A scene from the movie Paathirathri.
paathirathri (Malayalam)
Directed by Ratheena
Cast: Navya Nair, Soubin Shahir, Ann Augustine, Sunny Wayne, Achyuth Kumar, Shabareesh Varma, Indrans, Athmiya Rajan, Harisree Ashokan
Plot: During a night patrol, two police officers fail to report an incident they witness, but it comes back to haunt them and threaten their careers.
Length: 125 minutes
One of the surest bets for audience appreciation in the current purple patch of Malayalam cinema has been realistic police procedurals. An engaging script that reveals all the crucial details of the investigation and a rather surprising twist in the story could make the film a box office winner. But this trend is now slowly turning into a formula where creators sometimes mechanically repeat all the known beats of the genre.
Often in such cases, they can get the bigger picture right, but end up missing the small details that make for great cinema. In Ratheena’s second film Paathirathri, one can easily draw parallels with many recent films of the genre in Malayalam, from the police protagonists with troubled personal lives to the needle of criminal suspicion turning on them. Here, coincidentally, both sub-inspector Jancy (Navya Nair) and civilian police officer Hareesh (Soubin Shahir) have problems in their families.
Hareesh is also shown to have ill will towards women in general, an aspect of his character that was expected to come into play when he and Jancy go on a night patrol. But in a script written by Shaji Maarad, details like this are introduced only to mysteriously fade away for no reason, turning them into details included just for the sake of it. On the other hand, we see the two suddenly become each other’s emotional support after getting into a major crisis that threatens their careers.
Script failure
But how the films treat these characters is a minor issue compared to the uninspiring and ineffective way the investigation and revelations are portrayed. When the seemingly big reveal in the film’s climax fails to produce even the slightest jolt, it indicates the screenplay’s failure to carry us through the narrative convincingly. Although Ratheena’s impressive debut Puzhu also suffered from writing issues, she showed a knack for steering it down unfamiliar paths, unlike Paathirathri.
Apart from the two protagonists and Achyutha Kumar (known as ‘Kantara’) as a senior police officer and Ann Augustine, no other character gets a proper pass. Jancy’s husband Felix (Shabareesh Varma) pops up once in a while to deliver hollow lines on her spiritual quest, while Harisree Ashokan also gets a memorable role. At the end of the movie, Jancy gets a line that connects their personal lives to the case they were just solving, but it comes too late to make an impact. Much of the detail just adds to the flimsiness rather than contributing to our understanding of the characters or the situation they find themselves in.
Going by the book genre, Paathirathri fails to bring any novelty to the table or bring excitement to the proceedings.
Paathirathri is currently running in theatres.
Published – 17 Oct 2025 20:38 IST
