Mike review: Empathy is at the core of this Anaswara Rajan film

At a time when the country’s biggest film market is digging deep into the past for monolithic motifs which often fail to impress with their overloaded political bias, the smaller industries have, for long, been on a quest to explore newer themes.

Stories from the rainbow world of LGBTQIA+ are among such themes filmmakers with a fresh perspective and an empathetic psyche dabble with. Director Vishnu Sivaprasad’s ‘Mike’ is one such tale, with empathy at the core of its plot.

‘Mike’, produced by Bollywood hero John Abraham, is an addition to a new genre of movies that look upon LGBTQIA+ spectrum through the lens of equality and normality – though the way it has handled the subject could be subject to conflicting views.

The film goes through a complex stage in the lives of both Sarah (Anaswara Rajan), a free-spirited young girl who believes she is a man trapped in a woman’s body, and Antony (Ranjith Sajeev), a young man who has counted his own days at the peak of depression.

While Sarah, who calls herself Mike, hopes to reboot her life with a sex reassignment surgery, Antony sees no hope about life after the tragic loss of his mom. A journey, during which they share some ‘spirit’ of friendship, connects them, setting the stage for a steady flow of the film.

Antony’s exuberant past – so filmy with dance, music, stunts and an emotional downfall – dominate the narrative then on before the focus is shifted to Sarah’s crisis of a lifetime. While the proven young talent Anaswara Rajan comes up with a subdued performance as the complex Sarah, the film turns out to be a strong launchpad for Ranjith.

The sequences are arranged in such a manner that the film exploits optimum use of his talents as a flexible dancer and a promising action hero. Melancholy is the dominant mood of his character and he manages to convey it when the situation demands.

Anaswara Rajan deserves applause for morphing into the character with consummate ease.

The film’s script veers to cliched situations and sloppy characters at times.

Amateurism in some performances is also exposed. Ashique Akbar Ali has done the script while Renadive’s frames capture the mood of the film. Hridayam fame Hesham Abdul Wahab has composed the music and a few tracks, including the title one and certain stretches of the BGM, are beautiful.

While the crew can be proud of pulling out a subject which could have been taboo until the recent past and placing it onto the mainstream, it is also possible that they may encounter some criticism for apparently reinforcing certain societal notions, despite their earnest attempt in educating.