‘Unmadham’ movie review: Shahi Kabir’s promising meta-narrative loses steam while juggling genres

One can sense self-indulgence in the air when a police officer-turned-successful screenwriter writes a film about a policeman struggling to enter the film industry as a scriptwriter, incorporating the uncommon tales that he encountered in service. Shahi Kabir, one of the early players in this peculiar phenomenon of police officers-turned-screenwriters that has swept Malayalam cinema, does not serve a straight-up procedural this time around in Unmadham.

Parts of the story unfold in Shelly’s (Kunchacko Boban) mind. His long leaves from work and erratic behaviour have made life frustrating for his wife Soumya (Lijomol Jose). Constantly on the lookout for interesting story threads, he lands one when he comes across an old case file with a superstition attached. 

Editor-turned-filmmaker Kiran Das teams up with Kabir in a film that’s a shapeshifter in the genre. The mixing of crime with psychological and supernatural elements works wonders in certain portions. But it also comes across as convenient for the writer in some difficult phases. The central character being a scriptwriter gives the film the extra license to serve up elements of fantasy amid the actual police procedural, which comes across as a cop out at some points.

One of the weakest links of the film is the old case of a woman’s death on which everything hinges. The background reveal, which can be partly fictional depending on how you look at it, is far from shocking. While some policemen in the film are superstitious, the non-superstitious one tracks down evidence based on mere brainwaves. To make it look plausible, the part gets conveniently portrayed as fiction. Kabir, who is usually on a sure footing, struggles to maintain balance between different genres in Unmadham.

ALSO READ: Lijomol Jose interview: ‘Jai Bhim’ gave me the confidence to be an actor 

Kunchacko Boban’s convincing portrayal of the battles within his mind helps us stay invested in the film, even when the writer seems to be losing grip. Lijomol Jose pulls off her role effectively despite the character being unidimensional. She plays a constantly nagging wife who cools down only when her husband is in imminent danger.

With ‘meta’ written all over the film, Unmadham is not just about thestruggles of a police officer who aspires to be in the film industry. It can also be seen as a commentary on the glut of police procedurals based on real-life cases, with the only idea left to be turned into a film being a case file that has superstitious fears attached to it. Unmadham goes into the deep recesses of a creative police officer’s mind, but manages to come up with only a few interesting crumbs.