Christy (2023) [Hindi-Malayalam]

Roy, a village boy Christy who’s a failure at studies, joins Christy’s tuition. They become good friends, but later when Christy gets a job abroad, Roy’s life changes

When Roy first meets Christy, he does not get to see her face. Her face turned against the wall, she sits amid torn photographs in a room marked by its disorderliness. A confused Roy (Mathew Thomas), who had come to Christy (Malavika Mohanan) for tuition to improve his failing grades, quickly leaves the house. That scene, and the ones following it, seem to have been written in a specific way to convey Christy’s state of mind at that time. Yet, as the narrative progresses, we are slowly shut out of her mind, so much so that at crucial points, we are left wondering about what she might be thinking.

One is not sure whether the scriptwriters intended it in this way, to convey the increasing distance of Roy from Christy, but it doesn’t work and ends up destroying all the hard work it had put into building the chemistry between the teenager and his elder teacher. Even though the movie is named Christy, we see everything here from Roy’s point of view. Debutant Alvin Henry has quite a task at hand to portray their relationship in a convincing manner, and he does this part with some finesse.

The story begins in 2007 and sets in the beautiful backdrop of Poovar. Roy, a 12th-standard student who is not interested in his studies usually skips classes and goes out to enjoy himself with his friends and also starts a dance troupe called “Poovar Boys”. He lives with his father’s sister for his studies. Knowing that Roy does not go to school regularly his mother tells him to come back home if he is not serious ab about his studies. So, his aunt decides to send Roy for tuition. Following this Roy goes to the house of a higher secondary teacher named Christy for tuition. When Roy comes home, he sees Christy sitting in the room like a crazy woman and tearing up all the photos. Scared by seeing that, he comes home and says that the teacher is crazy and he won’t go there for tuition. Then the next day, while he is leaving for the church, Christy comes to him Christy and tells him to come for tuition tomorrow.

While in school, Roy came across a teacher who informs him that it is only because of his mother’s cries and pleas that he is at least allowed to attend the exams, due to this Roy decides to go to the tuition at Christy’s home. At her home, as Roy waits for her she comes with her father and he mentions that it was a mutual divorce and hence there were not many problems. Even though Christy distributed sweets, she didn’t seem to be happy. Then it is shown that Christy and her father are not in terms, he used to borrow money from her even if she is not interested in giving, and she was married without her consent. One day, when Christy called Roy, his friends began to gossip and make stories about Christy and Roy. As a result, Roy fell for Christy and even during the classes rather than concentrating on what she teaches, he used to stare at her as if he likes her. As the days passed by the friendship between Christy and Roy became closer and Roy’s exams approached and he passed the exams smoothly.