Thrishanku Movie Review: Light entertainment with a unique twist 

Some clever situations transpire in Thrishanku. First, it doesn't get too bothered with establishing the backstory of how a couple -- Arjun Ashokan and Anna Ben -- met and how far their love has progressed. The establishing is too brief, to give us an idea that we are looking at a couple, and they are planning to elope. I'll tell you why this is clever later. (To avoid confusion, I'm opting to use the actors' names instead of the characters from now on.) Second, the central conflict is that Arjun's sister has eloped on the same morning he has planned to elope with Anna. 

Director: Achyuth Vinayak

Cast: Arjun Ashokan, Anna Ben, Nandu, Suresh Krishna, Krishnakumar 

I couldn't help but crack up when Arjun, who is en route to meet Anna, who is waiting for him at the bus station, gets an emergency call informing him that a "family member has left us." He panics, runs home, and sees that the atmosphere doesn't look like anything that resembles a funeral home. He sports an expression that says, "Who died?" His father attempts to jump into the well, but this situation is staged to register an effect more comical than morbid -- time slows down, sounds go mute, and the camera tilts... it's a picture of utter chaos and disorientation. You ask yourself if Arjun is more upset by the knowledge that she has ruined his plans than by her disappearance.

Here's another quality of this character: Sometimes, he gets upset with one situation but forgets the details of the most important one. The first time we notice this is when he almost forgets he is supposed to elope with Anna. The second time, someone reminds him that he is a hypocrite for mentioning that his sister isn't even 20 when he himself is dating someone of that age bracket. The third time, he locks his uncle inside a toilet while looking for Anna and later forgets that the former isn't with him. 

Essentially a road trip comedy, Thrishanku, from debutant Achyuth Vinayak, stages a double-elopement situation as though it were a heist. Yes, it's a largely dialogue-driven film, but much of its humour comes from moments of silent communication. It puts a fresh spin on an idea we had seen many times before, most notably in Malayalam cinema, in Siddique-Lal's Godfather, the ultimate comedy of errors which revolved around clandestine love affairs. In fact, it was the first film that came to mind while watching Thrishanku because the latter also involves opposing (or not) relatives suddenly thrown into absurd situations. The film's cleverest moment has to be the one where his uncles have to pretend to be a gay couple to gain entry into a club.

I mentioned earlier how the film doesn't indulge in elaborate exhibitions of either couple's romance in order for us to ascertain the depth of their bond. The film instead uses the ensuing chaos as a trial to see which couple would come out on the other side with their relationship intact.

Krishnakumar plays Anna Ben's police officer dad, while Nandu and Suresh Krishna get the lion's share to shine as Arjun's uncles. Nandu represents the typical WhatsApp uncle: the kind who calculates the bus number to see if the final digit is a lucky one before boarding it, who wouldn't want any untoward activity to sully their family's "pride and prestige". On the other hand, the overprotective Krishnakumar takes a screenshot of the bus number and is willing to go to any extent to bring his daughter back. 

But despite the presence of these relatives with rigidly held beliefs, the film never goes into an unnervingly dark space. It maintains a light tone throughout while not having any lofty aspirations. It's light, escapist entertainment, pure and simple. It's not one to flaunt great depth. It's not groundbreaking material, but it didn't bother me. Interestingly, for a film that demonstrates a small measure of self-awareness ("This is not a Telugu movie," says one character), everything that follows feels like they belong in a movie. I don't mean this negatively because the makers are perfectly aware this is a Malayalam movie.