Vikruthi

Emcy Joseph's 2019 Malayalam film begins with a photograph taken of a man asleep on the metro. A young man takes him for a drunk and posts the image online, and it spreads quickly. The man in the photograph is deaf and unable to speak, and was returning that day from his daughter's hospital bedside. The film starts from a real incident; the narrative does not make a monster of the person who posted it and shows how fast the consequences grow. Suraj Venjaramoodu and Soubin Shahir lead. The tone is measured and the narrative follows both sides; sign language scenes take wide space. The close is not built on an apology. Who it's for: those who like Malayalam social drama. Who it's not for: viewers for whom scenes of online pile-on would sit heavily; the film shows them in detail.