Good start, but then it gets ruined

Excellent, a Must See

Excellent characters with emotional depth. My wife, daughter and granddaughter all enjoyed it...and me, too! Very good movie! You won't be disappointed.

It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

Was a nice one and a moral boost for the harangued females of kerala. I hope the women out there take a leaf out of the plot. But a question lingers at the back of my mind.... "Why did Tessa lovingly invite the 'pimp' Cyril to Canada, where she plans to start life afresh?" Don't tell me that she still loves him, after all the degrading atrocities he heaped on her! and if she does, then its again a carry over of the mallu female psyche... where she loves the man despite all the filth he flings on her.... yuck! Wish the director had stepped out of this narrow mindset and rather had her simply walk out of the room having performed the penisectomy, leaving him to struggle in pain till he's discovered by the room boy or somebody. Would have been a lesson for life for all men like him..... I'm reminded of a Hindi movie 'Ek hasina thee'... which spelt the doom for a similar pimp of a man at the hands of a woman he tortured likewise. A very good lesson for the man! Malayalis need to get out of the frame of 'cushioning' the male psyche, however wrong he be............

Tessa (Rima Kallingal) is a nursing student in Bangalore with plans of traveling to Canada for a career. She meets Cyril (Fahad Fazil) from the travel consultancy agency working towards setting up her visa. They soon fall in love and start living together. Tessa loves him with all her heart and takes their relationship and living together seriously.One day while at a pub, a guy misbehaves with Tessa and Cyril beats him up badly. The guy tries to take revenge on Cyril and searches for him. Cyril goes into hiding with the help of his boss Hegde (Prathap Pothen). Hedge arrives at Cyril's home to inform Tessa about the situation. Then he asks her plainly "Can I have sex with you?" A shocked Tessa is then brutally attacked and raped. When Cyril finds out what happened, he becomes violent and wants to kill Hegde. Tessa calms him down saying that she does not want to make the incident worse than it is, and instead just wants to get to Canada at the earliest. Once Tessa recovers from her injuries, Hegde visits her again to ask for forgiveness. He comes while Cyril is not around and ends up raping her for a second time. Tessa decides not to travel abroad and plans to murder Hegde.Cyril discusses the situation with his boss who suggests killing Tessa and appoints Cyril to do it. Cyril traps her by putting some drugs in her bag. The police arrest Tessa and she is imprisoned. While Tessa calls out for help, she finds Cyril simply walking away from her, which is when she realises Cyril set her up. Cyril later relocates to Cochin and runs a modeling agency.While in prison Tessa meets Zubeida (Rashmi Sathish) who is sentenced for murder. Through Zubeida's criminal world connections Tessa realizes that Cyril, a pimp, was cheating her along with the support of his boss Hegde, a nymphomaniac. Zubeida and Tessa bond well with each other and Zubeida gives her the strength and courage needed for striking back on Cyril and Hegde.When the court sets her free, Tessa with the help of DK (Sathar) kills Hegde by poisoning him with a cobra. Next, she arrives in Cochin in search of Cyril while pretending to be a model. Later one night they meet in his studio but Cyril recognizes her and becomes angry. He beats her and verbally abuses her not because he knows she has a plan of revenge but thinks that she became a slut who does every 'adjustments' to flourish her career. But his frustration dissolves as he wants to enjoy her company. He reminds her she is a mere woman.But at night Tessa sedates him and penectomises him. When he regains consciousness she tells him that she has removed his male organ through a medical surgery. While Cyril finds himself in intense pain and bound to his bed, she taunts him so much to make him realise his faults and the gross wrongs he committed on her. But he doesn't yield and doesn't admit his life as a pimp is a fault. Then another twist happens when Tessa reveals Cyril that her appearance as a model is a disguise and she knows that she is still somewhere in his heart. She reminds him that she has only lost someone who cheated on her, whereas he lost someone who genuinely loved him. Now Cyril is stunned that he is not even able to face Tessa with whom he can argue if she is a model. Cyril recollects that her love was true and his love was overshadowed by his male supremacy concept and greed for wealth. He understands and admits his mistakes. Then Tessa leaves him but not before inviting him to settle the score with her, if any remains there. Cyril corrects his concept of her as she is the women and accepts her challenge and tells her that he will confront her when he is ready, knowing that he has to settle the score with her in terms of true love.Tessa leaves for Canada and dismantles her cell phone and cuts farther contact with DK who is after her to bed with her as a reward for his help in her plans.

Aashiq Abu's "22 Female Kottayam" is a must watch. Though seems to have been inspired by numerous female revenge movies ( the makers have actually acknowledged the same in the end titles..! Kudos for honesty) the manner in which the narrative blends in with the brazen reality makes it a compelling watch. The happenings in the movie are just a slice of what is actually happening in the real world. Not everyone of them would have the gumption or courage to do what the protagonist of this movie do to her exploiters. But it surely cautions the vulnerable lot from falling prey to the hounds out there.Screenplay written by Abilash Kumar & Shyam Pushkaran travels at a steady pace. With ample does of reality & cinematic liberties when needed , the screenplay keeps the viewer engaged throughout. The writers have broken various clichés that one would associate with movies of this genre.The ending is actually more impactful than what movies of this type usually ends with the protagonist killing the antagonist. Also they have managed to keep away from the compulsion that the Indian movie heroine should be embodiment of "so-called " virtues, values & virginity. It is refreshing to see a heroine for a change who doesn't feel shy to admit to her lover that she is not a virgin & boozes on par with her lover.Reema Kallingal is touted to be the most promising actress in Malayalam currently & she lives up-to the billing with a sparkling performance. Character has myriad of shades & emotions. From being a gullible & innocent nurse to a caring lover , traumatized victim to revenge seeking woman with "what-is-left-be-lost" attitude , Reema scores in each & every scene she is on screen. And what makes her role powerful is equally commanding performance by Fahad Fazil. He too has different shades to his character & his performance in the last 20 minutes or so is topnotch.Others in the supporting cast including Pratap Pothen , Ravi , Sathar & the rest have done a neat job.Background score by Rex Vijayan is patchy. In some parts it is excellent but in some other inadequate.Shyju Khalid's cinematography with various hues depending on the mood of the story is excellent. Numerous transitions the movie goes through has been wonderfully delineated by the change in color tone.Dialogues are a huge strength to the movie. Especially in the climax when Fahad chides " F@#k you" & Reema retorts "Not any more" one gets a "Wow..!" effect.On the whole, "22 Female Kottayam" is a neatly written , excellently acted & well directed movie.

A quality drama with some bold substance shown flawlessly, that with no cooked up dialogs, no surrealism, no stupid subplots whatsoever. The plot doesn't boasts to be a novel one, the story of the deadlier sex in its throttling boldness have been told many a time. In fact, 22 Female Kottayam had bit of a resemblance with "ek haseena thi" big time. That said, emasculation of men in a subtly crude manner makes this drama a distant class, an aberration never seen in Malayalam Movies makes it top notch.Shades of misandry and feminism can be pointed to, but all well complemented by the innocence, love and passion we see in each characters. All of them honestly sketched and neatly written be it T.G Ravi, Sattar, Prathap Pothen or Fahad. The protagonist played by Rima Kallingal stands out, easily the best female character written in a long time - loved her in nidra too. Fahad is a charm with his looks and subtle emotions. There were reasons why i started hating the neomallu noirs, read new generation film making. But then, this movie changes my perspective. The screenplay could have been crispier, for not all would find this an enjoyable outing. The background score and cinematography fuses well.Lovable are the technicalities - was awed by the movie making style more than anything else - all so perfect which makes it an impeccable movie product. All credit to director Ashiq Abu & team who makes a raw film which shows the ugly side of our societal lives. 8/10