Prasad Prabhakar directed Oru Kadhai Sollatuma positions the unsung contributor of cinema, the sound designer as the star of the film. The film is about a sound designer (Resul Pookutty plays himself in the film) and his quest to capture the aura and sound of Thrissur Pooram. There is so much to express within this conceit itself. But the fictional narrative interspersed across it doesn't amplify the monumental amounts of passion shown by a single man and his band of technicians.

The film starts with a scene where a grave technical error occurs during the live recording of the procession. Resul Pookutty and his team break their heads to find out how it happened. The 'why it happened' part forms the rest of the film. The film's first half gives us some mildly exhilarating portions during the sequences that bordered on the documentary genre, like the scene where we get to know about the history of the event and the nitty-gritty of the Pooram festival (the film uses the interview technique in those sequences). The film would've worked well if it didn't operate in the fictional realm.

Oru Kadhai Sollattuma's major roadblock comes in the form of the antagonist named George (played by Joy Matthew), the evil, money-minded producer of Resul Pookutty's project. In one scene, an inebriated George comes up with the idea to record the festival along with his sloshed sidekicks, who seem to only sway back and forth as if they're contending for Oscars in the category of 'Best Drunk acting'.

The film partially salvages itself in the pre-interval portions. We see the hero's professional life merging with his personal calling. A sense of purpose dawns in the protagonist's mind. The second half quite manages to carry this crescendo forward, with scenes throwing light on the know-how of audiography, one of the most fascinating, yet painstaking facets of cinema that seldom manages to get it's due.

The most engaging and moving portions are the scenes where the film explores a facet of how aural information is experienced by a visually impaired person, as opposed to a person with eyesight, reaffirming the fact that there are many beings who perceive the world through sound. One really wishes that the film displayed such moments of coherence between the fictional and the real. But as mentioned, the film tries too hard to operate at the level of our regular potboilers. These intricate aspects are nullified by the loud, hammy and force-fitted presence of the villains.

The film's USP comes to life at the end portions, particularly during the climax, as the audiographer conducts a symphony of sounds from the Pooram to a visually impaired audience. While witnessing such moments, one cannot help but feel that this film would've registered a ten-ton impact in us had it been made in the documentary format. The film would've benefited a lot from the interview technique of the documentary genre to elicit a direct reaction from the euphoric audience after listening to Resul Pookutty's magical presentation, without the disturbance of the mainstream movie flashiness.

Oru Kadhai Sollatuma is an important film that throws light on the building block of cinema and human perception itself, sound. But the film's soul was partially lost by forcing commercial elements into the narrative.