Ishq

Anuraj Manohar's 2019 Malayalam film begins with a couple harassed on a night drive and goes somewhere else entirely. Sachi and his girlfriend Vasudha go out to celebrate her birthday; two men stop them and harass them. The first half is the tension of that event, the second Sachi's pursuit of revenge and where that pursuit takes him. The film's real subject is not the harassers but Sachi's own possessive reflex: he sees the event not as something done to Vasudha but as an insult to himself. The confrontation in the final scene is one of the plainest criticisms of masculinity made in mainstream Malayalam cinema. Shane Nigam's performance first pulls the audience to his side and then sets them against him. Who it's for: viewers interested in the new generation of Malayalam cinema and thrillers carrying a critique of masculinity. Who it's not for: anyone avoiding scenes of sexual harassment, or who will find the shift in tone between the halves uneven.