Malayalam cinema made a grand opening in the Competition section of the International Film Festival of Kerala on Sunday with ‘Shutter’, written and directed by Joy Mathew. Joy, who was away from the film field for more than quarter century after portraying the protagonist of the much acclaimed ‘Amma Ariyan’ by legendary director John Abraham, makes his debut as a director with this movie.
Though the film deals with the dilemma and struggle one has to undergo for saving the honour set up by middle class moral standards, it becomes more of an emotional thriller deviating from trail of a movie from the conventional art house.
It revolves around the mess courted by three men, including an NRK Rasheed (Lal) and an auto driver Suran (Vinay Forrt) after their meeting with a strange woman (Sajitha Madathil) in a bizarre circumstance. A film director Manoharan (Sreenivasan) too enters the scene. The plot takes a dig at the pseudo morality of the Kerala society and the possible troubles faced by its middle-aged men.
Contrary to the conventional lessons, the film takes a fresh leaf out of the kids of the new block and the style of their relationships. Rather, it defines the friendship from their point of view.
The film throws light on the night life of Kerala and the attitude of an average Malayali on the NRKs. A host of characters, including the police inspector and a wannabe actor Subhash Chandran (Prem Kumar) and a drunkard in the police station (Albert Alex) evoke laughter by their black humour.
Hari Nair’s cinematography suits the mood and it, along with the background score by Jacob Panikker and Bibi Sam and effective sound by Ranganath Ravee, has contributed much to the film.
However, the film would have been more crispy if the editing by Bijith Bala had been tighter. The 133-minute film blends the regional flavour of Kozhikode in a convincing manner and can be referred as a tribute to the city.