Summary
Aalorukkam serves an important social issue that bridges the gap between generations in today’s world.
This review of Aalorukkam contains a significant spoiler.
Aalorukkam slid on to Netflix today and has been praised for its portrayal of social issues in V.C Abhilash’s directorial debut. While many snobby critics deem Netflix to be the problem in the world of film, importantly streaming gives access to opportunities we otherwise would miss.
Aalorukkam has an issue, which is that from a critical standpoint there is one major plot point that is important to the overall movie, which I will discuss shortly. The story follows Pappu Pisharadi (Indrans), an ageing man who has been on a constant hunt for his son for 16 years. While in hospital, Pappu meets Dr Seetha and Priyan, who promises to help him find his son.
For the first half of the movie, Aalorukkam shows compassion for Pappu, who is otherwise an old innocent looking man, forming friendships with the hospital staff and on the frays of a carer’s home. You sympathise that he still hunts for his son. Aalorukkam meddles in misplaced hope, as there are many people with the same name as his son.
You could easily confuse this movie about the life of an old man trying to make up for lost time, as the search for his son feels more opportunistic than an actual investigation. Dr Seetha and Priyan go on wild goose chases and eventually make a breakthrough.
The second half of the movie is an entirely opposing story, where your views for the lead character are skewed by his attitude and his unwillingness to engage despite the short time in his life he has left. The social issues come to the surface, as he learns that his son is now a woman. He hides within himself, refusing to respectfully acknowledge his son’s family, while his ongoing treatment continues to affect his wellbeing.
Aalorukkam identifies with the social issues that the generation gap suffer from today. It recognises that the new world fails to engage with the old world, and even though it’s easy to frown upon their misguided and unfortunate views, sympathy can come in many forms, and in this case, you struggle with Pappu’s character due to his health and wellbeing.
Aalorukkam serves us a lesson about perception and social issues and is well worth the watch.
