Malayalam language thriller film ‘Keedam‘ starring Rajisha Vijayan and veteran actor Sreenivasan in lead roles is now streaming on Zee5 India. The film had its theatrical release on 20th May. Keedam is written and directed by award winning director Rahul Riji Nair who previously collaborated with Rajisha Vijayan in the 2020 film Kho-Kho.
The film follows Radhika Balan, a fiesty, independent cyber security expert who runs a tech start-up. She initially is very much ethical in her use of tech but resorts to punishing men who harassed her and stalked her on her cellphone breaking the framework of law.
Besides being a decent techno-thriller, there are many reasons why one should give this Rajisha Vijayan starrer a try. Some of them are:
1) A non-stereotypical modern Indian woman written by a man.
We often complain about how male gaze trumps intentions when female characters or heroes are written by men. Rahul Riji Nair has done a fair job with Radhika Balan, who is neither a scorned super-woman out there to save the world nor a damsel in distress. She is an independent hard working woman who resorts to justice herself by her own means.
2) A well written Father-Daughter relationship
Malayalam Cinema off-late has been doing a really good job writing lovely father-daughter duos. Be it Om Shanti Oshana, June, Uyare or Helen, the Father-daughter relationship always managed to remain the best part of respective films. Sreenivasan and Rajisha share impeccable chemistry together and their scenes together hit close to home if you’re a woman. Despite being a lawyer himself, we are shown a worried father and a feet on ground daughter.
3) Reversal of Saviour syndrome
Rahul Riji has successfully reversed the male-hero saviour syndrome in the film. We have a woman who takes charge of her own family of two and avenges injustice meted out to her. Gone are the days, men were accepted as saviours of women. And Rahul proves Radhikas are the future of women.
4) Closer look at Privacy and Cyber Security
The film hits back at the hypocrisy of Fundamental Right to Privacy granted by the Constitution with its repeated references to violence against women, online harassment, stalking etc and how normalised is privacy compromises in our country. The film also shows how tweaked is India’s cyber laws.
5) The Techno-thriller element doesn’t take audience for granted.
The technical language used throughout the film is such that novices can understand what actually is going on. At the same time audience’ intelligence is not taken for granted by dumbing cyber complexities down either. One can see that enough research has gone behind the writing and making of the film.
6) The Performances
Both Rajisha Vijayan and Sreenivasan form a terrific duo. Rajisha does really well as a strong, self capable, fiesty and protective woman of today’s times who doesn’t need a saviour for herself but also is no super-woman. She is believable and real. Sreenivasan gives a rooted and vulnerable performance as a worried single father who seeks solace and comfort in his daughter.