Start the week with a film: ‘Ullozhukku’ floats on the strength of terrific performances

From Curry & Cyanide: The Jolly Joseph Case to Ullozhukku, writer-director Christo Tomy has had quite the journey. If anything connects his contentious true crime documentary about a woman accused of killing six people with his acclaimed fictional film Ullozhukku, it is complicated family dynamics.

Tomy exploits the metaphor present in the Malayalam film’s title, meaning undercurrent, to the hilt. Torrential rains in the Kuttanad region prevent a funeral from taking place, alongside surfacing secrets between two generations of women.

Anju (Parvathy Thiruvothu) has married Thomas (Prashant Murali) against her will. She remains in touch with her lover Rajeev (Arjun Radhakrishnan), her guilt over Thomas’s deteriorating health and the unconditional love of Thomas’s mother Leelamma (Urvashi) notwithstanding.

Thomas succumbs to his ailment, shattering Leelamma and furthering Anju’s guilt, especially since Anju is pregnant with Rajeev’s child. A delay in Thomas’s burial because of rising water levels gives Anju and Leelamma the time to make hard decisions.

Ullozhukku is available on Prime Video. Having laid out its central conflict early on, the 123-minute drama burns slowly and yet surely.

While there are other solid performances in the film too, particularly from Arjun Radhakrishnan, Ullozhukku is mainly a two-hander. The rapport between Leelamma and Anju builds gradually over Thomas – the dispensing of medicine, the visits to the doctor,...

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