There was much promise in the beginning. Interesting premise. A baby goes missing. The baby's parents are 19-year-old kids. The parents of the 19-year-olds are dealing with the embarrassing information about their children, but also the ensuing police and media scrutiny and the concern for the child's well-being. Who took the kid? There is a suspicious visitor at the hospital. Much chaos, much stress, and much pain are caused to a couple of individuals who had nothing to do with it. And there's Nivin Pauly as the hospital attendant, who feels personally responsible and makes it his mission to find the baby regardless of whatever career setbacks he'll have to deal with.
First off, it's important to mention that the script comes from one of Malayalam cinema's — and among my favourites — best writing duos, Bobby and Sanjay, credited for 2011's Traffic, one of the pivotal films that contributed to the Malayalam "new gen" film movement that changed the way Malayalis looked at storytelling. They were among the writers who, along with the late director Rajesh Pillai, helped rewire our brains and inspired several aspiring filmmakers to think out of the box. That film featured several big names, aside from upcoming stars, including a pre-Premam Nivin Pauly. All the actors, big or small, played characters who were not competing for the limelight.
Helmed by Arun Varma ("Garudan"), Baby Girl, too, cannot be called a one-star movie, because there is also Abhimanyu Thilakan (the great Thilakan's grandson; Shammi Thilakan's son), Lijomol Jose, and Sangeeth Prathap. And there's, of course, the hospital setting that puts it close to Traffic territory. But, unfortunately, Baby Girl is no Traffic. I thought the film showed real promise in its first hour, with a sense of urgency that felt genuine, as the police officers get busy chasing and studying every bit of information. We get vantage points from inside the vehicles, visuals of the onlookers... a bit of the Paul Greengrass ("The Bourne Ultimatum", "The Lost Bus") school of filmmaking that got me excited for that one hour. And then something happens as the intermission point approached us.
After the initial setup, the film presents a series of rapid plot developments that become challenging to track. While everything is explained by the end, the story's effectiveness relies on our investment in the characters and their journeys, but the characters don't have any strong qualities to hook us. The progression of events feels forced, with too many surprises packed in, which can become tiresome. The sudden plot turns, and coincidences often seem artificial and occasionally even comical or confusing. At several points, it's unclear how characters move so quickly from one place to another. These inconsistencies, along with unresolved questions, make the latter half of the film forgettable. The film appears so focused on cleverness that it loses narrative coherence.
There is, however, one emotional element that worked. It has to do with Lijomol Jose's character. Without giving anything away, you realise later on that, ultimately, it's she who becomes the film's beating heart and everything else was in service of that. And Abhimanyu Thilak is quite impressive as the cop investigating the incident. It's a role tailor-made for him. It's the kind of role that often goes to someone like Indrajith Sukumaran, but I'm glad it went to Abhimanyu. I just hope he doesn't get typecast like the former.
Film: Baby Girl
Director: Arun Varma
Cast: Lijomol Jose, Nivin Pauly, Abhimanyu Thilak, Sangeeth Prathap
Rating: 2/5