Uyare Review: a powerful film that deserves to be watched

On a sophistication level, the new Parvathy movie Uyare isn’t a great achiever. But the movie scores tremendously when it comes to the feel factor. After some initial flow issues, Uyare directed by Manu Ashokan and penned by Bobby Sanjay elevates to a different emotional level and that feel remains throughout the entire film giving us an overwhelming experience. And it also manages to be a powerful statement about individuality and persistence.

An aspiring pilot named Pallavi Raveendran is our main protagonist. She decides to follow her dreams and destiny allows her to train and get the pilot license. But Pallavi was in a relationship with a man named Govind who always forced her to do things the way he wanted. When it reached a toxic level Pallavi decided to move out of that relationship and that shattered her life when it leads to a devastating acid attack on her. How Pallavi faces this phase in her life and what happens in her life after that is what Uyare all about.

Bobby Sanjay is subtly telling us what a woman needs from society as support. Even to establish the reason why Pallavi continued in an abusive relationship, there is a lesson about proper parenting. The sequence that established all these character dimensions was performed terrifically by both Siddique and Parvathy. Uyare is also a story of Parvathy moving on from Govind and also living her dream of being a pilot. How Bobby Sanjay manages to achieve all these multiple targets in a single plot makes Uyare a compelling watch.

The movie takes a bit of time to land in that realistic ambiance. The initial sequences that showed the rise of Pallavi were a bit too melodramatic. But as soon as major actors steps into the shoes of these characters, Manu Ashokan gets the grip over the narrative. After the acid attack happens, the film becomes more engaging and eventful. There are so many clap worthy memorable scenes in the film post that. The scene where Govind’s father leaves Pallavi’s house was one such scene. And one good thing about the film was that the light-hearted portions of the movie came after the devastating incident in Pallavi’s life. While the cinematography was on the average side, the edits and the background score uplifted the fire in the script. The prosthetic makeup was fabulous.

It’s an out and out Parvathy show here and the actress was terrific in all shades of Pallavi. The earnestness and the realness with which she portrays the optimism and misery of the character was truly a treat to watch. Siddique as always stuns you with his sensible and hard-hitting performance and the combination sequences of Siddique and Parvathy are so heartening. Tovino Thomas plays a character that sort of brightens the world of the wounded Pallavi and the actor was really cool. Asif Ali was also pretty effective as the short-tempered Govind. Even though it was minimal, Anarkali Marikkar also managed to pull off a good performance.

Uyare isn’t a technically solid film. The art direction and the visual effects are on the compromised side. But the film has a really focused script and power packed performances that make it a compelling watch. It’s a film that deserves to be watched.