Eesho Movie Review: Jayasurya, Nadirshah dish out an outdated, forgettable film

After attempting a slew of fun (at least on paper) entertainers, Nadirshah has forayed into a serious zone for the first time with his latest outing, Eesho. On the surface level, it's a minimalistic thriller woven around a chance encounter between two characters over the course of a night. Eesho begins in the most amateurish way possible — an old-fashioned song that captures a mother-daughter bonding. The song's composition and rendering are very similar to the track 'Enno Njanente' from Nadirshah's debut film Amar Akbar Anthony (AAA). The similarities could have ended here. But...

Cast: Jayasurya, Jaffer Idukki, Namitha Pramod, Suresh Krishna

Director: Nadirshah

Rating: 2/5

Like in AAA, Eesho also has a child abuse angle. But thankfully, there's no jarring tonal shift here. This time, Nadirshah seems to be clearly aware of the seriousness of the topic, and fortunately, he never tries to dilute it with needless fun moments. Unfortunately, Nadirshah falters miserably with the filming of the abuse scenes, where his choice of showing a pedophile's POV is plain unnecessary. 

At the centre of the action is Ramachandran Pillai (Jaffer Idukki), an ATM security guard, who is witness to a gruesome crime. And naturally, evil forces try to kill him. On the night before testifying in court, he encounters a mysterious man (Jayasurya) on the road. The narrative is mostly centered around these two men, their interactions, and finally... the big revelation.

Unfortunately, Suneesh Varanad's writing is so insipid that the supposed big reveal unravels itself in the first few minutes. There is a lot of exposition at the beginning, which gives away everything and nullifies the intrigue factor. With Jayasurya at the helm, there can be no doubts either about the so-called reveal.

Nevertheless, Eesho is saved to a large extent by the performances of its two lead actors. Both Jayasurya and Jaffer Idukki are absolute naturals and manage to keep their exchanges lively despite the hollowness in writing. Once the light-hearted interactions end, there's an attempt to thrill the viewer with some tense moments. But Nadirshah hardly has a grip on making these intimidations work, and we are left with an archaic and predictable train wreck of a climax.

Another drawback of Eesho is certainly the lack of interesting supporting characters. Despite talented actors like Suresh Krishna and Namitha Pramod present in the cast, they are relegated to one-note characters with hardly anything to do in this film. It is almost like they are present as afterthoughts. Even if we could look past many of these issues, Eesho is weighed down by its complete lethargy towards rising above conventions. It is most evident from the patchy production design and awkwardly flashy cinematography.

Even while dealing with such predictable vigilantism-upholding tales, filmmakers in the past have come up with compelling thrillers. But with hardly any inventiveness in storytelling, Eesho suffers irredeemably and ends up as a forgettable affair.