Vishesham Review | A Feel-Good Movie With a Pertinent Theme That Deserved a Subtler Treatment

In today’s day and age, we all may have come across couples who are trying to conceive a baby through means of IVF and similar treatments. Sooraj Tom’s latest movie, Vishesham, which stars Anand Madhusoodanan and Chinnu Chandni, addresses various emotional battles through which such a couple goes. While the broader approach towards the theme and how they are normalizing the conversations around it are appreciable, the script is overtly dialogue-driven, and you would wish it had a subtler approach.

Shiju Bhakthan is our hero who had a failed first marriage because the bride went with her lover on the day of marriage. Initially reluctant, Shiju eventually decides to try his luck again in the matrimonial world, and he finds Sajitha, a police constable who also had a failed first marriage. After marriage, the couple was not able to conceive a baby, and their journey to fulfill that wish is what we see in Vishesham.

Anand Madhusoodanan, who entered the industry as a music director through Ranjith Shankar’s Molly Aunty Rocks, has written the script and lyrics, composed the songs, and acted as the leading man Shiju Bhakthan in this film. The movie’s treatment is such that we are immediately reminded of the Vinay Forrt starrer Thamaasha. Anand wants the movie to talk about a lot of relationship stereotypes. The core theme is the treatments couples take to conceive a baby. The major achievement of Vishesham is how it includes several details in that phase. Starting with the insensitive questions of the relatives to the idea of normalizing a life without kids, there is an effort in the writing to reduce insensitivity and improve empathy in people’s minds.

When it comes to performances, I would say Anand Madhusoodanan might just have a relatable face. But somewhere, the movie is forcing him to be eccentric in certain situations. The slightly caricature-like rendering of the character is, at times, reducing the drama in the scenes. In fact, Chinnu Chandni, as Sajitha, is performing the part so effectively and brilliantly that, at times, I wished the performances had the same pitch. Then, the couple would have looked more practical and adorable. The vulnerable moments of Sajitha were performed with great perfection, and we would find ourselves empathizing with that character. Althaf Salim, with his signature comedy timing, plays a significant role in making things smooth and funny in the first half. The rest of the cast has names like Maala Parvathy, Johny Antony, Baiju Ezhupunna, Gilu Joseph, Shiny Sarah, PP Kunhikrishnan, etc.

This is actually the second writer-director collaboration of Anand Madhusoodanan and Sooraj Tom. The previous one was the Vishnu Unnikrishnan starrer Krishnakutti Pani Thudangi. There is a deliberate attempt to make the messaging loud to the audience, and that is something I personally am not a fan of. More than the humor, the loudness was causing issues with the sentimental bits in the film, which were extremely important. Sometimes, when characters talk about their feelings in an extremely cheesy way, you would feel that it could be communicated much more effectively through a mere look. The effort to normalize the talks about sex life and reproduction also had that slightly on-your-face tone in the execution. The movie’s music by Anand Madhusoodanan is lovely, but I think he can lessen the burden on himself by giving the responsibility of the lyrics to someone else.

The humor, the pertinence of the theme, and the performance of Chinnu Chandni are the key factors that make Vishesham a watchable flick. If the script wasn’t that dialogue-heavy and caricature bits were not there in the treatment, I think the movie would have cracked a zone similar to Ashraf Hamza’s Thamaasha.