Aabhyanthara Kuttavaali

Drama Malayalam

A man in a troubled second marriage faces divorce complications when legal battles spiral with false domestic violence and dowry claims, turning the justice system itself into a form of punishment.

Cast:	Asif Ali, Harisree Ashokan, Jagadish, Shreya Rukmini, Rini Udayakumar, Balachandran Chullikkadu
Director:	Sethu Nath Padmakumar
Writer:	Sethu Nath Padmakumar
Editor:	Sobin K Soman
Camera:	Ajay David Kachappilly

Guild Reviews

Image of scene from the film Aabhyanthara Kuttavaali

A one-sided pamphlet against Section 498A

S. R. Praveen | The Hindu

Sat, June 7 2025

‘Aabhyanthara Kuttavaali’ falters when it generalises a few instances of women misusing Section 498A, while closing its eyes to the numerous cases of domestic abuse and dowry harassment and deaths of women which necessitated the framing of such a law

The way a filmmaker conceives a single sequence can sometimes reveal the entire thought process behind the film. This is especially true of single-agenda films like Aabhyanthara Kuttavaali, the debut directorial of Sethunath Padmakumar. Sahadevan (Asif Ali), the protagonist who is facing a case under Section 498A over dowry harassment and domestic abuse, is shown returning to his wife’s family the 100 sovereigns of gold that he got as a “gift”, a modern-day euphemism for dowry. A sentimental background score accompanies this sequence which is framed fully from the man’s perspective, although he was earlier shown to have denied his wife’s demand for a part of the gold to fund her higher education. Even this demand on her part appears unjust by the way the film looks at it.