K. D. (2019)

 K.D. (2019)

Written and Directed by: Madhumita
Starring: Mu Ramaswamy, Naga Vishal
Streaming on Netflix.

This is the most heart-warming film I’ve seen in a long time. An 80 year old man, KD, leaves his home after he finds out that his children are plotting his death to claim inheritance. He meets a 8 year old boy, Kutty, who was abandoned as a kid by his parents and both of them become the best of friends. Kutty helps KD to tick off his bucket list. Kutty is a beautifully written character. From KD’s perspective, he feels so loved by Kutty that he says, even my mother wouldn’t take this good care of me. I wonder who the child is between the both of us. Kutty’s love comes through very casually, he’s not being nice or sweet. That’s just who Kutty is. Since Kutty was abandoned as a kid, he knows the value of a connection.

For a film without any physical conflict, it’s very important for all the scenes to work standalone. If there’s a strong villain, there could be a scene or two that could be middling. But in a film like this, every scene has to work. And the film succeeds in that. Valli’s subplot is beautiful. There’s just so much love and heart in the film. All along I was wondering if they’d kill KD and make Kutty go through it. But no, they make Kutty go through worse. He’s again abandoned. That scene in the bus stop broke my heart. They beautifully bring the 10^th empty point in the bucket list. It works as a nice set up and pay off, and it works emotionally too. And I have to mention, the background score was very soothing and I enjoyed the music so much.