The 2021 Malayaman drama Erida promises the audience a ride in the likes of Aditya Datt’s Table No. 21 mixed with Vishal Pandya’s Hate Story 3. However, the end results dissuade the audience from saying anything good about this piece of cinema as it is a let-down, very much like the Hindi films it tries to mimic in essence. Directed by VK Prakash, the film stars Samyuktha Menon in the titular role along with stars Kishore and Nasser in the lead roles. The cast also includes supporting actors like Nizhalkal Ravi, Hareesh Peradi, Hareesh Raj and Dharmajan Bolgatty.
From the production house of Aroma Cinemas and Good Company, this suspenseful action thriller has both Tamil and Malayaman audio with English subtitles. The film has a runtime of a little more than two hours and tries to be a feministic noir but, fails indefinitely.
– Amazon Prime’s Erida movie review does not contain spoilers –
Amazon Prime’s Erida: Out of Context Drama
The story essentially revolves around the characters of Samyuktha and Nasser, who initially seem like a happily married couple. Even though Nasser is visibly older and predictably wealthy, the relationship the duo share seems to be a bed of roses. Until we see the couple retreat to their country house and learn how everything has been a pretence. By the time, we process the little revelations, another character takes the center stage.
The dark thriller then introduces the character of Kishore, who not only looks unrecognizable in his role but also, an uninvited, unnecessary add on given half the context what the film is set on feels incomplete and distant. Erida replicates the character of Draupadi from the epic, Mahabharat given how her husband just like the Pandavas put the wife at stake in a game of poker. But solely by drawing a reference to mythology, it is foolish to think that the entire film will flip to take a feminist side.
Image Credit: Still from Erida movie, now streaming on Amazon Prime Video 
Image Credit: Still from Erida movie, now streaming on Amazon Prime Video
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Hate, deception, love and murder all join hands to enter the murky water that this film is. With the name of the Greek Goddess of Hate- Erida, introduced to us in The Illiad, the film strives to be vile and bitter to defend its women or give power to the female characters but, everything it does never clicks in place and feels disjointed.
The circumstances of the film being shot with lockdown restrictions need to be taken into consideration and yet, with that in mind, one cannot unsee how sheer waste of time and talent this film has been. It’s a two-hour-long watch and it sure feels like a task, even though the premise tries to wrap us up in twists and climaxes.
Amazon Prime’s Erida: Final Verdict
Image Credit: Still from Erida movie, now streaming on Amazon Prime Video
You can save yourself the trouble and choose to not stream Erida, for it has nothing new to offer. And, in an age like this, a story that has the potential to be something brilliant but fails to succeed because the premise is not ironed out well is not another shocker. However, if you are a fan of the actors who are the saving grace in the film, you can be the decider of how you like the film.
You can watch the 2021 film Erida now, streaming on Amazon Prime Video.
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