Innu Muthal

Innu Muthal, directed by Rejishh Midhila, is a fantasy that neither bores you nor excites you. If you have seen the movie’s trailer, you would understand that it falls in that “Devine Comedy” category. And there is hardly any surprise in terms of narrative when it comes to the movie. There is a cliche deconstruction happening in the way the film projects God’s character, and for me, that was an entertaining interpretation. With a duration of just around 100 minutes, I would say Innu Muthal is a passable fantasy that doesn’t test your patience.

Abhinandan, a taxi driver, is our main protagonist. He is a lazy guy who depends on God for everything. He is an ardent Lord Krishna devotee. He has a lot of debts and has no real plan to repay any of them. One day when he wakes up, he happens to notice that the photos and idols of Lord Krishna were missing from his home and his car. In the movie Innu Muthal, we see Abhinandan’s quest to find the reason for that and his efforts to fix it.

The idea here is extremely thin. It is like those message-driven simple stories that most of us would have loved to hear as kids. Be honest, be courteous, and God is something that’s there within you (Aham Brahmasmi), etc., are the philosophies that are driving the movie forward. And it’s not like I am decoding these themes after carefully introspecting the scenes and reading between the lines. The preaching is very evident. But like I already said, Rejishh Midhila adds a layer of fun to the story by interpreting the God character in different attire. Lord Krishna of Mr. Midhila is not your Nitish Bharadwaj-like figure, and he talks like a normal human being. That characterization helped the movie enormously in making the viewer ignore the predictability to an extend.

Siju Wilson is playing the main lead here. The dialect and the attitude of the character seem to be in a familiar space for Siju. And he depicted the lazy attitude and the gradual compassion of the character neatly. Suraj Pops plays the new interpretation of Lord Krishna, and more than his acting, I think it was the fresh perspective that made the character all the more enjoyable. Gokulan as the drinks-mate of Abhinandan was fun to watch.

Rejishh Midhila doesn’t want to move the audience through his storytelling. When Abhi travels to Madhyapradesh to help an elderly man, we will get an idea of what will happen to him. And in those areas, Innu Muthal is very much that “moral of the story” kind of simplistic movie. It’s just that since the main character is a natural fraudster, you will find it entertaining when he is trying to go against his natural flow of things. The visuals follow a color-rich format and somehow complements the light-hearted nature of the story.

As I said in the beginning, Innu Muthal is neither boring nor interesting. In terms of content, it is repetitive and predictable. But by tweaking certain characterizations, Rejishh Midhila makes it that passable popcorn entertainer with a message attached to it. The satiric interpretations of the age-old God concept can surely put a smile on your face.