Kireedam

Sibi Malayil's 1989 Malayalam film is among the most cited tragedies in Malayalam cinema. Sethu is a young man waiting to join the police and fulfil his father's dream. One night he intervenes in a fight between his father and a criminal; what he does in that moment makes him a hero in the town and at the same time puts him on a road with no way back. From then on Sethu is held inside violence he does not want, and the possibility of becoming a policeman recedes at every step. A. K. Lohithadas's screenplay is about how a person is determined not by fate but by their surroundings. Mohanlal's performance is counted among the most discussed of his career, and his relationship with the father played by Thilakan is the emotional centre. The closing scene became close to a cultural reference point in Kerala. Who it's for: viewers who like the classics of Malayalam cinema and tragedy. Who it's not for: anyone waiting for the hero to escape; the film offers no way out.