Sookshmadarshini, loosely translated to microscope, is one of the finest black comedy mystery dramas to have come out of Malayalam cinema. This is a story of a woman who has no business getting involved in her neighbor’s life, yet she suspects that there is something odd about the man living there. Whether she is able to convince the other neighbors about the same is what forms the crux of Sookshmadarshini.
Spoilers Ahead
Who was Priya’s new neighbor?
Sookshmadarshini began with Priya learning that her car had been bumped into by another vehicle, and that they’d left before she could show up to confront them. She was with her friend, who was helping her with a resume as she was actively looking for a job. Priya was married to Antony and had a daughter with him. Her neighbors, Stephy, Sulu, and Asma, were her closest friends, and they were all aware of what was happening in each other’s lives. Priya specifically was known for noticing and finding answers by analyzing meticulous details.
Priya’s new neighbors were Manuel and his aging mother, who everyone referred to as ‘Ammachi.’ They had moved into their ancestral home, owing to the elderly lady’s deteriorating health. One of the neighbors knew him from childhood, and they only had good things to say about him and his family. Manuel’s mother ran a bakery, ‘Grace Bakers,’ which was named after herself, Gracy, and everything seemed normal until the day of Priya and Antony’s wedding anniversary party.
When Did Priya Find Out Manuel’s Mother Had Alzheimer’s?
Priya noticed Manuel’s mother was not the talkative kind and she refused to mingle with any of her neighbors. Priya began to believe Manuel was purposefully keeping Ammachi away from the rest of them. It was at Priya and Antony’s wedding anniversary party that Manuel started a fire by placing a hot iron on a saree. Ammachi was missing post the incident, but she was found within hours. Manuel had to reveal that his mother was suffering from Alzheimer’s; hence, she walked out of the house unknowingly.Â
Priya refused to believe Ammachi had Alzheimer’s, since she had noticed that Manuel’s mother never forgot to do basic things around her, including removing her slippers before entering the house or switching off the gas before the fifth whistle of the pressure cooker went off. However, her findings were circumstantial, and her husband dismissed it. However, Priya’s neighbors Sulu and Asma were willing to believe there was some plausibility to her findings about Manuel’s suspicious movements.
What was Manuel up to?
Manuel, on the other hand, was growing close to Stephy, who was good friends with Priya, Sulu, and Asma as well. It was obvious he was using Stephy’s non threatening demeanor to his benefit, as he was frequently seen doing shady stuff at his home, including keeping all the curtains closed at all times. Manuel was also seen with his cousin Dr. John and his father Roy, who seemed to be planning something sinister that involved harming Gracy. Dr. John mentioned dissolving sleeping pills into juice and picking up Ammachi from the bungalow on Tuesday afternoon. Dr. John seemed to be confident about his plan, yet Manuel and Roy were skeptical about it. They chimed in as Dr. John convinced them the police would not get to them if his plan was put in motion.
What happened on the day Manuel’s mother went missing?
Priya wanted to find out if Ammachi was safe or not and planned to meet her when Manuel left. Manuel had assigned Stephy to take care of Ammachi and specifically instructed her to give her the mango juice he had made for her. He also asked her to drink the juice so that Ammachi would mimic her and drink it as well. This implied that the juice had the sleeping pills and they were planning something after making sure Stephy and Ammachi dozed off.
Roy, who was coming to pick up Ammachi, noticed Priya walking in and put their plan on hold for some time until she left the house. Priya was not able to get much out of Ammachi, as she was distracted by her husband Antony. A crooked Manuel manipulated a clueless Antony to get Priya out of his house. Stephy dozed off and woke up to Manuel creating a ruckus about Ammachi walking out of the house under her supervision. Ammachi was now deemed missing, and the entire neighborhood came together as one to console Manuel. The elderly lady was taken away by Roy, and the facade put on by him, Manuel, and John was extremely believable.Â
What was Manuel up to?
Diana, Manuel’s sister, flew down from New Zealand to meet her brother and the rest of the family, since her mother was now missing. She knew her mother had Alzheimer’s but the idea was to make the neighbors believe Diana had come home. Priya managed to converse with Diana and get her contact number under the pretext of wanting to migrate to New Zealand in the near future. The neighbors, including Priya, Sulu, and Asma, saw Diana heading back to New Zealand, and everyone imagined that would be the end of it.Â
Did Priya contact Diana?
Priya woke up one night and saw a glimpse of Ammachi from her kitchen window, and it freaked her out. Manuel began to gaslight her into believing Ammachi was still missing. Her neighbors, including her husband, asked her to forget the matter and move on, as her antics were bothering Manuel. Priya was obsessed with finding out if Amachhi was inside the house, and she brought in Sulu and Asma to hatch a plan. Priya tried to contact Diana, but she received only a vague answer, and a voice note that did not help her. She tried to call several times after that, but no one answered the phone. Priya trespassed on Manuel’s boundary wall to have a look inside the house. This snowballed into a bigger problem as Dr. John was inside the house, and he could see Priya trying to get a peek. It was obvious Manuel and Dr. John were up to something, and that a crime had been committed. Dr. John had to inform Manuel about Priya’s antics, and he made sure everyone in the vicinity knew she was insane to be suspecting him.Â
Did Manuel’s mother return?
Manuel and Dr. John were disposing of a human body and using highly potent acid, they hoped every trace would disappear. Both were nervous about their actions, as they were guilty of a crime. At this point it was not revealed who had been killed, but it was believed they’d killed Ammachi over a property issue. A crime had been committed, and yet the cousins were pretending as if they could get away with it. Manuel knew Priya was on to them, but using his good-natured persona, he put her on the back foot, letting the neighborhood know that she was playing nosy and not understanding the sensitivity of the matter. Antony begged Priya to step away since he and the rest of the neighbors felt she was being extra suspicious for no reason.
Priya, Asma, and Sulu noticed Manuel putting heavy gunny sacks against a wall of his house as if he was trying to cover up something. Asma and Sulu collected some particles from the same wall, hoping that it would help them get some details about what was happening. Priya was unwilling to give up, and she knew Manuel was not the nice person that everyone assumed him to be. Her hunch was strong, but except for Sulu and Asma, no one was willing to believe her circumstantial theories. To everyone’s shock, Ammachi was found, and Manuel accompanied her back to the bungalow to make the neighbors believe that she had indeed disappeared. Priya was shocked as she was sure she saw the old lady inside the house. This was probably done to put a stop to Priya’s game and for them to go ahead with whatever they were up to. The question remained: if Ammachi was still alive, what were the cousins up to in the house. It seemed they were hiding blood stains with the help of gunny sacks. Sookshmadarshini was made in such a manner that the audience knew Manuel, Dr. John, and Roy had committed a despicable crime and that they were trying to cover it up with the help of an elaborate plan.
Was Diana dead or alive?
Priya tried to contact Diana multiple times, but she was not answering them. Diana’s phone was now with Manuel, and he had been screening all of Diana’s call log and messages. This indicates that Diana was the person they’d targeted and she’d probably been kidnapped by Manuel and his family. There was a possibility that Diana was dead as well, but the motive behind the murder was yet to be revealed. Aditi Thyaagrajan arrived in Kerala wanting to meet Diana, and her conversation with Manuel proved that she and Diana were in love. Both had also decided to adopt a girl in New Zealand, and for Diana to suddenly back out of the plan made her want to see her girlfriend face to face. Her words proved that Manuel, Dr. John, and Roy were against Diana being in a relationship with a woman, and they’d forced her to come to India under the pretext of her mother’s illness.
Sookshmadarshini was heading towards the subject of honor killing as Manuel was seen disposing of his sister’s phone, passport, and clothes by setting them on fire. Diana was dead, and they were trying to cover up by not letting Aditi know about it. Aditi was insistent on meeting Diana, and Manuel decided to kill her as well since she had enough evidence to prove her girlfriend would never abandon her. Ammachi turned out to be the mastermind behind her own daughter’s murder, since she could not stand Diana ruining the family’s reputation by marrying a woman. This was a classic case of the family deciding to take it upon themselves to decide what was right and not caring about what Diana wanted from her life. Diana’s indifference on learning of her mother’s disappearance proves that she and Gracy hadn’t been on good terms for a long time. She still came back out of respect for her mother, and her family used that window to murder her. The obstacle came in the form of Priya, and later Aditi. She did not give up on the matter, as she kept calling Diana, but this time her phone was switched off. Priya, being herself, believed her gut instincts and got hold of Aditi’s Instagram details via Diana’s social media.
Priya had a terrific presence of mind, and on contacting Aditi, she asked her to not trust Diana’s family. Priya’s worst fears were confirmed when she learned Diana never came back to New Zealand. Aditi had had a bad feeling about this trip, and she felt she could instinctively trust Priya, who was trying to get to the bottom of what happened to Diana. Aditi was taken hostage by Manuel, as his mother instructed him to kill her if she kept insisting on meeting Diana. This puts the whole plan in perspective. Dr. John came up with the plan to kill Diana in such a manner that no one would question or suspect anything. Her mother having Alzheimer’s was just a ruse developed to get the victim to them.
Priya never assumed they would be capable of killing Aditi as well, and she waited for them at Manuel’s bakery, the spot decided for the lovers to meet and decide on their future. She knew things had gotten out of hand on finding out the murder was about to take place at the construction site of Grace Baker’s new branch. Priya had also given the debris from Manuel’s wall to her friend who worked at a local lab, and she got back to her, claiming there were human bones and blood found, and the police needed to be informed. This indicated that Priya was smart enough to keep evidence in hand to prove that Manuel was up to no good and they had indeed committed a crime that was hidden from plain eyesight. Just like a microscope helps people find tiny details, Priya was that instrument who could see what others couldn’t.
Priya crashed her car into the construction site in the hope that Aditi was alive and she could be saved. This was a preposterous move, since she could have just called the police instead. Maybe she was not keen on waiting for the police to show up, since Manuel and Dr. John would kill Aditi at any given moment. A gravely injured Priya did save Aditi, and she had to since she knew what her neighbors were up to. Her conscience never let her rest, and her constant digging into Manuel’s life brought out the dark secret, which left the neighbors shell shocked. Diana was killed in that bungalow after she was brought back from the airport under the pretense that her mother was found. Priya was right about Ammachi not having Alzheimer’s, and she had indeed spotted the old lady by the window on the night Diana was brutally killed. The old lady was as culpable as Manuel, Roy, and Dr. John. The movie ended with their arrest for the murder of a helpless woman just because she chose to live her life on her terms. Priya’s persistence led to an opening of the dirty Pandora’s box.Â
Sookshmadarshini’s ending had Manuel, Gracy, Roy, and Dr. John decide to go ahead with the plan as decided while sitting inside a car. The mother was disgusted by her daughter and greenlit the plan to kill her own flesh and blood. As Dr. John reversed his vehicle, it hit Priya’s car, connecting it to the start of the film. As shown in the prologue, Priya was angry at the person who damaged her vehicle. This proved Priya was destined to go after them, and her damaged vehicle connected her to Manuel’s family.