Neru

Neru, an emotional court room drama is an absolute masterpiece directed and written by Jeethu Joseph elevated with Mohanlals And Siddiques amazing acting. The story follows the path of Sara a blind girl who is the victim of rape who's role is magnificently done by Anaswara Rajan. She seeks the help Of Vijayamohan, an underconfident lawyer who hasnt been practiced in a long time, this role is fantastically done by Mohanlal. As a malayali seeing Lalettan back at his subtle acting is just mesmerizing. This is proof that directors play an important role when it comes to shaping an actor. Vijayamohan Is Opposed By Rajashekar, a renowned lawyer who has been the enemy of Vijayamohan. This role is brilliantly played by Siddique. Rest of the movie you have to see othwrwise it would be a spoiler. I wouldn't say this is a theatre experiece movie but the film crew managea to hook our eyes to the screen with taking it off. I never felt bored even for a second thats how captivating the entire movie is. Although taking in Jeethu Josephs other works like Drishyam thos movie didnt quite reaxh to its level, it did deliver some goosebumps but i felt that the story was written in favour of Vijayamohan. So, its an average movie elevated with Mohanlals Comeback to Real cinema.

I went to this movie expecting a drishyam like thriller and it happened to be the same. All those flashbacks , evidences etc kind of things that make a Jeetu Joseph movie can be seen in the movie . A court room drama that keeps you at the edge of the seat . There is no suspense or anything but it is a thriller . All the cast did a great job . In fact Siddique as Lawyer makes you hate him in the movie and question the profession or our judiciary. I think this movie might be a career changer for Anaswara Rajan as her acting was too good. There are many court room classics in Malayalam cinema and this one can be compared to those. I will give 8 out of 10 for this Jeetu Joseph thriller.

Even with a predictable storyline Jeethu Joseph's mastery of scriptwriting with Shanthi Mayadevi's knowledge as an advocate makes this engaging and effective. Jeethu Joseph has always been a better writer than a director and there are a lot of instances in the movie that clearly shows that aspect. Some of the smaller characters' acting was not very good, the music was overused a lot and there were a few things that could've been trimmed out. But when it works, the film works great. Even though, it's not something very novel, Mohanlal saying some dialogues did make me clap hard, knowing that I'm sitting in a packed theatre with a lot of families. Anaswara and Siddique were brilliant in their roles and Mohanlal has done a role that is subtle, vulnerable and serious in a very effective way after a long time. Despite the film using easy ways to tell a lot of things, despite the plot being nothing new, it being not new makes more of a case of how it is still so important in every aspect, due to which I was very satisfied by the end of the movie.

This is a decent attempt from Jeethu Joseph. Nothing like Drishyam or even Kooman, but engaging and watchable. The thread is good, but the climax was predictable and also very melodramatic. Also, the casting in the movie was off in multiple places. The primary example is Shanti Mayadevi. She simply cannot act and is awkward in a majority of the scenes. I totally understand, that's not her forte, but why give her such a meaty role? The victims mother also couldn't handle the emotional scenes. Also, Jeethu succumbs to the usual tropes of overdoing some scenes - like the incompetence of the first lawyer. The movie is also unnecessarily long and spends insane amounts of time on a CCTV visual. I'm summary, it's a good attempt and an engaging court drama, but not as stellar as it's touted to be.

The same team had done Drishyam 10 years ago, which has become a milestone movie, not just in Malayalam but across Indian movie industry. Any movie they do now will be compared to that movie.

There are some common elements, but Neru is a totally different movie, both the theme and the mood of the movie. This is emotionally more draining than Drishyam, while it does not have the sheer audacity and shock value that Drishyam had

The best part of the movie is the script. After 10 minutes or so, the movie just hooks you in, and you can't look away even for a minute, till the very last scene in the climax, which will most probably leave you teary eyed.

Performances are top notch. Special mentions to Sidhique and Jagadish. Two actors who were doing Tier 2 comedy movies 30 years ago, but their acting careers are on a totally high trajectory.

But this movie is carried by Mohanlal and then Anaswara Rajan. Yes, Mohanlal is one of the greatest actors in India and his performance is expected, but Anaswara matches him best for best. Their scene together in the first half and then in the climax will leave you spell bound

On the flip side, don't expect any out of the world movie making techniques. Technically the movie is just passable, but that is a typical Jeethu Joseph style. He let the script and performances take centre stage. The Cameraman, editor and music director just do their job in the back ground

Last but not the least, spare a thought for the genius of Jeethu. Making one edge of the seat thriller like Drishyam is impossible for 9/10 writer directors. But he has now done 4 movies at that level (Drishyam 1 & 2, Memorie and Neru). Hats off man, and hope you outdo yourself in your next one.