Archana 31 Not Out movie review: Aishwarya Lekshmi deserves better than a wannabe Thinkalazhcha Nishchayam

Language: Malayalam The road to cinematic heaven is paved with filmmakers who tried the slice-of-life genre and fell by the wayside because they could not pull it off. That director Akhil Anilkumar has potential is evident from his mini feature Geethu Unchained in the anthology _Freedom Fight_ presented by Jeo Baby and released on SonyLIV just this week. Geethu Unchained is a crisply executed short starring Rajisha Vijayan as a woman who has been bullied by her family to get married quickly ever since she broke off her engagement to a partner she had chosen for herself. Geethu’s parents’ and brother’s aggressive behaviour towards her are a contrast to the mild-mannered mother and father in Archana 31 Not Out, Akhil’s full-length feature that has come to theatres in the same week. Here the eponymous protagonist, played by Aishwarya Lekshmi (whose name is spelt as Aiswarya in this film’s credits), deals with subtler forms of social pressure – her parents’ worries, the constant questions and comments about her marital prospects wherever she goes – and her own social conditioning. So, she subjects herself to one pennu kaanal after another, despite the awkwardness involved and the potential effect on her self-esteem. Archana is an educated, financially independent schoolteacher, but it does not occur to her to question the prevalent notion of the essentialness of marriage in every individual’s life. That said, by the end of the narrative, her views on matrimony have evolved in a different direction. Between its humorous, socially observant beginning captured with appealing naturalism and its delicious twist of progressiveness in the end, lies sandwiched a bloated middle in which hardly anything happens. That dragging middle has pretentions to being a wedding film, but fails miserably since no character in this portion is written with any degree of detail, seemingly unending minutes drag on and on with random people popping in and out of the frame but serving no purpose, and no new insights are offered into Archana’s mindset or the surrounding socio-cultural landscape beyond what is already known from the opening half hour. Among the major casualties of the film’s pointless wanderings is Renjit Shekar Nair who gave a stand-out performance as a school sporting team’s manager in _Kho Kho_ last year but spends most of the little time he has in Archana 31 Not Out just sitting around. The intermediary section of Archana 31 Not Out comes across as a wannabe _Thinkalazhcha Nishchayam_ (The Engagement is on Monday), without any of that award-winning film’s understanding of intricate family dynamics or its magnifying glass on community relations. [caption id=“attachment_10370361” align=“alignnone” width=“640”]  Aishwarya Lekshmi in a still from Archana 31 Not Out[/caption]In a tighter script, Indrans’ appearance – the reason for which becomes clear in the climax – might have been gold, but is lost here to a meandering narrative. There is plenty of talent in the supporting cast, but the only ones whose filmography might benefit in any way from Archana 31 Not Out are Lukman Lukku as Archana’s potential groom and the extremely likeable Hakkim Shajahan as a relative of one of Archana’s cheeky students. Anju Joseph as Archana’s colleague has a screen presence and beauty that make her memorable although she barely has a few seconds of screen time. Fortunately for her, she spends most of it in Archana 31 Not Out’s effective introductory 30 minutes before everything goes downhill. It is a measure of the limited number of quality scripts for quality women artistes that a star of Aishwarya Lekshmi’s calibre and stature finds herself in this floundering film, her first as a titular central lead character. Ever since she crackled and sparkled on screen as the heroine of Aashiq Abu’s gorgeous _Mayaanadhi_ (2017) co-starring Tovino Thomas, it has been evident that Aishwarya has both the skill and the charisma to pull off a solo-heroine film, with the added benefit of striking looks. She was in spiffing form sharing screen space with Fahadh Faasil in _Varathan_ (2018), until director Amal Neerad decided to shift gears from feminist saga to male-saviour territory in the second half. She was lovely again as the heroine alongside Asif Ali in _Vijay Superum Pournamiyum_ (2019), and shone most recently in a challenging supporting role in _Kaanekkaane_ (2021). But first-rate actors are helpless without writing to match, and though Aishwarya’s innate magnetism comes through even in Archana 31 Not Out, there is only so much she can do while the script is running on empty. It’s a mystery why a director as accomplished and successful as Martin Prakkat chose to back this project as a producer. It is evident from Geethu Unchained and Archana 31 Not Out that Akhil Anilkumar is interested in the subject of women’s autonomy. While that is a commendable focus area and a great one to turn into a specialisation, the difference in quality between these two films is all the proof you need – if any were needed – that a social conscience does not automatically translate into a good film. Aishwarya Lekshmi deserves a titular lead role. She also deserves better than this film. Rating: 1.5 Archana 31 Not Out is now in theatres.

Anna M.M. Vetticad is an award-winning journalist and author of The Adventures of an Intrepid Film Critic. She specialises in the intersection of cinema with feminist and other socio-political concerns. Twitter: @annavetticad, Instagram: @annammvetticad, Facebook: AnnaMMVetticadOfficial