Vaarthakal Ithuvare

Story: A gold chain goes missing from one of the houses coming under the purview of Pallippuram police station. At the same time, a fraudster is also on the loose, tricking both cops and villagers into believing that a Naxalite is all set to wreak havoc in the area. Who can anyone believe in this dicey scenario?

Review: A hamlet with its share of village politics, assorted characters, cartoonish policemen and priests. Personalities that can be easily related to by anyone who grew up in a village. Romantic tracks which bear the weight of their heavily predictable endings right from the beginning. Varthakal Ithuvare is a tale set in the 90s with many elements one would see from many of our movies released two decades ago. But does it reflect any of their charm?

Pallippuram police station is sparsely manned, and upon the few, disinterested cops there land a jewellery missing case, which seems to be a lot more than what it is on the surface. To top it all, the ego clashes between the officers often interfere with work as well. How will they tackle the case, in such a scenario?

Those who like to watch village tales that aren’t very heavy on our heads with ample drama that’s all too familiar, can give Varthakal Ithuvare a try. It can be a bearable watch for also those who don’t mind the film taking its own sweet time to get to its core plot. There are nostalgic shots of people taking leisurely walks and bicycle rides on paths laced by coconut trees, sharing hot gossip at tea stalls, sari-clad, umbrella-holding village belles whose main task is walking on the road, only to be stalked by the local youth.

The film's script and characters are weakly written and lack any kind of punch. The story is often a package of clichés and hardly does anything exciting to establish its characters. The mediocre songs only result in painfully stretching it all further. Generic moments are overstuffed into the story, which leaves the proceedings extremely monotonous at many junctures. Because of this, by the time a twist comes at the end, any interest in the story is already sucked out. The film, on the whole, hardly offers anything interesting to take away when you leave the hall.