Valentine’s Day is only a month away, and people are already getting themselves ready for the season of love. There will be countless movies and shows on these themes, and one of them is Qalb, loosely translated to heart, on Amazon Prime Video. Qalb is a Malayalam language film about the love story of a young couple living around a coastal village in Kerala. The movie began with Calpo, a young tour guide in Alappuzha, having a dream about heaven and meeting the woman of his dreams around the sidra tree. The ordeal the couple face during their courtship and relationship makes the crux of the film.
Spoilers Ahead
What was Calpo’s life like in Alappuzha?
Calpo ran a small cafe with his father, Sayyippu, and a large array of friends who used to show all the foreign tourists to places around the beach and the town. Calpo and his father were very close, and they spent every Sunday by his mother’s grave, who passed away during his childbirth. Sayyippu has been both mother and father to Calpo, and they share every tiny detail of their lives with each other. After many years, his father had feelings for someone again, his neighbor Tresa, who worked as a lawyer. Calpo’s plan was to meet a European tourist, make her fall for him, and move to that part of the world for a better quality of life. His father was necessarily on board with this, but he also did not want to interfere in his son’s plans for the future.
How did Calpo and Thumbi meet?
Calpo and his friends were always looking for avenues to make money, and one such opportunity came when a lady named Sauda could not capture her pet bird, Mynah, that escaped her cage. Calpo had to pretend to be a bird catcher to earn some money. Sauda’s daughter Thumbi arrived at the scene looking for her bird, and that was the first time Calpo saw her. He was smitten by her and tried to find any opportunity to meet her. Thumbi was a kind woman who was not used to this attention, yet she allowed Calpo into her space. Calpo decided to travel with Thumbi to Ottapalam to meet her grandmother. This was his ruse to get to know her and find out if she liked him or not. Her grandmother revealed that Thumbi’s mother was forced to marry a cruel police officer when she wanted to be with the person she loved. Sauda’s father and brothers orchestrated her alliance with Thumbi’s father, and the rest was history.
What was the major obstacle in Thumbi’s life?
Thumbi was afraid of her father, and so was Sauda, as he was a physically abusive man. He controlled every aspect of his daughter’s life and beat up her mother if Thumbi made any mistake. Sauda’s relationship before her marriage was a bone of contention, and her husband never hesitated to bring it up whenever he beat her in front of his daughter. The physical abuse was his way to control his daughter and make sure she never overstepped the boundary line drawn by him for her and his wife. Sauda was stuck in this marriage out of fear of ostracization from her family and society in general. It could be the trauma bonding and societal pressure that forced her to stay in the marriage that deeply affected her and Thumbi. Her father was the only obstacle to the relationship, and Thumbi had no idea how to help herself and her mother get out of the bad situation.
Did Thumbi and Calpo fall in love?
Thumbi had begun to enjoy Calpo’s company and vice versa. They were slowly falling in love even though Sauda begged him to not pursue her daughter. Sauda was worried her husband might harm Thumbi and him, and she did not want that for the both of them. Thumbi was scared, yet she couldn’t help but fall for Calpo, with the attention he was showering on her. Calpo at the same time was changing his priorities and future plans to accommodate Thumbi in his life. Thumbi wanted to go dolphin-watching in the sea, and Calpo’s father stated that the fishermen folk believed that the dolphins showed up when they sensed two people in love were around them.
Calpo, along with Thumbi, headed to the sea not far from the shore in the hope of getting a glimpse of the dolphins. It was also to find out if they loved each other or not as per the fishermen folklore. To their surprise, the dolphins showed up, which solidified their love for each other. On her way home, Thumbi let Calpo know that she felt safe in his presence and that his father was also a good human being. This was her way of conveying her love to him, and he reciprocated as well. They ended up spending a whole evening together one night of the beach festival. They clicked a picture together thanks to his father’s photographer friend, who had many old-school pictures of people, including Calpo’s parents. This deepened their love for each other, and it seemed nothing could break their relationship.
Why did Thumbi stand up to her father?
On the night of the drive, Thumbi’s father eavesdropped on her conversation with Calpo and snatched her phone to find out who she was speaking to. He had a hunch that his daughter was in love with another, and used that to create another issue in the house. Thumbi’s father took no time to attempt to physically hurt Sauda but to his shock, Thumbi chose to stand up for her mother. Thumbi did not stop herself from yelling at her father for putting her mother through hell just for every small mistake she made. She bluntly asked him to walk away since she would continue stepping up for Sauda from that point on.
Thumbi’s father walked away, which scared Sauda. It was not hard to assume that Thumbi was finally amidst people who cherished love and realized her father was toxic. Her love for Calpo and the relationship he shared with his father gave her the courage to stand up to her serial abusive parent, who did not dare to hurt his daughter at this juncture. Thumbi decided to leave her family to be with Calpo and asked him to pick her up since she was not sure how her father would react post her confrontation. She, however, made the mistake of abandoning her mother, stating that she should have taken a stand against her husband a long time back. Sauda’s silence forced Thumbi to confront her volatile father, who might do anything at this point to hurt them.
Were Calpo and his friends arrested?
Sauda was heartbroken over Thumbi leaving her abruptly and blaming her. The daughter was wrong at this juncture for blaming her mother for the situation instead of helping her leave the home as well. The trauma bonding was probably too strong for Sauda to walk out, and Thumbi should have been more sensitive. She regretted her decision of abandoning her mother. Calpo and Thumbi unfortunately were confronted by a rival gang. There was a long-standing rivalry between them and Calpo’s, and they tried to kill him, which caused a huge fight between the two groups. The important thing was to make sure Thumbi was safe, and she was, thanks to Calpo and his friends. Sadly the police reprimanded both the groups for creating a nuisance, and then it was revealed Thumbi’s father was a notorious and corrupt policeman whose move to Alappuzha was a punishment transfer. This twist was pretty good, and it was easy to conclude that he was acting entitled all this while since he knew his brethren would never arrest him. He was a terrifying person at work and at home; hence, the man would go to any extent to harm Calpo, his friends, and the rest of the gang. Calpo’s father ended up getting slapped at the hands of Thumbi’s father for the nuisance created by Calpo, his friends, and other rowdy men. This scene was added to indicate Thumbi’s father was toxic while Calpo’s father was the exact opposite and loved by many in the town. While Sayyippu was empathetic and supportive of Calpo’s relationship, Thumbi’s father would go to any extent to hurt his daughter by forcing her to accept his style of life and lifestyle.
Did Calpo and Thumbi reunite?
Thumbi’s father again arrested Calpo and friends under fake drug possession charges. They were brutally beaten at the station on the orders of this vile man, and there was no end to his torture tactics. Custodial torture was carried out to give the cop an upper hand over Calpo and Thumbi’s life, and they would eventually be forced to separate. Thumbi’s father was an awful person, which was rightly established, and none of them, including Sauda and Sayyippu, could do anything to stop the maniac. Thumbi, out of desperation, asked him to let them go, and her father chose to ignore her pleas as if he was taking pleasure in her misery. Just like he felt good after beating Sauda, there was no end to his torture tactics on Thumbi. Since she stood up to him to protect her mother, he was angry and taught her a lesson by making Calpo suffer. Calpo was eventually released, since the police had no evidence against him. A disturbed Thumbi killed herself as she realized her father would go to any extent to separate her from Calpo. Her death sent shockwaves across the town and sent Calpo into a deep depression. The ending was similar to Annayum Rasoolum, in which the female lead had to end her life to avoid marrying a man her father chose, and his boyfriend Rasool was only a little too late to arrive at her place to elope with her.
The tragic end to the film was sudden, as everyone assumed the couple would reunite and put up a fight against her father. Thumbi’s one step changed the dynamics of the town, and suddenly Sauda could take a decision without worrying about her husband harming her. Sadly, it was the death of a young girl that led to everyone speaking up against Thumbi’s father, the ruthless man. He himself sobered as he had not expected to lose his daughter the way he did. Sauda decided to bury her daughter in Alappuzha, indicating she would be close to the one person who loved and respected her. This was a taunt at her father, who never tried to have a decent relationship with Sauda or Thumbi. Calpo’s depression was getting worse as he admitted to his father his intention of killing himself. He mentioned the Sidra tree that Thumbi had described and how he knew his mother and Thumbi must be waiting for her.
Calpo was delusional and in pain, which led to him confronting his lover’s father about how showing Thumbi love after her death had no meaning. He was not wrong about it since it would have been sorted via communication and discussion. Her father never bothered to understand what Thumbi wanted, and that snowballed into her tragic death. Only Sauda understood Calpo’s pain, since she loved and cared for her daughter as much as he did. Sauda shared the photograph of Thumbi and Calpo from the vintage studio, and this was her way of accepting his love for her daughter as well. Calpo, however, was not in the right mind state and headed to the middle of the sea to find the Sidra Tree she had mentioned twice during their relationship. This story played a big role in Calpo’s life as he was willing to believe his mother might be waiting for him. With Thumbi also gone, he wanted to find the Sidra Tree which according to her would be found after crossing the horizon of the sea. Calpo was overwhelmed with grief as he was missing Thumbi a lot and jumped into the water hoping he would find her if he killed himself. He wanted to reunite with her, and death was the only way to the doorsteps of heaven. It seems he was close to losing his life and almost met Thumbi waiting near the tree. This scene connects the plot to the prologue. Calpo had seen Thumbi, and he’d wanted to be with her from that point on.
Qalb ended with Calpo being rescued by his friends and father from the sea. They knew from Sayyippu’s lawyer friend Tresa, who had heard Calpo uttering about moving on to the other world. This may have helped them to find and rescue him in no time. Calpo’s father shared an emotional story of losing his wife. This was a moment between the father and son where he further confessed he could not stand the sight of losing his child. Sayyippu implied that Calpo was his reason to live, and that he’d motivated him to be the person he was. He wanted his son to move on and try to live for people who care about him. The one person he loved was not around, but Calpo would have to push himself to be fine eventually. This ending was bizarre as it had nothing to do with Calpo and Thumbi’s relationship. The messaging was weird, and it felt like an attempt to quickly end the film. All of them hugged out of love for each other, which was again bizarre. Calpo was glad to have a group of people who loved him, but sadly, Thumbi left this world feeling alone. Calpo kept visiting her grave, which he turned into a place where flowers would grow. This was Calpo’s way to remember her for the rest of his life.
