Minmini Movie Review: Halitha Shameem’s latest film does not have her regular sheen and flair

Minmini Movie Review: The scenic landscapes and travel moments overshadow the core theme in Halitha Shameem’s film, resulting in a missed opportunity to delve into the complexities of survivor's guilt

Minmini

Minmini

Minmini story

Pari Mukilan (Gaurav Kalai) and Sabari (Pravin Kishore) are classmates at a boarding school in Ooty, who have diametrically opposite personalities. While the former is a sportsperson, an extrovert and a troublesome student, the latter is an introverted, art-loving pupil who enjoys being by himself left alone. As interactions between the boys seem to start off on a rugged note, an accident results in Pari sacrificing his life to save Sabari, leaving his organs to be transplanted to Praveena (Esther Anil). Soon, Sabari and Praveena experience survivor’s guilt, as they embark on a bike ride to the Himalayas to fulfil Pari’s life ambition.

Also read: Halitha Shameem Interview: Minmini is a story that I got in my dream and it surprised me 

Minmini review

By now, Halitha Shameem may have had a limited body of work, but a standout one that delves into the intricate depths of human relationships. Aelay, Sillu Karupatti, and Loners from Putham Pudhu Kaalai Vidiyaadhaa may be shortened as a dysfunctional father-son relationship, complex yet relatable romances, and cast against the grain indulgent story on companionship, respectively, but they were made to be felt much more than these one-liners. Her recent feature Minmini is regarded as Halitha’s dream project. But what hovers on the topic of survivor’s guilt, soon becomes a disjointed film that is ripped of Halitha’s sensibilities and a story that makes comfortable choices and momentarily decisions for easy writing.

For once, survivor’s guilt is a concept that barely graces the screens. A term used for the guilt trip one goes through after undergoing a painful event resulting in the loss of their loved ones. It is not only an emotion of losing someone, but a traumatising guilt that your survival cost their lives, making every breath seem to be bombarded with unexplainable regret. Halitha’s Minmini is very much on this concept, after we see how Sabari understands the meaning of life after Pari sacrifices himself to save him. But where the missteps begin is when it fails to capture the turmoil of emotions, since the film starts to pit Pari and Sabari against each other for long enough that it hardly connects when you want to feel their pain. Despite the trauma he suffered due to bullying, Sabari's mission to fulfil Pari’s ambition also seems to be a jarring element in the whole scheme of things that tries hard to thug at your heartstrings. For example, we are shown how Pari and Sabari do not get along with each other, and the former always bullying the latter. The film, for most of its first part, attempts to buy us into the world of these characters and to an extent pull off the cool stunt of bullying. We don’t get a payoff, stating it is not cool to keep sling-shotting someone with a piece of paper offering friendship.

Disjointedness is also one of the major drawbacks in Minmini which chooses to not show us what we wish for to be shown. Besides the logical reasoning of how it would be impossible for two students, who studied in the same school and share a traumatic bond in the past with one student, are blissfully unaware of each other, it so happens that both embark on bike rides to Himalayas during the same time, as they cross paths with each other. There seems to be an absence of resonance to emotions and after-effects of trauma, so much so that the second half of the film merely becomes a collection of scenic landscapes and stereotypical moments of a travel blogger.

Also read: Khatija Rahman interview: Halitha said she didn’t want people to hum the music of Minmini 

Minmini majorly loses on capitalising on the moments of the three primary characters and the subsequent aftermath of the survivors. 

With many blink-and-miss-it dialogues and chain of events that does not seem to serve justice enough about the pain of the teens, Minmini loses its shine and subsequently, the signature of Halitha.

Minmini verdict

The makers Minmini had waited for seven years for their child actors to grow up and reprise their roles. Even as the dedication shows in the film, there is a desperate need to look beyond its honest intentions alone. Sometimes when the writing isn’t relatable and inviting to be immersed in its world, the hard work seldom wins and Minmini is an example of that.

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Cast and Crew

Halitha Shameem

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