Rekhachithram: Indian movies have been mistreating women for decades, but Asif Ali’s Malayalam thriller attempts to redeem the entire industry

Also read – Marco: Unni Mukundan’s reprehensible film ruins Malayalam cinema’s reputation singlehandedly; Bollywood isn’t the only industry learning all the wrong lessons

Asif Ali in a still from Rekhachithram.

The film’s protagonist is still a man; a police man, in fact. Played by Asif Ali, SI Vivek is introduced as a bit of a gambling addict. Caught playing rummy at work, he’s sent on a punishment posting to a quiet little hamlet called Malakkappara. Not too long after his arrival, a middle-aged man records a video of his suicide, and posts it online. He confesses to having buried the body of an unknown young woman four decades ago, and reveals where her remains can be found. He admits that he has never quite recovered from the guilt, and names four co-conspirators. Vivek unearths the woman’s remains, and eventually discovers her identity. She was Rekha, an aspiring actress — think of her like Margot Robbie’s character from Babylon — who ran away from home and found herself playing an extra on an actual Mammootty film, Kathodu Kathoram.

Rekha made an impression on everyone around her. She was passionate, a little naive, but determined to pursue her dreams. However, she disappeared from the face of the earth the same day she filmed her only shot in Kathodu Kathoram. Vivek’s investigation leads him to a local convent, where Rekha seemingly stayed on the night of her disappearance. The nuns were convinced that she ran away with their money, but decided not to report her to the police because it would invite unwanted interest in their affairs and attract bad publicity for the church. Rekha’s reputation, at least in the minds of the nuns who helped her, remained tarnished for nearly 40 years.

Much like its protagonist, Rekhachithram performs its duties as an investigative thriller with stoic sincerity. The identity of Rekha’s killers is revealed in the very first scene, and their motivation behind murdering her is explained well before the film’s climax. But that’s because Chacko and his writers, John Manthrickal and Ramu Sunil, aren’t really interested in resolving the mystery. They have something else up their sleeve. As the hero of our story, Vivek is expected to get to the bottom of things. And the resolution, when arrives, is as satisfying as you’d have hoped for it to be. But then, with around 30 minutes remaining, Rekhachithram reveals the reason why this title literally translates to “Rekha’s film.”

For the majority of the movie’s run time, Rekha was reduced to a background presence; a plot device, a conduit between the past and present. But it is only in the third act that the movie resolves to treat her with the respect that she deserves. His job done — the mystery behind the skeleton is solved, and the culprits are arrested — Vivek goes on a new mission. He devotes himself to finding out who Rekha was as a person. She wasn’t merely a dead body, swept under the sands of time, forgotten by everyone but her loved ones. She was a living, breathing human being whose promising life was cut short by cruel men (and a woman). Another crime movie would’ve reduced her to the footnotes, but Rekhachithram puts her in the spotlight, as she’d have liked.

Anaswara Rajan in a still from Rekhachithram.

Read more – Rifle Club: A mind-blowing metaphor for the Malayalam industry’s emergence as India’s boldest creative hub

How refreshing is this? Remember, Indian cinema still doesn’t know exactly what to do with cop character. They’re either tossing cars at each other in Rohit Shetty’s asinine films, or they’re avenging the murder or mistreatment of their wives and daughters. Others, such as Deepak Dobriyal’s character in the recent Netflix film Sector 36, require personal motivation to do their job. It’s almost as if Dobriyal’s overworked police officer wouldn’t have even tried to solve a series of murders had his own daughter not been made a victim of an attempted kidnapping.

In Rekhachithram, Vivek doesn’t have any skin in the game. His tarnished reputation was merely a red herring. He isn’t on a redemption arc, nor does the movie imply that he’s some kind of hero for going above and beyond the call of duty. By clearing Rekha’s name, he’s clearing his own. By spotlighting her, Rekhachithram is spotlighting all the female characters who’ve been disrespected by our cinema.