A scene from ‘Baby Girl’.
Fifteen years ago, Malayalam cinema was not in the pink of health when the screenwriting duo of Bobby-Sanjay came up with Traffic, which would give a new sense of direction for the industry. In 2026, when the same duo returns with Baby Girl, after a mix of memorable and forgettable films in the intervening years, they borrow some of the elements from their most successful film yet. But then, times have changed and the tastes of the audience too have evolved, and things that worked back in the day might not work now, which is what unfortunately happens with Baby Girl’
The film, directed by Arun Varma, revolves around the happenings on a day when a newborn baby goes missing from a hospital. Sanal (Nivin Pauly), an attendant at the hospital, also gets caught in the drama, when his suspicions about the possible abductor immediately sets the police on a hunt. Parallel to this runs the drama involving the families of the young parents, who are still in college, and another track of a woman who is facing emotional struggles after having a stillborn baby.
Baby Girl (Malayalam)
Direction: Arun Varma
Cast: Nivin Pauly, Lijomol Jose, Sangeeth Prathap, Abhimanyu Shammy Thilakan
Storyline: A newborn baby goes missing from a hospital, leading to a hunt involving multiple suspects
Runtime: 126 minutes
If it was just the template of the narrative that happens in a day and the multiple parallel strands that the screenwriters reused from Traffic, the movie might have still worked at some level. But, what ultimately brings it down is the treatment, which has ‘dated’ written all over it, be it in the visual style or the editing patterns or the background score. Filling a good part of the runtime are sequences of police cars running aimlessly in the city with wireless sets chattering non-stop in the background, big screen visuals from the control rooms and characters poring over CCTV visuals.
A hint of potential
Towards the end of the film, a sequence depicting the meeting of two mothers gives one a hint of the emotional potential that the film held, but this comes too late in the day. Lijomol Jose, as one of the mothers, is one of the few saving graces in the film. Nivin Pauly’s character appears superfluous at several points, with the screenwriters often taking evident efforts to insert the star into the drama. Neither does the role provide any scope for performance to the actor, nor does he add much to the movie.
With the thriller track losing steam by the halfway mark, the rest of the film plods along with the aid of the emotional drama and a few convenient contrivances. But the dated approach ensures that much of this does not create the intended impact.
(The movie is running in cinemas)
Published – January 23, 2026 08:02 pm IST
