the spotlight of the movie. His restrained efficiency makes the portrayal of Vijayamohan nuanced, and you may’t assist however purchase his act even when he’s uttering advanced IPC sections and jargon. Furthermore, his championing of ladies in courtroom drama delivers a much-needed message in as we speak’s society.

As Sara, Anaswara Rajan reveals energy, resilience, trauma and ability with the utmost perfection. You are feeling for her, however you additionally know that she’d overcome the trauma as a result of she’s a survivor. Siddique and Priyamani, too, did their components nicely. Santhi Mayadevi, who additionally doubled up as a author with Jeethu Joseph, labored as a motivator and likewise as a intelligent assistant to Mohanlal.

‘Neru’ is a riveting courtroom drama that holds your consideration all through. And to have Mohanlal belting out dialogues on consent, ladies’s rights and victim-shaming makes this movie a worthy addition to the lengthy listing of ladies empowerment movies.

3 out of 5 stars for ‘Neru’.