Cast: Tovino Thomas, Aishwarya Lekshmi

Director: Aashiq Abu

Ashiq Abu’s mystical river simply steals all our hearts. A witness to life and death and symbolic of the very essence of life itself- Mayaanadhi takes us on a beautiful and soothing journey.

 Starting as a thriller and slowly churning into an urban romantic tale this movie was successful in keeping up its tone, It’s not just the story of Appu and Mathan’s love but a story of loss, uncertainty, passion, sadness, dignity all in the backdrop of metro life. What makes us connect with Mayaanadhi is the realistic dialogues, the story and of course the amazing performances by the lead actors.

Mayanaadhi (2018) is truly a deep river along which its viewers flow. The climax is a clincher. The magical realism, in the end, gives the movie a final polish.

Unrequited love and Mathan?

 Mathan’s response to the policemen where he confesses that he loves Appu leaves a defeat on the policemen’s face and in turn, makes a bold statement on the unconditional love that Mathan has for his lady love.

Appu’s words, that Mathan is a survivor and that he will come for her, is simply heart-warming, especially when we know that he will never return. Aishwarya Lekshmi simply lives the character. Tovino Thomas as the lovable rascal is again brilliant. He plays Mathan very ably and the different shades of the character came out satisfyingly well.

It’s interesting to notice how Mathan’s cap gifted to him by Appu becomes a scene-stealer and became a trend among the youth. In certain instances, it was this cap that spoke louder for Mathan’s feelings for Appu, the way Mathan treasured it indirectly depicted his unconditional love for Appu.

Appu; the new face of the heroine in Malayalam cinema

 Though Appu clarifies that she no longer has feelings for Mathan (due to something he did in the past) we see her unknowingly expressing her love and desire for him. It is the sweetest bit of Appu and we are assured that she still loves him.

 Aishwarya Lekshmi’s Appu comes out as a very bold female character in Malayalam cinema, someone who is unapologetic to desire sex. She breaks the conventional notions of an ideal Malayalee heroine and the makers deserve applause for the audacious character description.

The scenes revolving around Sameera (Leona Lishoy) where she is forced to leave her successful acting profession due to leakage of certain undesirable scenes make a statement. It kind of showed the harsh realities of the movie industry.

The ideologies and thoughts are liberating. The freshness in character development is one of the many things that makes Mayaanadhi a good movie.

The entire cast of Mayaanadhi presents an excellent performance. May it be Soubin Shahir who makes a guest appearance or Leona Lishoy who plays Sameera, every actor lives up to our expectations.

The songs of Mayaanadhi are another highlight. We can’t stop humming those beautiful tunes and it reflects the tone of the film. Rex Vijayan once again proves that he is a musical genius.

 In the end, we all are turned into “Appu” hoping and waiting for the return of her Mathan.