‘Little Hearts’ movie review: A shoddy, half-hearted attempt at being progressive

A scene from ‘Little Hearts’

A person attempting to lift a heavy object that is beyond his or her control may be punishable by onlookers. Little HeartsWe get an unpleasant spectacle of the makers trying to bring in some progressive elements into a mediocre film that has no grand ambitions, and struggling to handle it and give it a proper resolution.

When a person really feels about an issue, and wants to express it through a movie or a book, the sincerity of his thoughts oozes out from every pore of it, as was the case with Jio Baby’s movie. Kathal last year. It made a positive contribution to the ongoing conversation around homosexuality. But when the intention is half-hearted, as is often the case with ad films trying to woo the progressive crowd, it also becomes obvious.

a key thread that runs Little Hearts It is the dilemma of a gay character who comes out to his family, who live in a rural village in the highlands. But, this character is placed in a typical feel-good family drama, which also has the compulsion to entertain the audience at regular intervals. So while the film handles his dilemma sensitively, other times it attempts to generate some laughs from his sexual orientation.

And, once this character’s purpose is served, establishing the film’s progressive credentials, she is sidelined, as the script then focuses on two other ‘normal’ relationships to play it safe. Of the three relationships at the centre of the film directed by AB Treesa Paul and Anto Jose Pereira, the relationship between the lead pair Sibi (Shane Nigam) and Shosha (Mahima Nambiar) has the least effort put into writing it. The two childhood friends fall in love as expected, and some petty conflicts are inserted to drag their story to the climax.

However, a little more care has been taken in portraying the relationship between Sibi’s widower father Baby (Baburaj) and the single mother. The opposition they face from people around them, the looks of people connected to each other and their yearning for each other amidst the noise around them creates some moments that are quite interesting. The equation between the father-son duo and their fun with each other also saves the film at places when it gets dragged unnecessarily.

In the beginning, we are treated to one song after another without any specific reason. The film fails to hold the attention of the audience until the introduction of the gay character, who gets a bad rap in the end. We wish the filmmakers did not complicate things further by presenting the misconceptions prevalent in society in a half-hearted manner.

Little Hearts is in cinemas now