A still from ‘Rekha’ | photo credit: netflix
A casual question about a pet dog, thrown in the middle of a tender moment between a couple, and an equally casual answer, suddenly changes our perceptions of him. Line and some of its characters. It’s an intelligently written scene, placed somewhere in the middle of the film for what appears to be some harmless fun in a rural setting. Rekha’s (Vinci Aloysius) reaction towards Arjun (Unni Lalu) makes us look at some of his past actions in a new light.
At the center of Jitin Issac Thomas Line There are two extended routes. The first begins innocently with a couple messaging back and forth who are newly in love, then things escalate when the boy walks into the room. The latter section unfolds as a long violent onslaught that burns into a blaze of revenge. Both of these segments start out as something interesting, but seem to go on forever, and end up like guests overstaying their welcome. The cleverness of that dog sequence is sorely missing in these parts, which at times look like space fillers.
Rekha (Malayalam)
director: Jitin Issac Thomas
mold:Vinci Alshius, Unni Lalu
Order: 121 minutes
Story: A young woman in love turns to violent revenge after a fateful night
Rekha, the protagonist, a confident young girl studying in a sports school, cares two hoots what people in the rural area think of her. From our interactions with the local people, we understand that many of them have a habit of snooping into others’ lives. It is not easy for a girl like Rekha to thrive in such an environment, yet she does. Rekha is also intimidated by some of the antics of her over-the-top boyfriend Arjun, who is especially irritated at times, which can get on the nerves of any sane person.
Whatever Isaac Thomas builds up here slowly, and a little too patiently, makes up for the astonishing revenge action that’s in store. But in the later parts, what the script lacks is covered up by extended scenes of violence, which become ineffective after the initial cathartic feeling that the line and the audience get from the detail. One also wonders why she let go of the man she was chasing after first catching him, which would have saved us some of the many pointless scenes to come.
Line Works partly as a woman’s fight against an act of injustice but ends up as an unevenly written, half-hearted effort.
Rekha is currently streaming on Netflix