Odum Kuthira Chadum Kuthira review: Fahadh Faasil, Althaf Salim deliver 2025’s most disappointing Malayalam film

On the night before their wedding, Nidhi Sudheesh (Kalyani Priyadarshan) visits her fiancé, Aby Mathew (Fahadh Faasil), to share a dream she has been having for the past few days. It’s basically of Aby showing up at their wedding on a “horse that looks like a piece of white, plump halwa.” Owing to her tendency to interpret dreams as signs, she convinces him to follow this path, and with the help of his coworker Anuraj (Anuraj OB), Aby finds a white horse. However, on the day of their wedding, as he is atop it, the horse runs amok, causing Aby to fall, injure his head, and go into a coma.

Cut to a year later, Nidhi approaches his bed to inform him that she is moving on due to pressure from her family. No sooner than her departure, Aby wakes up from coma. Although he tries to get in touch with Nidhi, circumstances keep them apart. Meanwhile, Nidhi’s family fixes her wedding with another person. Aby travels to Bengaluru to his elder brother Siby’s (Vinay Forrt) place for peace. There, he meets kindergarten teacher Revathi Divakar (Revathi Pillai), whom he believes has bigger problems in life and is contemplating suicide. Assuming that she’s a damsel in distress, Aby takes it upon himself as a passion project to fix her problems. But their bond only ends up opening a can of worms.

Watch Odum Kuthira Chadum Kuthira trailer here:

In the very first act itself, it becomes evident that Aby might not be a character well-suited for Fahadh Faasil, as he struggles to keep up with the pace of Althaf Salim’s doggerel dialogues. Although the actor has proven his comedic prowess in the past, his attempts at exaggerated humour fall flat here, appearing extremely contrived. Even his frequent banters with Anuraj and Siby, as well as his weird rapport with his eccentric father Mathew (Lal), come across as too manufactured, making everything seem scripted and staged, lacking an organic feel. Althaf’s inability to build up the romance between Aby and Nidhi also contributes to the movie’s predicament. Considering that their bond forms the crux of the film and the root of every eventual conflict and occurrence, the absence of a sturdy foundation here leaves a lasting impact on the movie as a whole. Though Fahadh and Kalyani look cute together, with their real-life age gap hardly noticeable, the overall lack of chemistry between them adds to the movie’s woes.

Since much of the humour in the script hinges completely on the dialogues, the way the lines are delivered, physical gestures, and expressions, the main cast members’ inability to pull off these elements successfully detracts significantly from the experience, resulting in most of the “jokes” falling flat and making one wonder if Althaf truly believed these would resonate with the audience. Perhaps his intuition guided him, and maybe that’s what helped him create Njandukalude Nattil Oridavela as well. In that case, had Althaf focused on casting actors who could effortlessly ace verbal humour, things might have turned out at least slightly better.

However, as we move ahead, it becomes clear that it’s not just the actors’ fault. The rhythm of the movie and the events that unfold make one seriously wonder what exactly is going wrong with Odum Kuthira Chadum Kuthira — or if everything is. Even the references to old movies — particularly Lal’s character of Mathew, which has heavy shades of his iconic role from One Man Show (2001) — and pop culture appear incredibly forced. From the overt use of Dutch tilts to the weak absurdist-comedy, nothing falls into place — likely because there was no ‘place’ to begin with — and the film ends up feeling like Althaf’s desperate attempt to offer something unique. But it doesn’t take long to realise that Odum Kuthira Chadum Kuthira is an empty vessel.

Although some one-liners by Lal and Suresh Krishna (playing Nidhi’s father, Sudheesh) work, they are few and far between and never manage to compensate for the overall lack of flair in the movie. The pretentious dream sequences, shallow metaphors, and unimpactful emotional moments only exacerbate the situation. The absence of a heart and the writer-director’s failure to give it a truly cartoonish vibe leave Odum Kuthira Chadum Kuthira as an extremely undercooked dish containing too many bizarre ingredients.

Though Fahadh Faasil and Kalyani Priyadarshan look cute together, the overall lack of chemistry between them adds to the Odum Kuthira Chadum Kuthira’s woes.

While many aspects of Odum Kuthira Chadum Kuthira infuriated me, the only thing that truly saddened me was seeing Kalyani Priyadarshan take yet another nosedive as an actor — struggling in a character that clearly demanded far more than what exists in her artistic tapestry — just a day after delivering a banger like Lokah Chapter 1: Chandra, where she played a superhero. If Kalyani doesn’t focus on refining her diction and developing more elasticity in her voice soon, she might end up being enchained by her limitations, ultimately confining herself to a narrow range of roles. Revathi Pillai, though adept in her performance, is weighed down by the poor writing of her character. Jinto George’s cinematography, Justin Varghese’s music, and Mashar Hamsa’s costume design shine, but only in parts.

Odum Kuthira Chadum Kuthira movie cast: Fahadh Faasil, Kalyani Priyadarshan, Revathi Pillai, Vinay Forrt, Lal
Odum Kuthira Chadum Kuthira movie director: Althaf Salim
Odum Kuthira Chadum Kuthira movie rating: 1 star

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