Sukhamano Sukhamann movie review: Mathew Thomas’ film is pure torture

Following the deaths of his last known relatives, Theo (Mathew Thomas) has been leading a barren existence in his big, old house, with no friends, acquaintances, or anyone to talk to. What makes matters worse is his childhood trauma. However, his life changes when he stumbles upon the ghost of an elderly man (Spadikam George), who becomes his new relative. Thus, Theo realises the way he can create a new family. For this, he joins a crematorium as staff under a man named Iype (Jagadish), and in due course, his family begins to grow as he finds more ghosts from there. Meanwhile, he comes across a young woman, Charu (Devika Sanjay), who is suffering from a life-threatening disease and only has a few more weeks to live. As he falls for her romantically, Theo’s life takes a new turn.

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In all honesty, there’s nothing worth mentioning in Sukhamano Sukhamann. Although the movie had at its core an intriguing idea — a young man grappling with childhood trauma and PTSD, leading an isolated life, unable to forge any meaningful bonds with the people or world around him, thus never having a sense of belonging anywhere — Arunlal’s writing is extremely shoddy, and it never even scratches the surface of its potential.

At the same time, Sukhamano Sukhamann is also packed with scenes that seem inspired by 2000s Malayalam soap operas, where the actors’ only job is to come stand at their mark in the frame and deliver their lines, and technicians simply have to capture these visuals, adding nothing extra. Worse still, the dialogues here sound as if they were crafted by someone who only recently learned to write in full sentences and is practising for an upcoming exam.

At one point, one of Theo’s many ghost relatives, Unnikrishnan (Noby Marcose), tells another, “Such pathetic jokes can’t be found even in Somalia,” after hearing Theo’s attempts at flirting with Charu. While this statement itself is too absurd even as hyperbole, since the Somalia analogy is senseless, one can consider it Arunlal’s subtle, indirect commentary on his own writing, particularly the many so-called jokes in the movie that won’t make anyone laugh, even if tickled.

Watch Sukhamano Sukhamann trailer here:

Worse still, although Sukhamano Sukhamann appears to have a novel idea at its centre, it is marred by hackneyed and worn-out conflicts and plot devices that remind one of movies like Kudumba Vishesham (1994), Santhanagopalam (1994), Teja Bhai & Family (2011), and Oru Indian Pranayakadha (2013) far too often. The comedic moments, on the other hand, don’t have the quality of even the mediocre amateur skits found in Malayalam TV comedy reality shows.

It may be a mean thing to say, but Mathew’s performance here seems as if he’s completely lost interest in acting, so he’s not even bothered to try. One could even say that he has completed the whole movie with just three expressions at best, with his dialogue delivery, pointlessly laced with overt innocence, sounding extremely feigned. Although Theo, in principle, had the potential to be explored in depth given his extremely limited interactions with people around, Mathew has failed to add any weight to it.

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While Devika Sanjay’s performance is serviceable, she is stuck here in a character that very evidently appears to be an extension of Teenamol, her role in her debut movie, Njan Prakashan, almost making one feel like this is what the latter’s life would have turned out to be had she lived a few more years. Also, you know a movie is horrible when even a veteran like Jagadish’s performance seems awkward and directionless.

Sukhamano Sukhamann movie cast: Mathew Thomas, Devika Sanjay, Jagadish
Sukhamano Sukhamann movie director: Arunlal Ramachandran
Sukhamano Sukhamann movie rating: 0.5 stars