The Cold Case is a much-talked-about Malayalam-language crime thriller supernatural horror film by Tanu Balak that aims to scare the viewers with its dark theme. The movie revolves around a paranormal murder case. The Malayalam film industry has seen too many crime thrillers in the recent past. However, the amalgamation of a typical crime thriller with supernatural stuff makes this movie the talking point.
The movie was released on June 30, 2021, on Amazon Prime Video.
Cast: Prithviraj Sukumaran
Director: Tanu Balak
Music: Prakash Alex
Unlike many Malayalam films, Cold Case is not a multi-starer film.
In these difficult times, every filmmaker has been looking for alternative mediums to reach out to their audiences. Tanu Balak has attempted something similar. Cold Case is Prithviraj Sukumaran’s first film to directly release on an OTT platform. Prithviraj has appeared in the movie as Assistant commissioner of police Sathyajith.
The most interesting thing about the movie is the way the story is narrated through two parallel threads. The critics weren’t satisfied enough to label this one as an impactful movie, but whether it is worth investing time in or not can only be ascertained after going through its plot.
Here is the Plot of the Cold Case…
The story starts with discovering a skull wrapped in a trash bag in a local fisherman’s net. Assistant commissioner of police Sathyajith is tasked with investigating the case. Soon, it is all over the news, which marks the perfect beginning for an environment or terror.
It is ruled after the forensic analysis that the murder was committed a year back, and the skill belongs to an unidentified person. Sathyajith leads an investigation team and assigns different tasks to different members to speed up the process. In the meanwhile, we are introduced to an investigative journalist named Medha (Aditi Balan). Medha has moved to a new home in the city with her daughter.
Things start to become scary after Medha starts feeling an invisible presence in her home. The most interesting phase of the movie begins after the two stories cross each other’s paths and start running parallel.
While many are impressed with the idea of two stories running parallelly, some critics were left unimpressed with the parallel story of a soul seeking revenge. Once again, the execution has to be blamed as the story sounds pathbreaking on paper.
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To speak bluntly, the movie is an imbalanced amalgamation of an investigative thriller and a supernatural thriller. The stories remain unhooked, and that fails to engage the audience throughout the runtime. While there are two stories that the filmmakers intend to tell, the focus lies on the investigation by Sathyajith, as he is the lead character in the movie. This places the other story in a secondary position that has been drafted just to fill the spaces.
If you have no problem switching focus, watching this movie is not a bad idea at all. But suppose you are someone who watches every scene with complete attention. In that case, it might be hard to recollect all the facts from both the stories, and that’s exactly what has been concerning the critics. The filmmaker, however, deserves praise for trying something out of the box.
Medha is introduced as an equally important character in the beginning. At least that’s what appears in the first few scenes. But as the movie progresses, Medha gets little space for her story, with most of the scenes being dominated by Sathyajith. Sathyajith cracks the case almost single-handedly, and Medha’s is reduced to a supporting role. Just like the poster, It is Sathyajith who leaves an impact at the end.
From his appearance to on-screen presence, Prithviraj impresses with every aspect. But there’s nothing much to spot for the acting nazis as his acting remains uniform throughout. It was the debut Malayalam film for Aditi Balan, and she looks lost, just like her character. But she is the last to blame for her limited role as the script clearly had more scope for her. Another reason to not put Aditi under the scanner is her brilliant performances in the Tamil industry.
As Hindustan Times notes, one thing that can be blamed for the film’s less impactful story is “poor writing.”
For our Mallu friends, “audience is the best judge,” and only you can tell about your experience. So go watch the film on Amazon Prime.
