Koode Movie Review – A Tale of Human Bonds

The song ‘Vanaville‘ was trending even before the release of ‘Koode‘. It’s a perfect blend of human emotions, going in analogy with nature. It is no surprise that the masses have accepted this song joyfully. Just like the song, the movie which unites the director Anjali Menon and Nazriya, ‘Koode’ stands high among the narratives that focusses on human connections. The story is about the relationship between the siblings Joshua and Jenny, portrayed by Prithviraj and Nazriya respectively.

Despite the fact that the movie was inspired by the Marathi movie Happy Journey, Anjali Menon’s fresh presentation makes it infinite more times worth to watch.

Joshua who gives prime importance to his family, works in Dubai since he’s 15. His return and facing life in its all its best and worst moments is the story of ‘Koode’. Nazriya who portrays the role of Jenny, Joshua’s younger sister who’s sick, adds some of the cute and heartwarming scenes in the movie. One gets an idea of how it’s gonna end, but the idea is to show the human nature as realistically as possible. Prithviraj‘s 100th movie, is a performance that he can look back proudly. The last couple of movies was a bit of lackluster for the youth icon, but ‘Koode’ shows his finer micro expressions which result in a highly controlled acting style, something very necessary for a movie like ‘Koode’ which deals with something delicate.

The director has also introduced fantasy elements in the movie, which the audiences are getting acquainted with. What the director is trying to tell us is how the in the course of life, we tend to give importance to things that doesn’t need attention and in the way loose sight of what really matters. Ranjith, whom we see in the silver screen after quite a while, plays the role of Prithviraj’s father. Ranjith‘s voice to us is what Samuel Jackson‘s voice is to Hollywood. Parvathy who plays Prithviraj’s love interest, doesn’t have much of a screen space, but she delivers a matured performance.

The cinematography is other worldly. The lens takes us inside the story itself. Instead of just seeing them, we believe. Little Swayamp, has truly crafted a piece of art here. Whether it was capturing the nature or showing the emotions in ‘Brownie’, he has proved his talent. Raghu Dixit and M. Jayachandran has handled the music department very well.

The second half comes off as a little slow, but that is completely justified since this isn’t a commercial entertainer. Anjali has taken care not to make this an often told tear jerker drama, just to make the audience feel. The character Jenny seems to break the fourth wall when she says, “If I wasn’t there, this would’ve been an award movie.” Well she’s partly correct. There could have been something more. Nazriya breathes soul into the movie more than anyone and makes us rethink the relationships we take for granted.