The movie is inspired by the true events of 2018 Kerala floods. It first captures the joy that rains bring. The schools kids using their new colorful umbrellas being one of them. Slowly, it transitions to showcase what a dread rain can be and it was in 2018. It also addresses draught in a neighbouring state and how they just wait endlessly for rains and fresh water.
The movie is all about 2018 Kerala floods, the massive havoc it created and how people came together to face the natural disaster. The first half mostly focuses on introducing an endless array of characters and their inter-personal relationships. And post-interval brings the flood and the dread it caused. There are several emotinal moments in the movie, of triumphs, humanity, selflessness, hope, death, uncertainty and so many more. But there was no time given to the audience to experience it and let it sink. The editing by Chaman Chako felt hasty, jumping from one instance to another unrelated instance. Or maybe it was a thoughtful choice to keep it that way. When we are confronted by a natural disaster, so many things would happen around us that there would be no time to sit back and ponder. This is exactly what happens when a key character dies and his children are forced to continue on their rescue mission because there is simply no time for anything else.
The character arc of Anoop (Tovino Thomas), Nixon (Asif Ali) and Sethupathy (Kalaiyarasan) would stay with you for the longest time. Anoop is an ex-army officer. In fact, he ran away from the job for selfish reasons (to live!) by providing false medical certificate. When the floods hit, his character transforms. Similarly, Nixon is an aspiring model from a fishermen family. His transition is also interesting. When Sethupathy witnesses humanity and the greatness of it from simple acts, he changed too. All these three characters bring goosebumps.
There is symbolism throughout the movie. When fishermen raise their hands to go on rescue mission in their fishing boats, we see Jesus's statue with raised hands. In that given moment, everyone was God because they raised above their situation. Similarly, we get to see Tovino Thomas's character temporarily pause to reach out his friend's whereabouts near Jesus's statue and there would be a lizard on the statue's back. Interestingly this lizard plays an incredible role later.
Nobin Paul's music just gels with the narrative. The VFX of the movie is top notch.
Overall, an emotional movie depicting the times of Kerala Floods in 2018 which would be best experienced in theatres.
Highly recommend!
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