'Meesha' Movie Review: A Solid Survival Drama That Loses Its Way In The Forest

Hidden within the surface of Meesha (moustache) is an intense drama about lost friendships and betrayal. This friendship may be described simply as one between Anandhu (Hakim Shah) and Mithun (Kathir), but there are larger factors at play to keep them separate. From the outside, it looks like caste is what divides them most. Although they both appear to belong to the same financial class, Anandhu hails from privilege. He appears to stay in an agraharam, and when he struggles to find a job, we hear him complain about reservations and the surname that has kept him poor.

On the other end is Mithun, a childhood buddy of Anandhu’s. But as they grow up together, they face societal hurdles that keep them apart. Mithun belongs to a community of fishermen, and he lives in a colony that becomes the hot topic of Meesha.  A corporate textile factory is said to come up in this colony, promising jobs, homes, and money to each resident. It will likely lead to development in the future, but for now, it requires this group of 2000 to be relocated.

Kathir in a still from 'Meesha'

This is where the battle lines are redrawn, and Anandhu and Mithun begin to understand that they cannot look at each other simply as two people anymore. Mithun becomes the insider and the leader who must fight to make sure the promised development is delivered. Anandhu, too, wants this for his friend and his people, but he’s always looked at with suspicion by the residents who do not want this outsider to be anywhere near them. But what’s at play is identity politics. There are people bigger than Anandhu and Mithun, who look at them as units of their respective vote banks. From individuals, they become mere puppets in the hands of powerful politicians, and they stand no chance.

This is where the movie rises above the conventions of a film about male ego. Anandhu and Mithun are both powerless as they walk into traps set by people far superior in the survival food chain. From the riverside beginnings, the film also gets relocated to a wilder terrain. In the dense forests, we witness multiple characters and subplots coming together to see if Anandhu and Mithun will ever reunite or if their bond will remain severed.

Like the intense drama of Kammatti Paadam (2016), Meesha too shifts gears to turn into a story of survival in the wild. There’s talk of exotic deer meat and bottles of alcohol to douse old wounds. There’s also Mithun’s motivation to meet Anandhu again, despite his betrayal. As for Anandhu, he has no clue about what to make of this call from Mithun. Is it a plot for revenge, or are there bigger games at play?

The setup of Meesha is layered and dense, and we sit through the film expecting it to culminate in something far bigger. This is where the film throws in another set of characters, led by Shine Tom Chacko, a hunter who wants to make a quick buck. The two different sets of characters meet much later in the film, yet we wait for even longer to figure out how they are connected. 

Shine Tom Chacko in a still from 'Meesha'

At a distance, it’s the deer meat that unites both groups, but a mere plot point gets the full scale and detailing that is usually reserved for a lead character. The core of Meesha begins to get disturbed when we cut between characters, and we wait to see if the film will take us to a place that makes more sense. 

That doesn’t happen, but the characters are still so interesting that we hold on. A complex setup deserved a more complex resolution, too, and instead of the film burbling up to its true potential, it detours into a disjointed mess, never being able to do justice to these characters. By this point, we see Mithun and Anandhu’s fate from miles away, and we do not fully understand where Shine Tom Chacko’s character fits in. The action scenes that follow also look awkward and clunky (a waterfall sequence is laughable), and the film begins to spell it all out, switching subtlety with convenience. Through all this, the film gets lost, and so do we. More than the plot, it’s Anandhu and Mithun who deserved a better film and an ending worthy of their friendship.