Rekhachithram - A face in the crowd

 

Rekhachithram

2025, Malayalam

Genre: Film Noir

Where to watch: Einthusan.TV

Director: Jofin T. Chacko

Stars: Asif Ali, Anaswara Rajan, Zarin Shihab, Manoj K. Jayan, Megha Thomas

Mohan's Measure ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Malayalam cinema seems to be the reining monarch over classic film noir.  While the Tamil film tradition has toyed with the neo-noir style, it is Mollywood's awareness of the power of these morally ambiguous stories that really satiate the thirst for mysteries. Moral dilemmas, spiritual overtones, and a commitment to setting things right that make for an engaging mystery.  Bring in elements and symbols from Catholicism and the genre approaches the Hitchcockian.

All these are found in plenty in Rekhachithram, along with a very unique plot twist, one that only further conveys the intelligence of Malayalam cinema.  For you see, using CGI and actual footage, we come face to face with the victim as a photograph, taken 40 years ago, during the shooting of an actual film, Bharathan's Kaathodu Kaathorum, starring Mammooty and Saritha.

The victim of the vicious crime, Rekha, is a fictional side character in the actual movie, and it is getting included in this movie, along with her fascination for Mammooty, that gets her mixed up in a series of coincidences that spells her untimely end. 40 years later, a man named Rajendran confesses of his involvement in the murder of this young woman in a Facebook live video, and takes his own life.

Enter the cop, played brilliantly by Asif Ali, who begins an investigation which turns to obsession, about the girl, about a nun, and and about a Chapel that serves as the backdrop for a movie made decades before. With this we are introduced to a long, and sometimes confusing, list of victims and suspects. And there are certainly holes in the plot which we have to endure.  But, the intrigue of just who this young woman was, and why she was killed, brings us an absorbing story.

Fans of detective thrillers will find themselves glued to the screen.