'Orma Mathram' (Malayalam)
Director: Madhu Kaithapram
Cast: Dileep, Priyanka and others
'Orma Mathram', the latest film by national award-winning director Madhu Kaithapram, attempts to unfold a touching account of how individuals encountered by loss, misfortune and separation change often in unpredictable ways.
The movie handles some heavyweight themes of interfaith marriage, foetal homicide and the accompanying sense of guilt in a remarkably simple and unobtrusive manner. Though the literary quality of the movie is somewhat pronounced, it succeeds in unravelling the complexity of the Indian middle-class psyche with unassuming vibrancy.
In the film, Ajayan (played by Dileep) and Safiya (Priyanka) decide not to go ahead with the plan of a second child, seemingly after much deliberation. They believe that a second child might divide their love and care between the two children.
Ajayan, a clerk with additional public prosecutor Radhakrishna Warrier (Jagathy Sreekumar), is struggling to earn his living while he wants to give his son the best education and career opportunities. He even ignores a serious vision disorder, which the doctor says was incurable and could slowly damage his eyesight.
The plot takes a dramatic turn when an unexpected event separates Ajayan from his son. The fateful day changes Ajayan and Safiya's lives, and the couple starts believing that they were penalised for their unholy act of foetal homicide. The couple even revisits their faith in religion, which they had once shelved, but all in vain. At the same time, the frantic search for his son opens up a new view about the world for Ajayan. What follows is a chain of events that are not necessarily predictable but not very surprising either.
The Kurtha-clad Dileep sports a serious look in the film, which is kind of interesting in itself, but often fails to do justice to the character he plays.