'Yashoda' hit the screens today. In this section, we are going to review the latest box-office release.

Story:

Yashoda (Samantha) hails from a poor background. She badly needs tonnes of money to finance the surgery of her sister Brinda. She takes the route of surrogacy, lending her womb for rent. A rich couple, who are not known to her, are going to pay her money.

She is taken to a surrogacy facility policed by a bad woman named Madhu (Varalaxmi Sarathkumar). Yashoda gels with other pregnant women at the centre. She is also mooning over Dr Gautham (Unni Mukundan).

All along, we know that Madhu is a villain. There is another bad guy waiting to be introduced: Rao Ramesh's Minister character. Sampath Raj's character is investigating the mysterious death of a Hollywood actress. All these tracks are pieced together in the second half.

Analysis:

'Yashoda' has ambition written all over it. Making a pan-India film with a female protagonist at the helm, that too in the realm of a survival thriller, must have taken some guts. Unlike recent South Indian survival thrillers like 'Thank You Brother' (streaming on Aha) and 'Dongalunnaru Jaagratha', 'Yashoda' is not a remake/adaptation. Nayanthara-starrer 'O2' (streaming on Disney Hotstar), a recent survival thriller, was set inside a bus. The film under review is set inside a clinic.

Directors Hari Shankar and Hareesh Narayan make their most mainstream film with a touch of gloss but not by much. The king-sized conflict is constructed carefully. The hostile environs of Eva, the surrogacy centre forming the drama's backdrop for much part, has been brought out well by the production design. The forbidding beats of the negative characters, the sinister feel, the sense of danger go a long way in accentuating the thrills.

The film weaves some engaging plot turns that come with a dash of surprise. Samantha's character getting entangled with a humanitarian crisis with a malevolent face is fraught with danger.

Murali Sharma, Sampath Raj and Shatru are seen as cops in a track that should have been written better. One of the top cops says he doesn't believe in dead ends. Fine, but how come such a smart cop storms into a company's building without knowing the basic history of that company?

The flashback is where the film comes into its own. Even though it's hard to buy into the genius of a key character, we are enticed by the possibilities of the 'tripartite agreement'.

Yannick Ben and Venkat Master compose the stunts that don't go overboard They are also believable. Mani Sharma's BGM, M Sukumar's cinematography and Marthand K Venkatesh's editing add to the thrills.

Samantha delivers one of her career-best performances, especially in the first half where she gets to show versatility. The second half is where she is thrown into a challenging realm; she rises to the occasion, marshalling her experience. Varalaxmi Sarathkumar outcompetes herself and is very much likeable. Unni Mukundan is a revelation.

Verdict:

'Yashoda' can be watched with ordinary expectations. The writing and execution are worthy.