Utharam

It may look ordinary movie to anyone. But it stand out as one of the most unique feature malayalam movies at all time. Because it has the realistic approach and fine finishing. A wonderful movie to watch with family.

Balu (mammootty) a well known journalist who has no family of his own, recollects best memories of his best friend (sukumaran) and his wife (who balu considered as his own sister and friend),a well known poet (suparna). His best friend and wife are the only family he had. But Balu's life was shattered to pieces by his sister's death. It was more heart breaking news for Balu as he finds out that his sister committed suicide.

But Balu's best friend insists an answer (utharam) for his wife's death, thereby leading balu to set his journey to find out the root cause of his sister's death.

On his journey of deep search he meets his sister's friend (parwathy) who was her childhood friend. On further step, balu finds out the most shocking and haunting secret he ever faced that led his sister to death.

The movie will disturb you after you watch. Perfect screen play. Scenes are realistic especially in the beginning of the movie. The genre is investigative but runs on different track with respect to the contemporary Malayalam cinema of that time.

Sukumaran is just fantastic to watch and so real. Same with Sankarady. The movie begins with Suprana's death and subsequent scenes in which different characters remembers what all things happened around the same time when they heard the gun shot. The scenes of Sankaradi are very well taken.

The casting is unconventional and justified. One may surprise Suparna and Sukumaran as husband and wife but it is very well justified.

The movie depends mainly on the screenplay and the casting.

Utharam Has to be one of the best in its genre. Sadly it s not talked about much. If you really want to watch a good investigation/mystery cinema in malayalam,this has to be It. Worth The Watch.

Utharam is a 1989 crime thriller film directed by Pavithran and scripted by MT Vasudevan Nair and starring Mammootty, Sukumaran, Suparna, Parvathi and Sukumari. Journalist Balachandran (Mammootty)'s friend and mentor Mathew Joseph (Sukumaran)'s wife and poet Selena (Suparna)'s suicide suspect is being investigated. On his journey to find Balu's investigation / answer, he meets Shyamala Menon (Parvathi), Selena's childhood friend and teacher. Continuing the investigation from the information received from Shyamala, Balu arrives at that shocking answer. This film is one of the rare films that makes the audience want to watch it in one sitting.

While certain aspects of the film might feel dated, Utharam - scripted by M.T Vasudevan Nair and directed by Pavithran, is a solid mystery drama that still sends shivers down my spine, especially with its climax twist. Stellar performances from the likes of Mammootty, Sukumaran, Sankaradi, and Parvathy are certainly amongst the film's positives.

Based on the short story No Motive by Daphne du Maurier, the film will be remembered for how well M.T Vasudevan Nair tweaks it almost flawlessly for Malayali audiences. It's an elaborately structured screenplay with every character having a significant role to play in unraveling layers of the dead woman's past. The background score by Johnson adds to the film's overall intrigue. The supposed "answer" (as the title suggests) leaves room for a few minor fallacies, but it's a well-grounded film overall.