A scene from ‘Baby Girl’.
Fifteen years ago, Malayalam cinema was not in the rosy of health when scriptwriting duo Bobby-Sanjay came up with Traffic, which gave the industry a new sense of direction. In 2026, when the same duo return with Baby Girl, after a mix of memorable and forgettable films over the years, they will borrow some elements from their most successful film to date. But then times have changed and audience tastes have also evolved and things that worked in the past may not work now, which unfortunately happens with Baby Girl’
Directed by Arun Varma, the film revolves around the events of a day when a newborn goes missing in a hospital. Hospital nurse Sanal (Nivin Pauly) also gets involved in the drama when his suspicion of a possible kidnapper immediately leads the police on the hunt. In parallel, there is a drama involving families of young parents who are still in college, and another track of a woman who faces emotional problems after the birth of a stillborn child.
Little Girl (Malayalam)
Directed by Arun Varma
Cast: Nivin Pauly, Lijomol Jose, Sangeeth Prathap, Abhimanyu Shammy Thilakan
Plot: A newborn baby disappears from the hospital, leading to a manhunt involving several suspects
Duration: 126 minutes
If it was just a narrative template set in a day and a few parallel elements that the writers reused from Traffic, the film could still work on some level. But what ultimately brings it down is the handling, which has “date” written all over it, whether it’s the visual style, the editing patterns, or the background score. Much of the running time is filled with sequences of police cars driving aimlessly through the city with a wireless set chattering incessantly in the background, big screen visualizations from control rooms and characters peering into CCTV images.
A hint of potential
Towards the end of the film, a sequence depicting the meeting of the two mothers gives one a sense of the emotional potential that the film held, but it comes too late. Lijomol Jose as one of the mothers is one of the few saving graces in the film. Nivin Pauly’s character seems redundant at several points and often the writers are obviously trying to insert a star into the drama. This role doesn’t give the actor any scope to perform or add much to the film either.
With the thriller track losing its breath already halfway through, the rest of the film drags along with the help of emotional drama and a few convenient gags. But the outdated approach ensures that much of it doesn’t create the intended impact.
(The movie is playing in theaters)
Published – 23 Jan 2026 20:02 IST
