Thrishanku Review: Pleasant and funny, but could have been so much more

The Malayalam movie Thrishanku is now showing across cinemas in the UAE. It is directed by Achyuth Vinayak and stars Anna Ben, Arjun Ashokan, Suresh Krishna, Zarin Shihab, Nandu, Fahim Safar, and Shiva Hariharan.

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Where can you watch Thrishanku in the UAE?

Thrishanku is currently showing in cinemas across the UAE, such as VOX Cinema and Novo Cinemas. It will probably be a while before the film hits streaming services in the UAE.

Malayalam movie Thrishanku review

The kind of roles that Anna Ben and Arjun Ashokan have made their own are very close to life and come with a veneer of easy acceptability. Whatever film they are doing and whatever character they are doing, you end up rooting for them. That is how easy and impressive the two are. And here they are in the same universe that we are used to seeing them — the agreeable middle-classness.

Even though their characters are on patented lines, the director Achyuth Vinayak starts off most impressively with a comedic stretch that presents the duo in a funny light. The first 30 minutes are so hilarious that it is almost impossible to match that in the following portions.

Sethu (Arjun Ashokan) and Megha (Anna Ben) are in love. But being from different religions, their love runs into hurdles. So they decided to elope. But on the appointed day, Sethu’s sister Suma (Zarin Shihab) and her lover elope. The stage is now set for the frenzied families to launch on a couple of couples hunts, as it were.

Sethu joins his uncles in search of his sister while Megha, who has already come out of her house, is caught in no man’s land.  To add mirth to the moments, the characters have a zany streak, and Jay Unnithan’s music provides the right flavour of fun. 

The jokes and gags keep coming. Many hit the sweet spot, too. But the laugh-riot that the initial segment promised does not materialize. Instead, we have to be content with typical jokes and slapstick improvisations. But the director does not lose grip. Even amidst the fun and frolic, he draws attention to the double standards in Sethu’s worldview. While he is happy to elope with his lover, he is unhappy with his sister pulling off the same. It is a typical male attitude — liberal for self but conservative for the women in the family. Again, as with the jokes, the director does not go further with these ideas.

The acting of Anna Ben and Arjun Ashokan is, as ever, dependable. Suresh Krishna and Nandu are all quite reliable, too. While the characters are written with the idea of milking them for humour, their serious side looks shallow and underwhelming when they show up. The parts of Sethu’s sister and her lover are decidedly written unconvincingly. You hardly care for them. And some plot turns are also too pat, but considering it is done for comic effect, it passes muster.

In the event, Thrishanku, which in Indian mythology is the place between heaven and earth. It is neither an all-out odd-ball comedy. Nor a simple romantic tale. In that sense, it lives up to its title of being neither here nor there.