Dear Friend Malayalam Movie Review

 

Picture Courtesy: TOI

I came to Bangalore almost 7 years ago and since then I have been a part of many friend groups. Some that lasted through years and some that perished like it could never be bonded again. I have met friends who lied through their teeth and friends who became family. When you make those bonds, it feels like that phase is going to last years, yet time and people, proves you wrong. If you showed me the movie Dear Friend, 10 years ago I would be surprised how people even bonded like this. Cut to me in my thirties after travelling across the country, building one’s own tribe in an overcrowded population, you realize how precious these bonds are. How people come together, bond over the fact that they find something common amidst the loneliness of a new place and aspirations of a better future.

Picture Courtesy: TOI

May be that’s the reason why Dear Friend won’t appeal to a general audience, this kind of a life might feel a bit “new generation” and “unrealistic” but people who have gone through that will know, it is much more than that. Years ago when I landed in Bangalore, all of us had only one reference, that the city is the place of freedom, as the much popular movie ‘Bangalore Days’ showed us. As the director Anjali Menon herself said, it was the Las Vegas for us Malayali crowd and the movie did capture the vibe and beauty of the city. 

Picture Courtesy: The Hindu

What director Vineeth Kumar got so accurate is the life of those youngsters who land up from various states here alone and how they build their lives. From big career struggles to a late night “Unnakkaya” (a sweet snack from Kerala) walk, the beauty of the movie is its world building.  I am sure either the director or writers Sharfu, Suhas or Arjun Lal has had a Bangalore life, without which such accurate portrayal of the nuances of the life here doesn’t seem possible.

Picture Courtesy: The Hindu

Now coming to the main criticism about the movie, the climax, could someone be so cold and downright brutal to just don’t care at all? Can someone lie almost everything about their existence and character? Answer is unfortunately yes, may be if you were lucky enough to not encounter someone like that, you might not be able to completely digest it, but there are worse people around. But I also agree that while building up the whole narrative of that character, they left too many easter eggs that amounted to nothing at the end. To have the event wrapped up literally streets away in the same city was a bit too illogical considering, you inform the audience of the greater pursuit by investigation agencies behind the character. Although climax was a slight bummer for me, till that moment, I had no complaints about the movie as it was thoroughly engaging and relatable. 

Picture Courtesy: The Hindu

There is not one character who were caricaturist and the attention to detail is just spectacular. For example how the movie didn’t showcase a posh setting just because the narrative shifts to Bombay in between and portraying friendships in a realistic manner. Most of the relationships portrayed on screen are so very aspirational and one- dimensional, that we hope to find such characters, while in real life people we meet such diverse and interesting people. 

Picture Courtesy: Youtube

Also shout out to the team for finally showcasing one decent portrayal of a psychologist actually doing her job and showing us glimpses of how therapy works. After seeing so many movies with outrageous depiction of psychology and therapy, Darshana’s character was so well written and she nailed it and so did each actor in the movie. It’s not very often you come across a movie where the entire cast, however big and small, perform their part to perfection.

So in conclusion, Dear Friend is a movie that I ultimately loved for it’s near perfect world building and engaging narrative. If you are someone who is interested more in the journey than the destination, you will enjoy the movie.

Give this one a try, you can watch Dear Friend on Netflix.