19(1)(a) Movie Review

Filmmaker Indu V.S’s directorial outing ’19 (1) (a)’ deals with an intense theme that has two layers: One that speaks about the freedom of expression, signified by the title, and the other one, a staunch belief of a woman, who carries forward an ideology…

Set in the little town in Kerala, Nithya Menen is seen as an ordinary girl who runs a Xerox shop, which indeed is her father’s profession. When a reputed social activist-writer Gauri Shankar (Vijay Sethupathi) gives the manuscript of his next book to photocopy and unfortunately gets assassinated by a few miscreants, it leaves an impact on her.

In general, the world has witnessed the power of a woman, when it comes to having belief in an ideology, and ritually spreading it. Nithya Menen’s character loudly represents this factor. She might look like a woman of few words, but has a lot of layers buried within. It’s more like a relationship between a founder of religion called ‘Truth’ and his disciple. The only conversation between these two characters in the movie doesn’t exceed more than 5 minutes. However, those words from Gauri Shankar keep echoing in Nithya Menen’s mind in different situations and convey a different meaning. Vijay Sethupathi has played an extended cameo in many Tamil movies, but this one is something more special. Although his role is limited, we can feel his presence throughout the movie. The actor had attempted this in his erstwhile movies like Seethakaathi and Ka Pae Ranasingam, but it has worked out only in this movie.

On the flip side, the movie looks so silent all the time, and some of the scenes look dragged. Both the actors Vijay Sethupathi and Nithya Menen deliver an appreciable performance. Indrans has limited time-space. Indrajith could have gotten a few more prominence.

If Indu had tried making this drama look more intense with dialogues and gripping scenes, this would have been more excellent.