Director-writer Jubith Namradath is an angry man trying to sample every single social cause prevalent in the (Indian) society today. His characters are all regular people - boys and girls - trying to live life and where they experience friction. From travel buses named after political personalities to commentary about Kerala's political and social status quo, the film is actually a release of unnecessary ire that seems to have percolated from the makers' own experiences. I get it when they make such a film that has every ingredient to be considered vindictive, but I am not sure what the surrealistic sequences involving Rima Kallingal was meant to be or what am I supposed to understand from the ambiguous ending. Broken pieces stitched together by an amateur tailor is all what Aabhaasam is as it tries and fails to tell a story, among other things. Every other character has a story here, but the fact that Namradath does not complete a single one and instead lives on the periphery is what costs Aabhaasam the attention it seemingly deserves. Except the music by Oorali (which is experimental, to say the least), the camera work, the whole idea of bringing a bunch of people together and mixing their perspectives, and some good performances by the cast members like Suraj Venjaramoodu and Alencier Lopez, there is nothing much to take away from this road drama. Aabhaasam is like a social media post where the poster has written an essay on few terrible experiences. A few likes and approving comments later, the post stops making an impact. Just like this film. TN.
