'Mithya' movie review: A poignant drama that closes with a nail-biting finish

Mithya is an intimate story of a young boy struggling to make sense of his life, which has been shattered into countless pieces after his parents pass away. It marks director Sumanth Bhat's feature film debut. Previously, he helmed the Kannada web series Ekam, also co-produced by Rakshit Shetty.

Mithya sheds light on the internal turmoil of an 11-year-old boy, Mithun. Taken in by his aunt’s family after his mother dies by suicide — leaving him and his younger sister orphaned — he is uprooted from Mumbai, where he was born and raised, and placed in the slow, quiet countryside of Udupi. He prefers to be called Mithya, but adjusting to his new reality is far from easy.

Mithya misses Mumbai and his friends, but his aunt’s family — especially his uncle — goes the extra mile to make him feel at home and ease his transition. At first, Mithya seems to be adapting, making progress in overcoming the tragic loss of his parents. But the grown-ups in his life make his emotional recovery more challenging than it needs to be.

We are never explicitly told why his mother killed herself or the exact nature of his father’s death. Sumanth Bhat’s screenplay offers fragments of clues, letting us piece together our own theories. Some say Mithya’s mother poisoned her husband; others seem disturbingly eager to confirm if it’s true. But few stop to consider the unsettling impact these discussions have on an 11-year-old boy. By withholding the full picture, the director subtly critiques this morbid curiosity. The truth is simple: Mithya’s parents were in a toxic relationship, marred by domestic violence, leaving behind a lifetime of emotional trauma for their children.

What really matters is this: Mithya was raised by two adults who lacked the emotional maturity and moral responsibility to do better. Their selfish decisions threw their children’s lives into complete disarray.

As if coping with the grief of his parents’ deaths wasn’t traumatic enough, Mithya is also forced to make sense of the seemingly unending quarrels, unexplained anger, and unreasonable hatred around him. Soon, the audience understands what’s truly at stake here. This isn’t just another film about marital discord or immature adults — it’s about a child’s innocence.

Mithya’s grief walks a razor-thin line, showing us how easily he could slip into darkness — how a single moment of rage or confusion could cost him his childhood. The last 20 minutes of the film turn into a pure thriller, leaving us worried, hoping, and praying for some divine intervention to pull him back from the edge.

Mithya explores layers of grief in a young boy’s life, but it also reflects a growing desire within the Kannada film industry to tell stories that offer real value to audiences. Most films today are designed to generate business by providing an easy escape from the mundane. That’s a worthy pursuit. But some films, like Mithya, show us the beauty in the mundane and remind us of the importance of appreciating it.

Filmmakers like Rakshit Shetty and Rishab Shetty (Pedro, Shivamma Yarehanchinala) do a great service to cinema — and their fellow humans — by investing in talents like Sumanth Bhat and bringing stories like Mithya to life. These are the kind of films that shake us awake, urging us to live more intentionally.