Mruthyudevathe Movie Review:
One of the first images in Mruthyudevathe is of a village youngster dreaming about Bengaluru. Not the Bengaluru of traffic, rent and survival, but the Bengaluru of parties, women and limitless freedom. Director Naveen Mahadev E, who also plays a major role in the film, uses this fantasy as a launchpad for a story about lust, betrayal and retribution. The problem is that while the film wants to condemn the objectification of women, it spends most of its runtime indulging in it. The film follows Kishore and Anshu, young men whose understanding of women rarely extends beyond conquest. They fantasise, pursue and speak about women as though they are prizes waiting to be won. This could have worked had the film maintained a critical distance from their behaviour. Instead, scene after scene repeats the same attitudes without offering enough perspective to challenge them. The result is a film that often appears fascinated by the very behaviour it claims to criticise.
Director: Naveen Mahadev E
Cast: Naveen Mahadev E, Mahin Kuber, Sarika Rao, Dayana Jessika, Hima Mohan, Madhu Surya, and Vinaya Prasad
Deepa's story forms the emotional spine of the narrative. Her relationship with Kishore begins on familiar romantic lines before gradually revealing itself as something far uglier. The farmhouse episode is where the film finally finds a sense of purpose. The betrayal she experiences, and the painful realisation that the man she trusts values his friends' approval more than her dignity, provide the film with its strongest moments. The track involving Aarti, a delivery executive, and Anshu's girlfriend attempting to uncover the truth adds some momentum to an otherwise uneven screenplay. Yet, even here, Mruthyudevathe struggles to see events from a woman's perspective. The women are frequently reduced to plot devices that exist to trigger guilt, revenge or emotional breakdowns in the men around them. For a film that repeatedly speaks about respecting women, it offers surprisingly little agency to its female characters.
The contradiction becomes even more evident in the performances and staging. Naveen Mahadev E's own screen presence often works against the film's stated intentions. Several scenes involving the male characters are staged with a crudeness that feels less like a critique of misogyny and more like an extension of it. A few moments featuring Mahin Kuber, Madhu Surya and Naveen himself are particularly distasteful, making it difficult to invest in the moral position the film eventually adopts. The first half is stretched thin, with multiple scenes driving home the same point. The second half introduces horror and revenge elements, finally injecting some urgency into the proceedings. The titular Mruthyudevathe emerges as a force of divine justice, punishing men who treat women as disposable. While these portions are more engaging, the impact is diluted because the film has already spent so much time indulging its problematic male gaze.
Among the cast, Sarika Rao, Dayana Jessika and Hima Mohan bring sincerity to their roles despite the limitations of the writing. One only wishes the film had trusted its female characters with more depth and emotional complexity. Veteran actor Vinaya Prasad's presence, meanwhile, feels largely ornamental, with the screenplay giving her very little to do. Mruthyudevathe has a relevant idea at its centre. A story about consent, betrayal and divine justice should have made for a compelling drama. Instead, the film gets trapped in its own contradictions. It wants to speak for women while repeatedly reducing them to objects. It wants to condemn toxic masculinity while often revelling in it. The intention may be noble, but the execution rarely rises above the very behaviour it seeks to criticise.
