Baby Girl

A few minutes into Nivin Pauly’s Baby Girl, we are taken into a hospital where the doctors have called Code Pink. Those who are familiar with medical dramas like Dr House or Grey’s Anatomy would be instantly hooked, as Code Pink means a baby is missing. In director Arun Varma’s Baby Girl, a three-day-old baby girl goes missing. Sanal Mathews (Nivin Pauly) is an attender who is in the thick of things here. At its core, Baby Girl shows immense promise to be an emotional thriller. But, Baby Girl takes a different route and struggles to find a balance between being a drama and a thriller.

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’