Malayalam Cinema has not only excelled with worth appreciating projects since the last decade, but they also have raised the bar for every other language cinema being made in various regions of the country. With Home, they once again prove how content-based movies can also revolve around the middle or old-aged characters without getting melodramatic bringing heartfelt smiles onto our faces.

Thoughtfully written and directed by Rojin Thomas, Home is a film representing the present times when emotions get only expressed on digital mediums, forgetting or avoiding personal contacts. It brings forward the contradicting reality of the new world where everyone stays connected but living in their digital shells holding on to their personal gadgets. In other words, it’s a heart-warming family drama where technological advancement plays the villain, affecting the relationship between a father and his small family.

Home begins and continues at an unhurried pace, with its hero being a retired father who is not familiar with the smartphones but wishes to learn their use getting fascinated by the world of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. His young sons teach him how to operate ignorantly, but the old man never complains adjusting to their changing behaviour.

The film tells the story of every household and its members having their own sweet and bitter experiences related to these new-age gadgets. At times they bring us closer, but most of the time they bring in differences that would have never been there in the absence of these new means of communication.

Home beautifully captures these emotional, life-affecting moments as the ironies of the present digital life in which we all begin and end the day checking our phones and likes, comments, or responses on various platforms. The film has its flaws, including an over-length of 161 minutes and a few repetitive elements, but it overall comes out as a winner without being preachy, offering a lot of comic moments. The execution touches hearts soulfully depicting relationships between the young kids and their father, friendships between middle-aged people, the siblings, and a husband and wife sharing their emotions without saying a word.

Emoting on a brilliant script, Home also excels because of its smartly created characters and splendid performances by the entire cast making an instant connection with both the young and the old. Here at one end, we have a middle-aged father who used to run a video cassette library, his close morning walk friend, an ailing old man, and a mother of two youngsters. But on the other, there is a young director stuck in his creative block, his professional circle, a young boy willing to be a YouTube celebrity, and more making us recall many real-life characters around us.

Presented with a fine production design, camerawork, and soothing music, Home truly belongs to Indran's playing the central character of the father showcasing excellent chemistry with the rest of the cast. He naturally lives the role of Oliver and stays in your mind long after the film gets over. However, one does tend to think that was it necessary for him to do something extraordinary to prove his worth or existence.

Overall, Home taught me something important indicating the change required in my interaction with the elders regarding the use of technology. And I hope it does reach out in a similar way to many other viewers too, constructively enhancing our close relationships. So do watch it as a must as a weekend family film and give it a serious thought, if possible.

Home (Malayalam)

Cast: Indrans, Sreenath Bhasi, Vijay Babu

Director: Rojin Thomas

Platform: Amazon Prime Video

Rating: 4 stars

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