Rekhachithram Review..!!
Asif Ali is back with yet another thriller, we have seen him in a similar cop avatar in Thalavan last year. This time he can be seen in a Jofin T Chacko film, who previously directed Mammootty’s Priest. There is a retro touch to the film and the premise itself generates a sense of curiosity, bringing back some good old memories of 1980’s. There is a mystery surrounding the shooting of ‘Kathodu Kathoram’, that remained unsolved till Asif Ali’s cop character stumbles upon skeletal remains of a person in the present day. Anaswara Rajan plays the mysterious character, Rekha from the past.
So, we get to see a cop, Vivek, played by Asif Ali who is under suspension for playing Online Rummy and winning a cash prize of 15 Lakh. And he is kind of a troll material now in the eyes of the public. But soon he becomes a part of a case after a man’s suicide prompts to unearth the skeletal remains of an unknown woman. Vivek is all charged up in the potential case as he wants to redeem himself and puts all the effort to exhume the skeletal remains. Perhaps, this is the director’s way to tell the viewers that his protagonist is a smart and efficient officer. The investigation proceeds for a long time and it takes over 45 minutes before getting to the first clue about the body. It is overstretched and seemed like Jofin was biding time to set up an interval block. These investigation episodes do not find engaging enough as they take a lot of time searching for a name and there seems to be no finding at all that takes us to the next event. As soon as they get a name, there investigation hits a roadblock which acts as the intermission block in the film.
By this time, audience certainly know who the victim is and who the perpetrators are. The slow pace and lack of eventful episodes are not helping either. This is where the nostalgic element and the recreation of the sets of ‘Kathodu Kathoram’ lifts the movie. The latter half focus on character exploration of an ambitious and naïve young woman. Finally, there is a certain mood shift with the nostalgic 80s setting and references. Rekha’s character comes into prominence here and the audience connects with her innocence. The investigation progresses in parallel but this time, they have to face severe setbacks from the antagonist. This might add more drama to the part but it is pretty unnecessary, more like forced plot points just to complicate things. For example, there is a series of murder that starts in the intermission block that felt unwarranted to the story. Similarly, there were plot points in the first half just to slowdown things.

Coming to the latter half, the nostalgic element breath life into the film. The ordinary investigation thriller theme gets undone by the references in the latter half. The director is successful in couple of objectives which are probably the most prominent parts of the film. One, he has got Rekha more acceptable among the audience and the other being the presentation of the final revelation scene towards the climax. When Rekha’s portions were branched, featuring her story alternatively, the audience gets the time to relate with her story and it is never boring. This helps the film to engage after the final revelations. While the suspense dies out, the performance of the actor stands out. The whole sequence is concise and fulfilling. The director, in the second half has crafted the episodes crisper which was missing in the first half.
Asif’s performance as Vivek was outstanding. His nuances as a police officer are more accurate and his dialogue delivery complements his body language. These kinds of roles are tailor made for him, as we have seen in Thalavan & Kooman. Anaswara is sweet and beautiful. She is the essence of the film. Despite appearing in latter half in irregular intervals, she leaves a deep impression on the audience. She plays the loveable and traditional girl, who can woo audience to perfection. Another important character performance who holds the key in an all-important scene is Zarin Shihab. She has a very short and limited role but had to convey a lot with powerful expressions and mannerisms. Rest of the cast including Siddique, Indrans, Saikumar & Megha Thomas were of significant impact in their respective short roles.

The technical aspects of the film deserve several accolades, particularly when they had to recreate the film set of 1980s. They had to carefully consider every minor details to keep the entire environment flawless. The use of technology is top notch and one can watch those scenes with a smile on their face. Jofin has not only connected Kaathodu Kathoram but has also included another vintage film brilliantly into the story. In fact, the fiction works out really well and these exaggerations found worthy additions. The background score by Mujeeb Majeed is yet another important factor in keeping up the emotions of the movie, particularly elevating the comflict between the characters of Asif & Manoj K Jayan.
In short, Rekhachithram lags on investigation episodes but thrives on nostalgic elements and character exploration of ‘Rekha’.