From Curry & Cyanide: The Jolly Joseph Case to Ullozhukku, writer-director Christo Tomy has had quite the journey. If anything connects his contentious true crime documentary about a woman accused of killing six people with his acclaimed fictional film Ullozhukku, it is complicated family dynamics.
Tomy exploits the metaphor present in the Malayalam film’s title, meaning undercurrent, to the hilt. Torrential rains in the Kuttanad region prevent a funeral from taking place, alongside surfacing secrets between two generations of women.
Anju (Parvathy Thiruvothu) has married Thomas (Prashant Murali) against her will. She remains in touch with her lover Rajeev (Arjun Radhakrishnan), her guilt over Thomas’s deteriorating health and the unconditional love of Thomas’s mother Leelamma (Urvashi) notwithstanding.
Thomas succumbs to his ailment, shattering Leelamma and furthering Anju’s guilt, especially since Anju is pregnant with Rajeev’s child. A delay in Thomas’s burial because of rising water levels gives Anju and Leelamma the time to make hard decisions.
Ullozhukku is available on Prime Video. Having laid out its central conflict early on, the 123-minute drama burns slowly and yet surely.
While there are other solid performances in the film too, particularly from Arjun Radhakrishnan, Ullozhukku is mainly a two-hander. The rapport between Leelamma and Anju builds gradually over Thomas – the dispensing of medicine, the visits to the doctor, the night-time vigil when he has a bad episode. Once Thomas is gone, the women must find new ways to approach each other again – shown in the simple and yet effective act of holding hands.
There are similarities as well as differences between the devoted mother and the anxious mother-to-be. Each has suffered in their own way. Surrounded by pools of water, Anju and Leelamma must choose between empathy and self-centredness.
The solution appears facile, while the lack of melodrama and basic shot-taking are not always convincing, especially in conveying the extent of Anju’s turmoil. What Tomy’s stripped-down approach does is give us the full measure of the two terrific central performances.
Parvathy Thiruvothu, who almost never errs in judgement, is remarkable as Anju, especially in her anguish after Thomas’s demise. Urvashi is a revelation.
Often cast in comic roles, Urvashi is heart-wrenching as a woman who loses her son and then faces the prospect of losing her grandchild too. Stern, dignified, overbearing at times but wise too, Urvashi transforms the simmering undercurrents in Ullozhukku into an unstoppable force.
