Koodal

Story: Two friends who retreat to a New Year camp in the hills are shocked to find another old friend has joined them. What is the haunting story of their past?

Review: Young women, songs, dark forests and a spurned partner does not a murder mystery make. Directors Shaanu Kakkoor and Shafi Eppikkad’s Koodal is full of half-baked ideas and characters.

Two women, Laila and Nimmi, arrive at an end of year camp in the hills of Wayanad to bring in the new year, when they are shocked to find an old friend, a transwoman, Anju, has joined the party there. They reveal to the camp organiser that they share a tragic history with her, after they, together with their friend, Hima, shared a flat with Anju. The camp, which aims to take its visitors on a journey of self-discovery also reveals other truths to the young women.

From the start, the film feels amateurish with a bunch of borderline annoying characters. In an already slow-moving story, there are too many songs in the first half. And then, a couple of story tracks that are abandoned after a scene or two, such a possible romance between a mentalist tourist and Laila. All this adds to the haphazard feel of the film.