Pattth Movie Review: A delightfully breezy mockumentary about songs, stories and memories

New Indian Express

06-06-2025

If you've followed Jithin Issac Thomas for a while, you'll know his films usually come with a heavy dose of discomfort. Attention Please, Pra. Thoo. Mu. and Rekha were dark, unsettling and steeped in emotional unease. So when Pattth rolls in like a cool breeze on a lazy Sunday, you may find yourself checking twice to see if it is from the same filmmaker. It is, just in a much lighter, groovier mood. Premiered at the 29th International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK) in 2024, Pattth is, quite simply, a mockumentary about two people trying to track down the origins of a song. That's it. But what makes this little film pop is how it refuses to be weighed down by its own premise. It sets out on a quest and keeps tripping into detours, side stories, accidental truths and a whole lot of delightful people who all swear the song belongs to them. In a world where tracks go viral, get chopped into reels, and bounce across continents without anyone knowing where they came from, this feels timely, cheeky and oddly touching.
Director: Jithin Issac Thomas
Cast: Ashik Safiya Aboobakker, Gauthami Lekshmi Gopan
Pattth's vibe is clear from the get-go. It is not here to flex intellectual muscle. It is here to wander, wonder and maybe hum along. Gauthami Lekshmi Gopan plays Anupama, a curious documentary filmmaker with a genuine fascination for where the tune began. Alongside her is Ashik Safiya Aboobakker's Unni, who is more laidback, slightly chaotic and always a beat behind but just as invested in the journey. Together, they make for an excellent screen duo, their banter feeling less like scripted lines and more like a couple genuinely figuring things out over breakfast and badly brewed coffee. One of the neat little tricks Jithin pulls is with the way the film looks. The documentary interviews are shot in a 4:3 vignette frame, giving them a vintage, almost archival feel. In contrast, the scenes featuring Anupama and Unni are clean and more contemporary. It's a clever way to separate myth from reality without shouting about it.