MALINI 22 PALAYAMKOTTAI MOVIE REVIEW

The release of the Malayalam original 22 Female Kottayam came at a time when the country’s rape crimes hit a shameful high and the nation’s global reputation sank to a record low. It is rather unfortunate that the issue continues to remain topical for the official Tamil remake, Malini 22 Palayamkottai, to stand relevant today. But for the sake of the industry, the welcome sight of a woman-centric film and the entry of another sensible female filmmaker are certainly grand takeaways.

Malini 22 Palayamkottai is essentially a revenge drama that is undaunted in its approach for resolving personal conflicts. Nithya Menen as Malini puts up a brave show in a role with a definitive character arc but she finds support only from a few such as Naresh and the veteran Kota Srinivasa Rao.

The biggest impact however comes in the form of director Sri Priya who takes the original story of personal vengeance and magnifies it for a social cause by making decisive changes to the script. She is uncompromising as she comes down hard on sexual offenders, particularly in the climax, with dialogues that seem to have been birthed from her own opinion on these matters.

The first half should have been made better, be it the the nondescript scene transition or the pedestrian comedy doesn’t help the movie. Also, the key element of the first half, romance, is short of the charm it needs for Malini and Varun, played by Krish, to be a couple worth spending our feelings for.

Editor Bavan Sreekumar raises his game in the second half revving up the proceedings for this 2 hour 10 minutes drama. A couple of pleasant romantic ballads appear in the first half but composers Anand-Shankar assume an aggressive tone with the background score. The spaghetti western styled score they give Malini as she's released is quite cool. Cinematographer Manoj Pillai shows promise.

In the end the meandering first half is all but forgotten as Sri Priya nails home the hard-hitting climax where the nominated Nithya Menen speaks on behalf of the afflicted. Does Nithya in these scenes have the same voice modulation as Sri Priya’s renowned character in Aval Appadithan ? Nicely done !