Madhuram

Ahammed Khabeer's 2021 Malayalam film follows two men who meet in a hospital corridor. Sabu is waiting for his wife to recover and Kevin for his mother's operation; as the wait lengthens a friendship forms. The film shows the hospital as a place of waiting. The relatives sleep in the corridor, queue for food and learn each other's stories; the narrative takes as its subject not the illness but those waiting outside. Joju George leads. The passages in which Sabu describes his marriage lead Kevin to look at his own; the narrative gives no lesson and joins the two lines at the end. The tone is warm and the pace low. Who it's for: those who like quiet Malayalam drama. Who it's not for: viewers waiting for an event; the film is built almost entirely on waiting.