Theerppu – A Movie Driven in Revenge

The drama-thriller Theerppu was written and directed by Rathish Ambat in 2022 in Malayalam. Prithviraj Sukumaran, Indrajith Sukumaran, Isha Talwar,  Saiju Kurup, Vijay babu and Hannah Reji Koshy play the key characters in the film Theerppu.

Theerppu is the tale of four childhood friends, whose turbulent connection is fueled by a betrayal and broken vows from their shared past. The movie begins with Parameshwaran Potty (Saiju Kuruppu) and his wife Prabha (Hannah Reji Koshy) visiting Ram (Vijay Babu) and Mythilli (Isha Talwar) in their recently refurbished resort, a site full of artefacts that passes for a witty art gallery in the middle of nowhere.In order to raise capital for their planned business, Parameshwaran and his wife are hoping to get Ram to work with them to pay off their debts and open for business as intended. The fourth wheel, DIG Kalyan Menon (Indrajith Sukumaran), who is also involved in the events in the second half, is also introduced to us.

Prithviraj Sukumaran’s character is Abdulla Marakkar, a travelling writer, disturbs the long-distance friends’ already unpleasant reunion. By admitting earlier to his bedridden mother that he had mental health problems, Marakkar demonstrated that these problems were a result of accumulated trauma from the past.Two terrifying sculptures of Hitler and Mussolini, enormous images of Stalin, Gandhi, Che Guevara, Gandhi’s spectacles, and a funny dash of Amitabh Bachchan, Bruce Lee, and Mohammed Ali are all conventional sets for a classic house invasion thriller that, for the most part, works.

 Murali Gopi is skilled at blending established genre elements with numerous historical allusions, thought-provoking literal themes, and other elements while staying within the bounds of commercial cinema that engages and entertains. However, at times the writing feels a little too direct and laboured in its attempt to mine uniqueness. For instance, there are sequences in the second half of the movie where shots are fired at Safdar Hashmi’s pen and Gandhi’s glasses that are on exhibit in the art gallery-like hall, and a character ponders the political ramifications of the gunfire with a stern expression.With the formality of narrative exposition throwing away this kind of ferocious, no holds barred commentary on moral blindness, freedom of expression, speech, the emergence of spread hatred, and the gradual upheaval of the right-wing forces, but building on succeeding levels.

Numerous similar depictions and historical allusions run concurrently with the events of the home invasion in the movie. Ratheesh Ambat, who is cognizant of the elaborately subversive nature of the entire endeavour, takes great pleasure in highlighting the excesses in his deeply ingrained insights on our current political turmoil and the morally tumultuous eras in human history. Saiju Kuruppu and Indajith leave with some of the funniest lines in the second half, but all of the performances are played out in broad strokes.Although Prithviraj is very effective in the role and conveys the inherent craziness and zinger of the vengeful hero, the role eventually becomes one-dimensional and serves only as a plot device to convey the central idea as a literal, living representation of the helpless pawns abandoned by the system. 

Theerppu is an undiluted experiment in conceptualising a cleverly political notion as a cinematic essay. The technical team is at the top of their game, and the characters are self-aware of the high-stakes political commentary done by way of exploitation of commercial cinema traditions.