Home (2021 film)

Home (also known as #Home) is an Indian Malayalam-language drama film directed and written by Rojin Thomas. The film stars Indrans, Sreenath Bhasi, Naslen K. Gafoor, Deepa Thomas, Manju Pillai, Johny Antony and Kainakary Thankaraj. The film was released on Amazon Prime Video on 19 August 2021.

This film received widespread critical attention. The story, background score, cinematography, social relevance, characterization and performances of the lead cast especially that of Indrans and Manju Pillai were critically acclaimed. In 2023, the film won the National Film Award For Best Feature Film In Malayalam.

Plot
Oliver Twist is a technologically-challenged 60-year-old father of two sons, who helps his wife around the house by fixing broken things and tending to his garden. They have an aquarium with a fish called Mickey. Oliver’s father has dementia, walks with the help of a walker, and needs help cleaning after himself. Oliver’s wife, Kuttiyamma, is a retired nurse and takes care of the house. Their younger son, Charles, is a lazy teenager who is a struggling YouTuber. The viewers are shown a ‘happy family photo’ consisting of Appachan, Oliver Twist, Kuttiyamma, and their two sons, including Anthony.

Anthony lives in a messy apartment away from home. He is a budding scriptwriter, who was a former architect, with his first script being a grand success 2 years ago. He is continuously distracted by the constant buzz of notifications from various social media apps on his mobile phone. He also has a troublesome relationship with his girlfriend, Priya. He is still unsuccessfully working on his second script, on which his producer has given him an ultimatum of one week. Anthony is reminded of his home where he wrote his first script and he goes back.

On his first day at Home, Anthony finds himself distracted as ever and unable to think of anything worthwhile for his story. Charles video-calls Anthony when they go shopping for a new tank. Oliver gets excited to see his son on the phone and starts boasting about him in front of the shopkeeper. His sons get embarrassed and Charles pulls him out of the shop quickly. Anthony often compares his professionally unsuccessful father to Priya's father, Joseph, whom he looks up to. This pisses off Oliver. He finally remembers an extraordinary event in his life and tries to talk about it to Anthony many times but in vain.

Anthony goes to discuss his script with the superstar Vishal but he politely dismisses it as unrelatable and boring. After coming home, Anthony lashes out as Vishal had not listened to his script properly. Accidentally, Oliver records a live video of this rant on Facebook and gets a lot of hate from the internet. Oliver loses sleep over destroying his son’s career. He starts attending sessions with a psychologist and joins Tai Chi classes, but is heavily criticised by his family members for doing so. He eventually becomes good at using smartphones.

On Joseph’s advice, Anthony writes a handwritten apology letter to Vishal with the help of Oliver. Chancing his time, Oliver relates a story. One day, Oliver encountered a woman who was about to lose her child to an unknown disease. He immediately offered to help her. With the help of his best friend Suryan, he crossed a river full of wild elephants, with the woman and her child seated on a huge cooking vessel arranged by them. Then they ran to a car owner’s home and from there started for the hospital. On the route, as the three males got down to find out the reason for the blocked road, the car started going backwards and was about to fall off the cliff, when a stone got under the car and Oliver finally pressed the brakes. They finally admitted the sick child and the doctors said he would be fine. Anthony isn’t impressed at all by this story. Seeing Anthony always mocking Oliver in front of Priya and her parents, Kuttiyamma gets angry and lashes out at both her sons, including Charles who wasn't aware of anything, for always blaming their parents for all their misfortunes.

On Joseph’s 50th birthday, his mother relates the story behind the cover photo of the book. She shares the same story that Oliver had shared with Anthony. Anthony finally realises that showing his best self on social media to seek others’ opinions and assurances is wrong because that is just a part of him. He further notices that he can be perfectly imperfect without any judgements, only in the presence of those closest to him, i.e. his home and his family. The end scene shows Joseph’s mother coming to Oliver’s home and thanking him and Suryan for saving her son’s life after she came to know the truth from Anthony.

Music
Rahul Subrahmanian is the music director of the movie. He has composed four songs for the film and also did the background scores for the movie.

Release
The film was released on Amazon Prime Video on 19 August 2021.

Reception
The Times of India rated 3.5 out of 5 and wrote, "The movie is a must watch entertainer that the whole family can laugh and cry happy tears all through together". The Free Press Journal said that thoughtfully written and directed by Rojin Thomas, Home is a film representing the present times when emotions get only expressed on digital mediums, forgetting or avoiding personal contacts. Hindustan Times commented that sometimes too sweets but most times heartwarming, Rojin Thomas brings to life a lovely family drama that is driven by Indrans' effortless performance. Firstpost rated 3 on 5 for the movie and wrote, "Parts of #Home feel stretched, and the film could have done with some scissoring, but when it works, it works so well that this complaint recedes into the background in the face of its overall endearing nature and loveable simplicity."