Amazon Prime’s Kuruthi (2021) Review: A Great Thriller with a Heart

Kuruthi (which loosely translates to A Holy Killing) is an Indian Malayalam action-thriller directed by Manu Warrier and stars Roshan Mathew, Prithviraj Sukumaran, Shine Tom Chacko, Murali Gopy, Mamukkoya, and Srinda Arhaan among other cast members. It was released on Amazon Prime Video this Wednesday. The film had a total run time of just over 2 hours and though the film is primarily in Malayalam, English subtitles are made available on the site itself.

Amazon Prime Video describes the film as:

kuruthi is a story about how enduring human relations that transcend boundaries struggle to survive trials of hatred and prejudice

Via Amazon Prime Video

– Kuruthi review does not contain spoilers –

Kuruthi is a thriller with tender undertones of religion, bias, loss, and hatred. It revolves around Ibrahim (Roshan Mathew) who has recently lost his wife and child in a devastating landslide. The same landslide also killed his close friend Gopy’s (Manikandan Achari) wife. Gopy’s sister Suma (Srinda Arhaan) does her part by helping out around the house and bringing over food once in a while. Although there is a religious divide among the two households, they live in peace and friendship. But when all of them get involved in a mouse chases the cat race, things quickly go south. Will their bond survive religious bias or will it crack under the pressure of hate?

Kuruthi is a great thriller. It alternates between pulling tension and loosening the plot as and when needed. With that, it also deals with concepts like religious bias and hatred, betrayal, and dealing with death. However, while it tries to positively approach the religious divide, the ending while being ironic in a way, dilutes the main message of the film. Someone who maybe would not understand the ironic statement made, the film could be precedent to the complete opposite message instead.

Coming to the more technical aspects of Kuruthi, the cinematography is breathtaking. It catches you off guard, with bright visuals indoors and dark, shady ones outdoors. Even the acting is honest, intense, and seamless. There is a big lack of character development, with most characters following the path you think they would in the beginning too. That said, the movie is a thriller and it does do its job and more: thrill you and then leave space to think.

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You will really only enjoy this movie if you really focus on the dialogue. Throughout the movie, the dialogues and the interactions between the characters really enhance the message the film is trying to bring out.

Kuruthi‘s message is deep-rooted in human nature. It explores humanity’s tendency to always think of ourselves as “us” and “them”. We develop hatred for those who are different from us and only find peace within those that share our thought process. Because of the strength in the script and acting, this message comes out in an innovative way that remains unexplored in Indian cinema.

Another thing that sticks out about Kuruthi is how each character is extremely flawed. No character is completely right and none of them is completely wrong. All of them have a certain backstory that sort of justifies their actions and motivations. This makes them more relatable to the viewer and also enhances how the message sinks in towards the end.

Final Verdict: Kuruthi

Kuruthi is one of those action thrillers that focus on a great script, strong acting, and out-of-the-box cinematography to really make this a strong film. It features some great soundtracks that move the plot forward, action sequences that look as real as possible and grey characters one can really understand.

All in all, this movie is a definite must-watch action thriller that deeply explores human nature rather than just focus on the action part of it.

Kuruthi is now streaming on Amazon Prime Video.

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