Secret Home

It had the potential to be a gripping procedural, but Anil Kurian's writing choices leave you high and dry. Despite the recurring portrayal of Saran's abusive conduct towards Sarika, their dysfunctional relationship lacked resonance because there is hardly anything fresh in their one-note characterisations. Also, you have a young woman, Ayana (Aparna Das), with unexplained psychic visions to solve the following mystery instead of the cops, who are mostly shown to be lackadaisical in their job. The major gripe would be in terms of how the characters evolve inconsistently. By the time the makers gloriously squander around Ayana's underwhelming visions and Sarika's redundant flashbacks, you are pretty much zoned out of the narrative that is supposedly preparing you for its big reveal in the end.

The basic premise of the film is based on a true crime that garnered attention in Kerala about a decade ago. It had the potential to be a gripping procedural, but Anil Kurian’s writing choices leave you high and dry. Despite the recurring portrayal of Saran’s abusive conduct towards Sarika, their dysfunctional relationship lacked resonance because there is hardly anything fresh in their one-note characterisations. Also, you have a young woman, Ayana (Aparna Das), with unexplained psychic visions to solve the following mystery instead of the cops, who are mostly shown to be lackadaisical in their job.