Iratta (2023)

Iratta (2023)

Written and Directed by: Rohit M.G. Krishnan
Starring: Joju George
Streaming on Netflix.

I was really excited about the film right after watching the trailer - because the canvas of the film is such that there's a lot of scope. The film is a murder mystery and in the process of investigating suspects - we also do a character study. I like the intense backstory - it makes us wonder if people are bad by choice, or because of circumstances they've been in. Although the investigation felt like it was middling a lot. Except for the ending and a few moments - the film didn't keep me as hooked. Although one thing I liked about the film is the way drama is explored. Usually in murder mysteries - the drama is taken a bit easily, but here they show Anjali traumatized properly. I liked Joju George's performance, but to me the film could've been more engaging with the canvas it has - at least it didn't reach my expectation. 

(Spoilers alert from here) Now the film feels like it was made just for the twist in the ending. I wish they did some more setting up for the twist to have landed better. Maybe Vinod meeting Pramod's wife and him having a decent relationship with Pramod's wife and daughter (when she was a kid). One good thing though is, I was wondering - why the idea of twins? Because the whole film would've worked with them being brothers too. But with the ending twist, it hit real hard. Now, he doesn't have a shot at even meeting his daughter because she'd have been traumatized (spoiler alert ends here). It reminded me of Iraivi a little - for how women face the consequences for men's actions. Overall, the film came across as a little confused to me - it feels like a mix of a murder mystery playing with the possibility of a Rashomon effect, it feels like there's a lot of social commentary on men and their nature, it talks about trauma too (which I enjoyed), the animosity between the brothers (which is a red herring). The film still sounds interesting on paper to me, but I can't quite figure out why it didn't have the desired effect on me.