Irul - "candle opera"

Irul

Malayalam, 2021

Directed by Naseef Yusuf Izuddin

Stars Fahadh Faasil, Soubin Shahir, Dharshana Rajendran

Mohan's Measure ⭐

Irul is trying very hard to present itself as a dark thriller, verging on horror. I can only describe it as the professional critics do, a bad attempt at thriller, unintentionally verging on comedy.

The only person not taking the whole ridiculous plot seriously is Mr. Faasil, who probably recognizes the humor in this low-budget, low brow attempt at art film. Indeed, if the other two leads had done the same, the movie could have passed off as parody. 

But, Mr. Shahir is supposed to confuse us, and he succeeds. However, it is less about the plot than it is about his melodrama. We see veins popping out of his head as he yells, complains, and eventually, abuses a young woman he proposed to.

That woman is played by Ms. Rajendran with understatement, perhaps holding back the laughter we cannot while watching this supposedly tense thriller.