Sookshmadarshini Review -  An Engrossing Thriller with an Unique Approach!

Ashwin Ram

Sookshmadarshini is a comedy thriller starring Nazriya and Basil Joseph in the lead roles. The film is directed by MC.

Premise:

Basil Joseph’s mother suffers from Alzheimer’s and she goes missing. Nazriya who is their next door girl suspects some foul play and decides to dig deep about it. What she unravels in the process forms the crux of the story.

Writing/ Direction:

Except for the final act, the film focuses on world building and it is amazingly done. Many moments contribute to be valuable assets, even certain dialogues are metaphorical. Screenplay is the king when it comes to thrillers and this film hits the right chord, every scene is intriguing as the writing helps in most parts and the tension is so enjoyable. The key factors for the genre movies are the victim, purpose of the crime and the assailant. Usually in most flicks, the victim will be revealed first and the other two will follow soon after. All three are smartly hidden here forming a peculiar storytelling pattern. The reason is unknown, we were made to prepare our minds with regard to the attacker and the sufferer, we get fascinating twists that provide us immense shock value. A sensitive message is conveyed in a subtle manner, yet speaks a lot of senses. Two crucial places are conveniently written, Nazriya finds the motive behind the crime simply by going through an Instagram profile and she cracks the criminal just by receiving a phone call. There are a couple of dry patches and a few forceful fiery moments here and there. The climax action is filmic, though it has been taken well. The filmmaking style is terrific and enriches the mood of the situations perfectly, the director's touch and the thought behind the final shot is a masterstroke.

Performances:

Splendid role for Nazriya, she strikes straight away coming back after a gap. Her presence does complete justice to her role. Basil Joseph hits it out the park as always, his exaggerations work and his minute expressions in certain places are clap worthy. The supporting artists have also done a solid job by giving lives to all the meticulous characters.

Technicalities:

Absolutely no songs, non-stop background music but thankfully good that elevate the fear-factor and provide enough grip to the buildup sequences. Neat camera work, barring the DI issues, there are many points to appreciate the visuals for, especially the big revealing slow motion shots are commendable. Fine piece of editing, well calculated pacing by being clever of where to leave space for a stay and where to run briskly.

Bottomline

A simple story conveyed in a very interesting manner, has many surprising storytelling decisions that are executed without being gimmicky. A couple of important situations are lame, other than which the writing is super steady.

Rating - 3.25/ 5