Bethlehem Kudumba Unit review: Nivin Pauly and Mamitha Baiju are note-perfect in a sweet, wondrous gift of a film

There are no heroes or heroines in a Girish AD film. I walk into his films, and I feel I know these characters, as if I have seen them around. Such is the familiarity and ease with which the Malayalam filmmaker establishes his creations- be it Jaison in Thanneer Mathan Dinangal, or Sona in Super Sharanya. Bethlehem Kudumba Unit , his fifth feature film, is no exception. It is a continuation of that world and yet a more mature and resonant look at how we are perceived and defined by the choices we make.

Ashley ( Mamitha Baiju ) has little say in her house, where her constantly bickering parents and a younger brother leave no space for her to have a life of her own. Her grief grows when she leaves her small village home to move with her family to a closely-knit neighbourhood near Ernakulam. She starts college there, and slowly forms a bond with the women in the community, who call themselves the Moreli sisters.

When the slightly older neighbour Justin ( Nivin Pauly ) is introduced, Ashley slowly develops a fondness for the unmarried man who spends his days running the catering business and helping produce his younger brother Joel's (Sangeeth Prathap, hilarious and adorable) short film. It is Ashley, shy yet sure, who makes the first move, telling Justin that she likes him. As Justin is thrown off, he must come around to process his own feelings and make sure no one in the gossipy neighbourhood comes to know about them.

The premise sounds simple, but Girish AD, who also co-wrote the film with Kiran Josey, creates a world full of rich supporting characters whose lives intersect within the main crisis. The mundane, quotidian lives of the neighbourhood folk are drawn out with a masterful eye for detail. The most memorable one of the lot is Glikson, played by a superb Roshan Shanavas. Girish does not rush these scenes and treats even the smallest of supporting players with dignity and grace. No character is unimportant, no drama is to be missed. It all counts in a Girish AD film, in which the tiny eccentricities might be funny, but they also reflect a patriarchal Indian society where privacy comes at a cost.

What starts off as a sweet, harmless romance unspools a chain of reactions that ultimately reflect a society so guided by its parochial rules that physical gestures of affection become untoward. What is so shocking about a hug? A kiss on the cheek? It all stems from that sweet innocence, that desire to be seen and understood. The age gap between Justin and Ashley became their biggest impediment within an orthodox religious community. The ones who suffer the most, as always, are the women.

Bethlehem Kudumba Unit is the best and most mature work by Girish AD so far. It has this incredible balance of tone, where the most amusing moment can percolate into a case that calls for urgent reflection. When Ashley's agency is compromised, the film makes for a crucial reminder of how unfunny it must be for her. Or women like her. The first half of Bethlehem Kudumba Unit is fresh and brims with radiance, and my only complaint is the slightly overworked second half, where the central conflict takes a backseat.