How This Bold Malayalam Film Challenged a Conservative Society’s Views on Being Gay

Kaathal – The Core dares to tell a story rarely addressed in Indian cinema. A narrative that goes beyond questions of identity and dives deep into the raw, conflicted experience it entails. The emotional honesty of the protagonist is striking, especially because he’s portrayed by one of the biggest stars in Kerala’s film industry, Mammootty.

Set against the backdrop of Kerala’s conservative social landscape, the film subtly yet powerfully challenges entrenched norms. Directed by Jeo Baby, it is a poignant portrayal of queer identity in its most human form — a story of love, shame, denial, and ultimately, liberation.

Subtle cues

At first glance, it appears to be a typical family drama, set in a small town in Kerala. Mathew Devassy is a respected local politician — a man of few words, yet one who commands presence and a solid reputation.

His wife, Omana, played by Tamil actress Jyothika, is the dutiful spouse managing the home while also working as a schoolteacher. She holds together the thread of communication in a household where the father and son do not speak, all while remaining emotionally distant from her husband in ways she cannot fully articulate.

The story begins with an election campaign, but the real narrative unfolds when Omana unexpectedly files for divorce, a year after Article 368 is passed.

The reason? Mathew is gay.

The film avoids melodramatic clichés and scandal-driven storytelling, instead offering a quiet, deeply personal account of a marriage built on compromise and silenced truths. Its power lies in the subtle gestures, long pauses, and emotionally charged silences.

A quiet cultural earthquake

This film is a courageous step forward, especially in South India, where conversations around LGBTQ+ identities are still nascent, particularly among older generations and in rural communities. It made its subtle yet distinct mark, though.

Jeo Baby, the director, said, “Once the movie was released, many people from the LGBTQ+ community and their families reached out to us saying the movie helped them come out to their families.”

This isn’t a movie about pride parades or rebellion; it is about the quiet violence of conformity and the invisible ache of suppressed identity. That it features Mammootty, a titan of Malayalam cinema, in the lead is significant. For a mainstream hero of his stature to play a closeted gay man in his sixties is both a risk and a statement.

The movie touches upon the role of family members and the consequences they have to face. Omana, the wife, files a case for divorce on the grounds of cruelty. The cruelty of being denied affection from a husband. “There were many women who reached out to us after the movie was released, saying that they were in the same condition,” Jeo Baby added.

The brilliance of Jeo Baby’s direction lies in the film’s refusal to sensationalise. There are no dramatic “coming out” speeches. There is no physical intimacy shown. Instead, the focus is on the emotional cost: the longing in Mathew’s eyes as he speaks of his college love; the hurt in Omana’s voice as she asks if her whole life was a lie; the confusion of their daughter, who realises her family may never have been what it seemed.

By placing this story within a middle-class Christian family in central Kerala, a setting that traditionally upholds patriarchal and heteronormative values, the film forces its audience to confront how deep-rooted cultural norms can suffocate individuality.

A step forward for regional cinema 

Kaathal – The Core doesn’t pretend to offer solutions. It doesn’t promise happy endings. But it opens a door. It creates space for conversations that have long been silenced in Kerala’s drawing rooms and tea shops. It challenges the idea that queerness is incompatible with traditional Indian values, asking instead: What happens when we choose truth over social approval?

In doing so, the film humanises queer identity for viewers who may never have encountered it before in such a nuanced, empathetic way. It also dismantles stereotypes. Mathew is not flamboyant or villainous. He is thoughtful, quiet, and confused, a reflection of the many real-life LGBTQ+ individuals who live behind masks in fear of judgment.

This is not just a win for queer representation. This is a win for Malayalam cinema, for storytelling, and for anyone who has ever felt unseen.