‘John Doe’ movie review: Madhumita finds her footing with a neat, effective thriller

They say we are what our fathers leave behind. The latest Tamil film John Doe revolves around fathers of all kinds — one who fed shame and toxicity to his child, one who failed to stand by his daughter, and one who looks after a childlike wife.

Even when they are absent, or through that very absence, some of these fathers keep shaping their children’s lives. ‘John Doe’: Why director Madhumita wanted to move beyond feel-good films storyline 1 Which is why, even though John Doe revolves around the mysterious murder of an eight-year-old boy, director Madhumita begins her story elsewhere — with another boy child in another period who grows up listening to his terrorising, toxic police officer father humiliate him daily.

The child can’t eat as much as he wants to, can’t score anything less than first rank, and isn’t even allowed to cry at his mother’s funeral. ‘John Doe’: Why director Madhumita wanted to move beyond feel-good films storyline 1 As fate would have it, Chandru (Arjun Das) becomes a police officer, a Kerala Police Sub-Inspector in Kadampuzha.