Meow review: Soubin Shahir’s family drama fails to impress with a story that’s been told and retold

2/5

Story: Dasthaker and his wife Sulu are taking a break after a war of words, and Sulu now lives at her parents’ house. Dasthaker appoints a maid to look after his kids and house, and does not intend on calling Sulu back. 

Review: Every Lal Jose movie comes bearing big expectations, especially from the family audience. The case was the same with Meow, with Dr. Iqbal Kuttippuram penning the script. But Meow fails to impress, telling a story of a family living in the UAE, with events that are used and reused in Malayalam cinema.

The story quickly introduces us to Dasthaker (Soubin Shahir), a party animal who turns into the path of the almighty after an accident following a drunken night out. He turns into a proper follower of Islam and starts taking care of his father’s store. He is married and has three kids. His wife, Sulu (Mamta Mohandas) has moved away to her parents’ house after a war of words with the husband.

Dasthaker soon brings home a maid to look after his house and does not intend on bringing Sulu back until she ‘learns a lesson’. As the story moves on, we go through various events that happen inside the household and the life of a man who is trying to make ends meet. The movie also ends in a rather happy ending, with the family reuniting.

While the story of the movie in itself is one we have seen in movies before, the events too are repetitive and tried and tested constantly in Malayalam cinema that turns out anchoring the film rather than lift off. The son who is weak in studies but has a great hidden talent, the trusted right-hand man and friend, the protagonist who was a college hero in the past are just to name a few. 

At one point, these scenes not only take the wind out of the audience, but also seem unnecessary. While the movie takes a fair amount of time to portray Dasthaker as a strict but loving father, he is a man who is flawed in many ways and treats his own wife wrong. And the problematic bit is that the movie does not try to hide this fact or question him. While Sulu walks out of the house after Dasthaker blames her for getting pregnant for the third time, the movie gradually ends up saying that Dasthaker was right and Sulu was in the wrong. Even without all these problematic lines, the movie seems rather conservative, and does not really understand the things it is doing wrong.

While the movie and the characters try to make a strong case for it being funny, the comedy in the movie is hit and miss, with the former taking precedence. There is a constant appearance made by a cat in the movie, and it feels like the movie wants us to relate the cat with one of the characters. But at one point, we lose track of whom the movie wants us to associate with the feline and it simply turns out to be another unnecessary bit in the movie, that overall lacks the gaile of a strong Lal Jose-Iqbal Kuttippuram movies of the past, but just might interest the family audience, who are looking for a movie to just unwind. 

Verdict: Meow is a movie that lacks the guile of a great drama, and misses out on comedy while telling a story that is commonly reused. While the movie falls short on multiple counts, it still just might keep the family audience interested.