Valathu Vashathe Kallan movie review: Jeethu Joseph delivers yet another unsatisfactory crime thriller aimed solely at outsmarting the audience

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Valathu Vashathe Kallan offers decisive proof that Jeethu Joseph isn’t called out enough for slipping in crimes against women, particularly assaults and harassment, as plot devices and for so-called character development, into his movies all too casually, seemingly because he or his writer(s) couldn’t come up with anything else. Since the beginning of his career, it’s almost as if Jeethu has made it a habit to bluntly introduce a crime against a woman into his narratives, apparently believing this is the best way to emotionally hook the audience, given people’s sensitivity to such incidents. But disgustingly enough, his films have rarely been about the victims themselves; rather, they focus on the men around them and how they sort things out, thus rendering the women mere objects who face violence so that their male counterparts can have stronger character arcs.

Valathu Vashathe Kallan is also, unsurprisingly but unfortunately, no different. To show how ruthless Antony is, Jeethu and writer Dinu Thomas Eelan have crafted an introductory scene where he manipulates a college-going girl, who has approached the station with her mother to file an assault complaint, into believing that she is at fault. In front of her mother, Antony victim-blames her and twists her story to make it appear as if she is filing a false complaint. Heartbroken, she dies by suicide soon after. Although Jeethu and Dinu had all the options in the world to establish Antony’s ruthlessness, the casual manner in which they used such a sensitive and triggering incident right at the beginning, and then relegated the victim to just another character, underscores their absolute apathy. Even as the movie progresses, the number of women facing violent crimes or who are brutally killed only increases, but Valathu Vashathe Kallan is rarely their story. (The following line may contain spoilers) Although, unlike his previous ventures, Jeethu has tried to justify the many crimes against women here by presenting the actual villain as one with “sadistic male chauvinism,” thus attempting some psychological reasoning, this only ends up looking like a convenient attempt to wash his hands of the issue, as the narrative buildup suggests anything but that.

Watch Valathu Vashathe Kallan trailer here:

One of the major shortcomings of Dinu’s screenplay is that from the very beginning, it seems determined only to establish points or prove how smart it is, leaving things superficial. Although scenes like Antony’s introductory one offer insights about the characters, Dinu never manages to delve deeper. Even the bond Irene shares with her parents is reduced to a few clichéd moments and a song with hackneyed visuals. What makes matters worse is the flimsy dialogues, and their fragile nature becomes extremely evident when delivered by mediocre actors in the movie. Even when Valathu Vashathe Kallan enters its next phase and becomes a race-against-the-clock thriller, everything comes across as too polished to feel real. Dinu’s attempts seem focused more on outsmarting the audience than on offering them an impactful experience.

Unlike Jeethu’s previous directorial venture, Mirage (2025), which faced significant backlash for being packed with too many unimpactful twists, Valathu Vashathe Kallan almost never attempts to shock the audience or throw them off balance. Instead, Jeethu and Dinu have carefully ensured that the movie relies solely on suspense, making it appear like a puzzle with too many pieces scattered around. However, what detracts from the experience is the writing, where everything goes according to Samuel and Theresa’s plan, even though they aren’t criminal masterminds, nor did they have ample time to devise their strategy. One has to watch the entire second half of Valathu Vashathe Kallan plagued by the question of why all these police officers — who aren’t morally grey — are helping Antony find his son and following his orders without hesitation, even after learning about all the heinous things he has done. While it could be argued that they are merely following the orders of a superior officer to find a missing person, the sheer servility in their overall nature in these scenes can only be interpreted as convenient writing.

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It is good that Valathu Vashathe Kallan came only after Mirage, when people’s opinion of Jeethu Joseph and their trust in him are at an all-time low. As a result, the Biju Menon-Joju George starrer might feel far more tolerable. Had Valathu Vashathe Kallan arrived first, it’s unlikely that the crime thriller would have been dubbed as even a worthy one-time watch.

Besides the writing, another major drawback of Valathu Vashathe Kallan is the lacklustre acting from many. Although Biju Menon and Joju George deliver serviceable performances — merely the bare minimum expected from actors of their potential — others, like Shyamaprasad and Gokul, utterly disappoint, at times feeling as if they were forced into acting here at gunpoint. Satheesh Kurup’s cinematography, which lacks naturalness, and Vishnu Shyam’s uninspired music only make things worse for the movie.

Valathu Vashathe Kallan movie cast: Biju Menon, Joju George, Lena, Vyshnavi Raj, Leona Lishoy, Shaju Sreedhar, Niranjana Anoop
Valathu Vashathe Kallan movie director: Jeethu Joseph
Valathu Vashathe Kallan movie rating: 1.5 stars