Aishwarya Rajesh is known for her performance-oriented roles. Her film Farhana directed by Nelson Dilip Kumar is releasing on 12 May 2023. The film's OTT deal is yet to be finalized and streaming will be done after the completion of its theatrical run. The film's teaser and trailer got a good response from the viewers and let us find out what Farhana offered to viewers.
Farhana's story is all about a young girl who joins a call center job and how she deals with the problems that arose unexpectedly from unknown quarters. Farhana (Aishwarya Rajesh) finally decides to take up a job at a call center to support her husband Karim (Jithan Ramesh) and her ailing son. To find out the dangers involved and how she faced the unexpected dangers and how her father Azeez Bhai (Kittu), is the motive of Dayakar (Sri Raghava /Selvaraghavan) watching Farhana on the screen.
Aishwarya Rajesh slipped into the role effortlessly. She showed the right kind of expressions and emotions and came up with variations in her role. She excelled in the role of a conservative daughter, supportive wife, and new joiner who comes to terms at the call center, showed tensions, and then takes a daring decision.
Jithan Ramesh played the role of a supportive husband quite well. He looked natural and realistic on screen as a caring husband and also who shows his helplessness in the situation. Sri Raghava/ Selva Raghavan appeared in a cameo and his makeup and dialogue create fear. Others like Anumol, and Aishwarya Dutta performed according to their roles.
Farhana's story selected by Nelson Venkatesan is thought-provoking and interesting, He selected a small but important point and tried to elevate how innocent people fall into the trap of people who talk softly without seeing them and then put their lives in danger. His story and screenplay are natural and realistic and the dialogues supported them quite well. The woes of a typical middle-class Muslim family are shown in an interesting way.
But after a point of time, dialogues and scenes repeat as the core point is very small. After repetitive scenes in the second half, the film's climax is rushed to bring the narration to an abrupt end. The screenplay and direction of Nelson Venkatesan are decent. The narration starts in an interesting manner but in the middle of the first half, viewers lose interest due to not so-emotional dialogue but the interesting interval twist.
One expects the second half to reach the next level with the villain's role getting elevated to new heights. But Nelson Venkatesan followed the same template and he rushed through the climax. Aishwarya Rajesh however increases the curiosity levels in the pre-climax and climax scenes.
Dialogues are good. Justin Prabhakaran's music is just ok. But he elevated the scenes with his background music. Gokul Benoy with his cinematography turned the film visually appealing. Sabu Joseph's editing could have been better as there are a few scenes that slowed the pace of the film. The production values of Dream Warrior Pictures are decent.
Altogether, Farhana is an interesting thriller. Nelson Venkatesan who came up with an interesting plot, got the optimum out of Aishwarya Rajesh to show how lower middle-class people struggle to see both ends meet and at the same time, spoke about women's empowerment, though showing the conservative family and their thought process. However, with a small point, he found it difficult to sustain the intensity and at times lost steam with his screenplay and direction. With a few more twists and turns and a tight screenplay, Farhana would have generated an even more bigger response. Considering all these elements, Cinejosh goes with a 2.5 Rating for Farhana.