Kathal is a film that continues to show good response from the first day. Mammootty has played a character that the leading actors hesitate to do, and it is impossible not to watch it without filling your eyes.
Many people come praising the film and Mammootty. Now the director Shruti Saranyam’s words after watching the film are getting attention.
Shruti says that Mammootty’s great talent should be bowed down to the courage he showed in choosing such a character and handling it without any pretensions.
Shruti’s post as-
There are no long conversations between Mathew and Omana, and why, not even a smile. Beyond the emptiness that came between them over time, and the interactions that seemed completely innocent, it must be thought that some other deep universe kept them together.
Around us there are so many turbulent rivers pretending to be free-flowing besides Mathew and Omana. Those who forget each other and stand in strange places. How many ‘Mathews’ do we know who internalize each other’s places as mere parallel worlds, fearing the common sense that sees the concept of family only as a badge of honor and, beyond that, as a dichotomy?
Moreover, how many lovers are there among us who have no right to corrections, are denied all the pleasures and are stuck in a silent marriage? ‘Will you sleep with me tonight, Matthew?’, Amana’s final question echoes the darkness of their twenty years.
Jio Baby has once again proved that his craft is unique. It is doubtful whether there are precedents in Malayalam that have handled identity politics with such a hand and with such simplicity that it reaches the average Malayalee viewer (Not forgetting Liji Pullappally’s ‘Sanchaaram’ and Jayan Cheriyan’s ‘Ka Bodyscapes’).
Another thing worth mentioning is the script by Adarsh Sukumaran and Paulson Skaria. There is a kind of mainstream-visual sensibility that the contemporary Malayali is slowly forgetting.. A film with a core like Kathal is relevant in an age where Malayalees cannot afford to go to the theater and enjoy a movie without full-length stunt sequences and long comedy scenes.
Salu’s frames excel in every look. A tribute to Mammootty for the courage he showed in choosing such a character and handling it without any pretensions. Kaathal stops your breath with its ravishingly intense characters and their well-arced emotional thump.
– Shruti Saranyam
