Family Drama Movie Review: A delectable dark comedy

Morality is a tough nut to crack. When overdone, the story feels preachy, and when under-explored, the film feels insensitive. Here’s Family Drama that doesn’t spend a moment pondering on the ‘correctness’ of the story, with the storyteller not also justifying the morbid actions of its miscreant characters. The situations the writing puts these characters in are dark, and yet, the mood is wickedly humorous. This balance, or should I say, this battle of tone, makes Family Drama, written by Shanmukha Prashant and Meher Tej, a thoroughly compelling film.

Directed by: Meher Tej

Starring: Suhas, Teja Kasarapu, Pooja Kiran, Anusha Nuthula

Streaming on: SonyLIV

The title is fitting, for the crooked dynamics of a family are central to this grotesque premise. When the stringent patriarch of the family threatens to oust his younger, unemployed son, Laxman (Teja Kasarapu) and his new wife, Yamini (Pooja Kiran), were he to fail to procure a job, the son has to come up with an idea to keep a roof over his head. With advice and help from his elder visibly wicked, stoner stepbrother, Rama (Suhas), Lakshman convinces his mother, who has been bearing the brunt of an abusive marriage, to poison the father into having him be paralysed forever. The father gets stripped of his motor actions and authority, but this is just the beginning of the film. This morbid opening serves as a preamble to this dark comedy and giving out anything more about the plot would hinder the viewing experience because this film is all about unpleasant surprises and hilarious violence. 

The film has only six major characters and that helps keep the narrative tight. The need for secrecy and the threat of divulgence with horrifying ramifications, lingers even in the simplest conversations. In fact, much of the screenplay is about these characters trying to share their secrets despite knowing that doing so poses danger. When a film succeeds in creating tension out of the smallest actions, you can see it’s a product of effective writing. Barring Yamini and Rama’s wife Mahati (Anusha Nuthula), the outsiders, the rest of this family—the father, mother, and the two sons—are all bad people. Some are frightfully evil, the others, simply flawed.

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I liked that the film blurs moral barriers. Throats are slit, innocents are murdered, and even the father’s helplessness is mocked. In fact, some of the funniest moments in the film have the father helplessly gnaw at the chaos unfolding in front of his eyes. The scene where Rama mocks his father’s ailment is, of course, insensitive, but watched in the context of this film, it makes you laugh. So is the scene where an uninvited guest finds himself in the wrong place at the wrong time towards the film’s ending. You know that a cruel death is imminent, and the scene has an eerie vibe to it, but the idea itself is so outrageous and silly that you can't help but buy it. 

Most of the film’s likeableness emanates from the presence and performance of Suhas, who is terrific in handling the unpredictability and volatility of his character. Backed by great writing, the Colour Photo-actor makes you root for a callous character. He can get cloying and yet be menacing. A shot where he appears in the darkness just after the characters make a discovery sends a chill down the spine. Is this film loud in places? Sure, but that’s how Suhas’ character is, and he sells it. Even when he is not on the screen, you are seeking him potentially eavesdropping on others. I wish I could praise the other actors as much, but they are functional at best. Teja Kasarapu as Lakshman is perhaps the weakest link in this film. Pooja Kiran and Anusha Nuthula, too, seem to merely exist in this madhouse. I liked though that all these characters get closure.

It’s rarely that you get a simple, contained, innovative Family Drama, and when it manages to double up as a dark comedy as well, it’s more than you can bargain for.