Kaathal: The Core review: Mammootty, Jyotika starrer leaves you with a heaviness in your heart for all right reasons

Director: Joe Baby

Cast: Mammootty, Jyotika

Some films move you emotionally, some move you with their aesthetics and their edge with the talent pool. Very few films rise above to transport the audiences, give them an experience that wrenches their heart and splits their soul. Does this sound dramatic? Trust me, I wish I had words more beautiful to write about Kaadhal: The Core. I wish I had words that can express what I went through emotionally when I watched this Joe Baby film. Starring Mammootty and Jyotika, the film is about a middle-aged couple who experience a conflict when the wife wants a divorce from her husband. What’s interesting is that they have a very jovial relationship, an understanding one too. Yet, when Omana (Jyotika) wants divorce, she doesn’t speak about it with her husband Matthew (Mammootty). That is at least what it seems like initially.

Initially, it is all a mystery. A husband who has a very good reputation in the community is also a communist party member who has been chosen to compete in the upcoming local elections. So at this time, Omana files a petition for divorce, and Matthew learns about it from other party members. Even upon learning of Omana’s actions, his confrontations are not violent — verbally or physically. In fact, his questions seem well-meaning. He asks Omana why she wouldn’t even address her problems with him before she decided to file for divorce, but there is no response. As the story builds minute by minute, the mystery of why Omana wants divorce gets thicker. As audience, we are suspicious. Is she in love with someone else? Is she tired of the emotional labor that has gone into this relationship? Is she only seeking solace in solitude after a chaotic two-decade long relationship?

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Now, do you see the direction of my thoughts? They are all targeted towards Omana. After all, she is the one who sought for divorce from a man who seems to have no problem on the surface. Now, peel the first few layers on Matthew and that is when we see a deep sense of hurt. It also becomes clear that Matthew is a man who isn’t emotionally available for a woman, specifically in the bounds of a romantic relationship. His romantic feelings have been locked away for years, and they have been buried so deep that Matthew himself has become used to the lie that he lived.

After all, how long can one face the fact that their life and identity in the society is fake? How long can one ignore an intrinsic part of oneself because the society deems it a crime? Not too long before the person would lose their minds to all the lies. Psychologically speaking, it is at this moment that you begin to dissociate yourself from this part, and force yourself to believe that the lie is in fact the truth. This is exactly what Matthew does in the film. How he comes to terms with his identity and how Omana helps him accept himself wholeheartedly hurts a place deep in my hurt. See, this is supposed to be a beautiful journey. Coming-of-age films are about acceptance, love and satisfaction. Yet, Matthew and Omana’s journey towards accepting the fact that they are romantically incompatible is prickly. There are certain moments that turn into thorns in your side. You feel the sadness well up in your throat even as old wounds now get treated.

This is because we understand, even old wounds that have not scabbed over hurt. It could be a little one, a lot another day. However, the hurt is real. Matthew had to live with this hurt his whole life and Omana could do nothing but watch over him. He act of filing for divorce is more an act for the well-being of herself and her husband. The bond that is between them is unlike any other. There used to be forced intimacy, but what years of living together has brought them is love. It is not the kind that results in marriage, but the kind that results in the two of you grabbing a late night drink at a bar somewhere as you talk of your everyday life. Omana and Matthew are friends who needed to reclaim their lives, away from the societal pressures so that they could be a better part of each other’s life and not the part that reopened wounds.

Joe Baby, the director who also gave us the Great Indian Kitchen masterfully depicts the life of Omana and Mathew so sensibly and with a sensitive approach. It is rare to see a film so well made when it centers on a relationship — especially one that is forced to stick with heteronormativity. Yet, Joe Baby has managed this and more. He doesn’t blame Omana or Matthew for the turn that their life has taken because they are victims. He doesn’t directly blame Matthew’s father either. Despite the things that he did to Matthew, the latter gets an unequivocal apology, and acceptance. This makes the parent accountable and does more for Matthew’s character than any amount of blame could have done. Such insight into humans seems to be a talent that the director is blessed with as reiterated by his treatment of the film.

Finally, actor Mammootty and Jyotika have aced their performances. Every moment was palpable, not in a thrilling way, but in a gut wrenching way. Especially scenes of Matthew crying out loud as he hugs his father, or Matthew and Omana’s conversation the night of their final divorce hearing, would bring tears to your eyes. Even as a huge weights lifts off of Matthew and Omana, we are filled with a heaviness in our hearts for the years that the two have lost. Kaadhal: The Core, is a beautiful title for a beautifully crafted film. If I have a dream, it is to see a society where the roles can be played by an LGBTQIA+ actor who is possibly as popular as Mammootty. Until such a day of acceptance, I hope that this star cast brings about a better awareness in the society.

Rating: 4 (out of 5 stars)

Kaadhal: The Core is playing in cinemas

Priyanka Sundar is a film journalist who covers films and series of different languages with a special focus on identity and gender politics.

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