Sufiyum Sujatayum is a Malayalam-language drama film written and directed by Naranipuzha Shanavas. The film stars Aditi Rao Hydari, Dev Mohan and Jayasurya.
Poetry… not quite
So Sufiyum Sujatayum, as the title suggests, focuses on Sujatha and Sufi. Sujata is unable to speak and their love story starts off silently and slowly, but with much heart. The two leads looked at each other with so much love that it was heart-warming. However, as things go in life, it doesn’t work out between them, and she is forced to marry Rajeev. That proves to be a mess, and then things come to a head when tragedy strikes.
So, one of the primary things I liked about the movie was the chemistry between Sujatha and Sufi. As I said above, it was heart-warming to see them falling in love, and as a character says in the movie, “it’s pure love.” From the looks of it, it honestly is. Unfortunately, it stops there. The movie tends to drag quite a bit, especially in the second half. There are scenes even in the first half that seemed quite unnecessary and slowed the pace of the movie quite a bit.
The film also had themes of love jihad that it mentioned once or twice, but did not focus on. It came as soon as it went, and that was that. Sujatha was married off to Rajeev at the drop of a hat and we didn’t really talk about that topic at all.
There are moments where Sufiyum Sujatayum shines, and in those moments, the scenes are like poetry. It flows from one to another. But at other times, it focuses on issues that we don’t care about and focuses on them for far too long. Especially the unnecessary second half. There’s this entire scene which was so unnecessary that I don’t know why it was necessary. The songs help, though. All the songs and the background music bind the movie well – they form the ‘rooh’ of the film.
Characters you love and hate
I don’t get parents’ logic in forcing their children to get married. Sujatha’s parents’ extremely selfish behaviour caused a great deal of pain to not only their daughter, but also the innocent son-in-law, who had nothing to do with the entire situation. If only they had not been this selfish, a lot of heartbreak and sadness could’ve been avoided. But alas.
Sufiyum Sujatayum’s Sujatha starts off as a sweet and gentle woman. She’s fun and happy, and cares for everyone around her. However, when she is forced to leave the love of her life, she becomes bitter. I get that. But why would you knowingly cause distress to someone who has nothing to do with your sadness?
Rajeev doesn’t seem like a bad person in the little we see of him. He seems to care for Sujatha, even though he’s frustrated with her love for Sufi. Honestly, that’s understandable. However, why this animosity towards him? Has he done something to cause this? We don’t see this. I wish we were given a little more insight into their life to know about him a bit better.
It’s a shame that we don’t get to see Jayasurya too much. I would’ve loved to see him and his relationship with Sujatha. However, he’s great in the little we are exposed to his character. So is Aditi Rao Hydari. Honestly, she’s so beautiful that I couldn’t take my eyes off of her. And since she didn’t have any dialogues, she had to do a lot of emoting through her eyes and face, and she’s splendid.
This is Dev Mohan’s first movie, and he is great as well as the mysterious Sufi, with his curious demeanour, raw and mesmerising talent and dimpled smile. I would love to see more of him in future films. The entire supporting cast is also pretty good. Except for the car driver, he was the comic break and was honestly quite annoying.
Summing up: Sufiyum Sujatayum
With some great music, solid performances, and lovely chemistry, Sufiyum Sujatayum could’ve really shone. However, with a very heavy second half that went nowhere and some slow portions in the first half, the movie couldn’t be what I had expected it to be. If you’re planning to watch it, it would be a good idea to skip ahead in some parts. Otherwise, it will tend to get boring.
Sufiyum Sujatayum is streaming now on Amazon Prime Video.