My Mother's Laptop, the Malayalam film directed by first timer Rupesh Paul, should have been an outright winner if we were to judge the film by the first few minutes.

The fast pace and promising premise however gives way to a languorous depiction of a guilt-ridden person who harbours an incestuous love for his mother.

Even if we are not morally judgemental about the subject, the whole thing leaves us with a bad taste due to the suggestive eroticism in the relationship between a pre-adolescent boy and his mother. The justification for this would be our primeval censors that would not have passed it if the boy happened to be in his mid or late teens.

Ravi (Suresh Gopi), a world-renowned dramatist based in Kolkatta wishes to reunite with his mother (Shweta Menon), but is doubtful whether she will accept him after what he had done to her. However, his girlfriend Payal (Padmapriya) encourages him to meet his mother as he is the only man his mother has loved in her life. Payal even addresses Ravi as Oedipus a couple of times. The scene itself is artificial as the protagonists are shown hugging and talking as if they are sitting across each other in a coffee shop.

Anyway, when he comes back, he finds his mother in coma as a result of some undiagnosed illness. This sends Ravi on a drunken guilt trip where he remembers his childhood and his games with his mother.

This is not all; when a nurse orders him out of the room because she has to dress his mother's bedsores, Ravi is reluctant to leave. Another disturbing scene is where Ravi hugs a container holding his mother's uterus for biopsy, all the while muttering, "My first home".

Suresh Gopi's performance is punctuated by drunken grunts and moans as if he is in a perpetual hangover. He is given minimal dialogue robbing him of the most potent weapon in his histrionic armoury. Only if you are in a generous mood, will you find his bearded look and added bulk refreshing.

Padmapriya is her chirpy self as we expect leading ladies to be with angry young heroes.

If you are wondering about the significance of the trendy title to this forbidden love story, it may be just a metaphor for a mother's womb.

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