Chithha Movie Review

Director SU Arunkumar is well and truly back with a strong, nail biting thriller which is also an emotionally hard hitting drama. Chithha is a very well made film that holds us by the throat at many points, making us uncomfortable and forcing us to think about the content that it brings forward and the consequences on screen.

Chithha is the story of a man with a government job Eeswaran (Siddharth), who stays with his anni and her daughter Settai (a terrific Sahasra). Eeswaran and Settai share a wondrous relationship, akin to a father-daughter combination. However, not all of Eeswaran’s decisions take him forward in the right way leading him to issues he never even thought of. Chithha’s first initially takes its time to introduce its characters and establish their work forces, after which it slowly glides into an uncomfortable quarter where the film takes off handsomely. There is absolutely no blip from thereon, as the film keeps giving us something to care out, and also making us question a few things that happen onscreen. SU Arunkumar manages to break few stereotypes and brings out real emotions from his characters and successfully transfers them to the audiences.

If you thought the first half was good, the second half is even better as it smashes in many nail-biting sequences, which are big plus points to the film. The film keeps us engaged thoroughly through its superb screenplay that does not allow any room for big errors, and keeps moving forward with its emotional quotient in check. Chithha definitely is worth a watch majorly for the way in which it deals with its core, in an open and no-holds-barred way.

Siddharth delivers an utterly wonderful performance in the film, showing an entirely new form of himself. It is hard to see him as Siddharth and we do see him more as the character Eeswaran, and that is the director SU Arunkumar’s great win.

Nimisha Sajayan gets a solid role in her Tamil debut, and plays it to the T. Her dialogues in the second half will receive a lot of claps surely. The film also benefits big time from the performances of the two kids, Sahasra in particular is entirely awesome. Credit must go to the team for picking new actors as much as possible, and staying away from well-known faces who would have brought down the realism in the film.

Technically, Chithha is superb and there is no big flaw in the cinematogrraphy, editing and musical departments. Vishal Chandrasekhar’s BGM and Dhibu Ninan Thomas’ songs are excellent on the whole.

Toting up, Chithha’s final 30 minutes might be a bit debatable as the team has tried something new, but that does not take away the fact that the film lands up as one of the best we have seen this year. An absolute must watch. Chithha Movie Review by Siddarth Srinivas

Chithha Movie Review Rating: 4/5