Karutha Joodhan Review: outdated making is the killjoy here

Most of us might be only aware of the Jews in Kerala as a group located in Mattanchery. But in reality they were in other parts of this state too. And the new Salim Kumar directorial Karutha Joodhan is trying to explore one such story. The new facts you get makes the plot interesting, but the outdated making and dull writing reduces the emotional impact of the movie.

Aaron is this Jew who lived in Mala. His was a wealthy family and after the death of Aaron’s father he was asked to get married. But Aaron decided to go for a journey before getting married and explore the history of his ancestors. But due to certain unfortunate incidents his comeback got delayed by a big margin. Aaron’s return to his home and what all miseries are awaiting him is what Karutha Joodhan telling us.

The last Salim Kumar production directed by T A Razak, Moonnam Naal Njayarazhcha also had a similar conflicted character. They were deeply attached to their culture and were never willing to leave it for a better life. When it explores the culture of the Jews here, Karutha Joodhan gets an interesting tone. The information we get gives a tint of freshness to the narrative. But beyond that, the story is over dramatic here. When certain unimportant political references are made in the last quarter of the film, you sort of tend to question the intentions of the film maker.

Salim Kumar as an actor has the set of emotions to be Aaron and his body language also suits the character’s age. But when it comes to delivering lines, the artificial dialogues is giving him and the fellow actors a tough time. Ramesh Pisharody appears in a brief cameo. Babu Annur, Sivaji Guruvayoor and Usha play other important characters.

The making of Salim Kumar is far from perfect. He doesn’t have that earnestness to make it all look real and endearing. The writing needed a much better soulful rendering of a story. The mould of the story is something familiar to us. The high drama lessens the emotional heft of the story. The second half had some flowing moments but towards the end Karutha Joodhan went back to the old school style. Frames were good.

Karutha Joodhan would have been a heart touching story if it was made on a better scale by a quality film maker. It has a credible story, but what it lacks is a convincing making.