22 Female Kottayam

’22 Female Kottayam’ is the story of a 22 year old girl from Kottayam, Tessa.K.Abraham. Tessa works in a hospital in Bengaluru and like many other nurses, dreams of going abroad and making her life better. It is in the course of trying this out that she meets Cyril (Fahd Faasil), who runs an agency that helps with emigration and related things. Cyril starts helping Tessa get things ready and in due course they get drawn to each other. They even get physical and Cyril is so possessive about Tessa that one day, during a visit to a pub, he thrashes up a guy who misbehaves with Tessa. That lands him in trouble, as the guy is the son of some important and influential person. Cyril has to go into hiding for a couple of days. Hegde (Prathap Pothen), who is like a mentor to Cyril, helps him out by hiding him in his farmhouse and also by talking to those who want to hunt down Cyril. Tessa, who is so worried about Cyril, doesn’t know that things are to go totally wrong for her. All hell would break loose on her the very same day and she would be rendered totally helpless. It’s from here that the story takes a new turn.

The highlight of the film is that it’s a totally woman-centric film. We are brought face to face not just with Tessa’s fate, but also with the destiny of many such other women whom she comes across later in the film. We come across guys on the prowl, one who approaches a hapless and helpless girl with a courteous smile and says “Can I have sex with you?” and then goes on to rape her brutally and another who never forces him on anyone but loves girl and accepts sexual favours from girls he helps out in many ways. At the same time there is the flirtatious old patient named Ravi, who finally evolves into getting a saint like proportion. The way the lead characters- that of Tessa and Cyril- are portrayed, is what makes the film so refreshingly different. It becomes almost difficult to point out such characters that you have come across in Malayalam Cinema. You may name Hindi films and Hollywood movies that bear semblance to ’22 Female Kottayam’ and I won’t bother deny the parallels (I myself felt it and even felt like asking myself, “Hey, is this going to be yet another remake”), but there is no denying the fact that ’22 Female Kottayam’ is refreshingly different and a portrayal of startling realities from contemporary life. It’s a film that you got to see and it’s a film that you got to take your wives to see; you should also recommend your women friends to go see the film. But, in our social conditions, it may not be advisable to go see the movie along with your kids and your other close relatives. You are likely to feel awkward at places…

The Movie z Good… in fact startling, disturbing and impressive.