Paathirathri (Malayalam)Direction: RatheenaStarring: Navya Nair, Soubin Shahir, Ann Augustine, Sunny Wayne, Achyuth Kumar, Shabareesh Varma, Indrans, Athmiya Rajan, Harisree AshokanPlot: During a night patrol, two police officers fail to report an incident they are witness to, but it comes back to haunt them and puts their careers on the line.Runtime: 125 minutes

One of the surest bets for audience appreciation in the current purple patch of Malayalam cinema has been realistic police procedurals. An intriguing screenplay bringing out all the crucial little details of the investigation and a fairly surprising twist in the tale could turn a film into a box office winner. But this trend is now slowly turning into a formula, with makers at times mechanically repeating all the familiar beats of the genre.

Often in such cases, they might get the larger picture right, but will end up missing the little details that make for standout cinema. In Ratheena's sophomore film Paathirathri, one could easily draw parallels to many of the recent films in the genre in Malayalam, right from the police protagonists with troubled personal lives to the needle of suspicion in a crime turning towards them. Here, coincidentally, both Sub-Inspector Jancy (Navya Nair) and civil police officer Hareesh (Soubin Shahir) are having trouble in their respective families.

Hareesh is also shown to be having an ill-will towards women in general, an aspect of his character which was expected to come into play when he heads out together with Jancy for night patrol duty. But in the screenplay written by Shaji Maarad, details such as this are introduced only for them to mysteriously melt away without any reason, turning them into details included just for the sake of it. On the other hand, we see the two of them suddenly becoming emotional support for each other after getting caught in a major crisis that threatens their career.

Screenplay's failure

But how the films treats these characters is the lesser of its problems, compared to the uninspiring and ineffective manner in which the investigation and the revelations are portrayed. When a seemingly big revelation at the climax of a film fails to give one even a minor jolt, it indicates the screenplay's failure in convincingly carrying us along with the narrative. Although Ratheena's impressive debut Puzhu also suffered from writing problems, she displayed the flair to drive it along unfamiliar paths, unlike in Paathirathri.

Other than the two protagonists as well as Achyuth Kumar (of 'Kantara' fame) as a senior police officer and Ann Augustine, no other character gets a proper arc. Jancy's husband Felix (Shabareesh Varma) appears once in a while to deliver hollow lines on his spiritual quest, while Harisree Ashokan also gets a forgettable role. At the fag end of the film, Jancy gets a line to connect their personal lives with the case they just handled, but it comes too late in the day to make an impact. Much of the detailing just adds to the flab, rather than adding to our understanding of the characters or the situation they are caught in.

In following a genre by the book, Paathirathri fails to bring any novelty to the table or inject excitement to the proceedings.

Paathirathri is currently running in cinemas.

'Paathirathri' movie review: An uninspiring crime procedural that fails to leave an impact