A poster for “Kaathal” in a busy crossing in the city of Kochi, India. — ©2024 The New York Times Company
IT is an Indian film without song and dance. The lovers don’t share a word, their main interaction a fleeting moment of eye contact in the monsoon rain. There are no car chases and no action stunts. The men are vulnerable. They cry.
And yet when Kaathal – The Core, a film in the Malayalam language about a closeted middle-aged politician, was released recently, it became a commercial success as well as a critical one.
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