Malgudi Days

Story: The film centres on Class IV student Athena (played by Baby Janaki) who is enrolled in Malgudi National Public School in Idukki to get over the trauma of her father’s untimely death.

Review: Malgudi Days is a see-saw ride between a children’s story and a thriller. Borrowing elements from a real incident in Nagaland about a student who gets trapped in a school, this movie is laced with enough suspense to keep viewers on the edge of their seats.

The film centres on Class IV student Athena (played by Baby Janaki) who is enrolled in Malgudi National Public School in Idukki to get over the trauma of her father’s untimely death. There she builds a friendship with Milan (Master Vishal). One of their games takes the duo outside their campus where they meet a fugitive Zephan (Anoop Menon). How he winds up there, what he does after their chance meeting and how that affects the lives of the two children form the rest of the plot.

Both Janaki and Vishal shine in their roles, sometimes even getting the better of their seasoned counterparts. While Anoop Menon finds himself in a place where he has to carry the film without much screen time, his efforts are sometimes slightly over the top.

The three debutant directors – Vinod, Visakh and Vivek – have done a decent job in keeping the suspense alive with several gripping moments. For instance, the scenes about how Anoop’s character lands in the predicament and when Milan clings on to a lintel are provided tense background scores to keep viewers on tenterhooks. Apart from these highs, the rest of the story is predictable and the narrative flat.

The music has nothing out of the ordinary and the Russian song only slows down the film further. The climax too is a let-down as it doesn’t fully redeem its characters in any way. While Malgudi Days has its tense moments, you wouldn’t mind giving this one a miss.