Eeda

Eeda Story: Anand (Shane Nigam) is employed in an insurance company in Mysore and Aishwarya (Nimisha Sajayan) is a graduate student there. The duo, who owe allegiance to two rival political parties, KJP and KPM, with strong presence in North Malabar, fall in love with each other.

Eeda Review: I didn’t love you, after checking the colour of the flags….Anand confesses his love to Aiswarya. Both are from families, who are hard-core political rivals, but love makes forget the political calamity that is sweeping their hometown. Eeda is about love in the time of political chaos at Kannur. And how Anand and Aiswarya negotiate this situation to keep alive their true love is what the movie is all about.

Even while unfolding the love story of Aishwarya and Anand, director B Ajithkumar weaves a political drama. Hartal, the state’s number one pastime, becomes provides the reason for Anand to meet his heroine Aishwarya.

In the first half, the love story of the protagonists is developed slowly and steadily while the unexpected chain of events back home forces them to fall apart. The scenic beauty of the locales of Kannur and city life of Mysore have been captured well on frames by cinematographer Pappu, who had cranked camera for the film, Njan Steve Lopez. Marking his debut in direction, Ajithkumar scores well with his own script that sketches a sensitive and very contemporary subject.

Shane Nigam lives through the character till the end. After successfully delivering the chaste dialect of Malappuram in Kismath, the young actor proves his mettle again by rendering the rustic tongue of Kannur. His realistic approach works well while the same can’t be said about Nimisha, who is dramatic at times. Alencier Ley Lopez, Manikandan R Achari, Sujith Sankar, Sudhi Koppa, Surabhi Lekshmi and Shelly Kishore deserve appreciation though their roles are smallish.

The movie brings out the culture of violence prevalent in the area and the so-called ideology of tit-for-tat killings. Says a party worker, who remains undercover, “It is not the police that we need to fear but the others…”. There is a dash of humour and a bit of sarcasm.

The director succeeds in holding a mirror to the ‘here and the now (Eeda) and will certainly find favour with the politically conscious as well as the politically fed up but perhaps the action sequences could have been filmed better.