'Welcome to the battle of truth', is what advocate Santosh Narayanan tells to his 'assistant-cum-junior' Hannah Elizabeth as she steps in to take one of the most controversial cases in her life.
Before taking a look at the movie Oru Kuprasidha Payyan, let Hannah's case be first disclosed. Hannah is a lawyer, but she comes to the court everyday in order to escape from the marriage alliances that her family is considering for her. An introvert by nature, Hannah gets nervous meeting strangers and even shaking hands with them. Hannah can get tensed to an extend that she can end up in hospital after puking and stomach disorder. In spite of all her weakness, all she wants is to be a good human being unlike her senior. And thus she takes up the Chembammal murder case.
Now, moving on to the case of Oru Kuprasidha Payyan, the film delves into the man on trial and not hunts down the accused. Probably that's the best thing about the movie. Audience get to know that the man on trial is not the real culprit and Madhupal gradually manages to keep us hooked in revealing how the accused gets acquitted.
With a touch of a few Tamil dialogues and slow-paced narration, the film gradually picks up. Madhupal has once again followed the style of narration with both past and present at the same time along with some amazing shots.
His directorial debut Thalappavu (2008) and his next, Ozhimuri (2012) had a gap of four years, and he waited for another six years to make Oru Kuprasiddha Payyan and it is indeed worth the wait.
If Thalappavu showed the fight within the system, Ozhimuri was a battle within family system. In Oru Kuprasiddha Payyam, it's the fight of an individual for another individual. In the opening shot, we get to see Ajayan (Tovino) fighting against a bull and while we assume that our hero has just emerged, Madhupal changes our assumption. A downtrodden is always down to ground, reminds the scene.
The casting proves to be a big plus for the movie. Tovino has proved his mettle with each of his films and in this one too he stands no different. Be his naive self, lonely self and as the accused, he balances them all. However, it is Nimisha Sajayan's character Hannah and Nedumudi Venu's Santosh Narayanan that makes a lasting impression. Noted producer Suresh Kumar too makes a surprise appearance as the judge, making the crucial scenes lighter.
The performances and BGM are undoubtedly the highlights. Oru Kuprasidha Payyan is a murder thriller with a slow pace and it has Madhupal's stamp all over the movie. However, the film could have been crispier and then, it could have been more appealing.
To summarise, Oru Kuprasidha Payyan might not be an edge of the seat thriller, but it is definitely one well made movie.
