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Baby Girl

23 January 2026Malayalam2h 5m
4.5
from 2 scored reviews · 4 not rated

Weighted from a 3.5 average · Why?

What critics are saying

Critical reception for Baby Girl has been largely negative, with reviewers pointing to weak writing and a dated treatment as the film's central failures.

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Arun Raj Varma DirectorBobby WriterSanjay Writer

On a Christmas night, a guilt-ridden hospital attendant and a determined rookie cop race against time to recover a kidnapped newborn, unaware that the woman who took the baby is fighting a heartbreaking battle to finally call a child her own.

Critic Consensus

Critical reception for Baby Girl has been largely negative, with reviewers pointing to weak writing and a dated treatment as the film's central failures. The screenplay, penned by the previously acclaimed duo Bobby-Sanjay, drew particular disappointment for poor character development, narrative drift, and an inability to sustain its thriller elements past the midpoint. While a few critics acknowledged good performances, most felt the film failed to do justice to its moral premise or either of its genre ambitions.

2 rated reviews · 2 negative

Praised: performances by the castCriticised: weak, dated screenplay and treatment

AI-generated summary of 5 critic reviews · may contain errors

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Critic Reviews (6)

Updated
Janani K.· India Today
4.0
The film struggles to balance drama and thriller elements, ultimately failing to do justice to either genre.
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Anandu Suresh· Indian Express
3.0
It's sad to see someone struggle with something they were once masters of... Baby Girl, bitterly accepting that it's penned by Bobby-Sanjay, the iconic screenwriting duo that showed Malayalam cinema a way forward when it was aimlessly meandering in the dark in the early 2010s, only to produce disappointing results. Not only do Bobby and Sanjay fail to raise the stakes in the Nivin Pauly-starrer, but they also fail to ensure adequate character development or to anchor the narrative strongly somewhere.
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Vishal Menon· HollywoodReporterIndia
Not rated
There's a moral dilemma within Arun Varma's Baby Girl that deserved a much deeper film.
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Dhanya K Vilayil· Indian Express
Not rated
The main drawback of the film was that it could not maintain the excitement and tension that the first half of the film provided when it reached the second half. However, if you approach it without high expectations, this is a film that can be watched in the theater in a one-time watch mood. 'Baby Girl' presents an average cinematic experience to the audience
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Hari Prasad S· Hindustan Times
Not rated
Baby Girl, which recently came to Sony Liv OTT for streaming, failed to impress much. Despite good performances, the movie disappointed due to weak writing.
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S.R. Praveen· The Hindu
Not rated
What ultimately brings it down is the treatment, which has 'dated' written all over it, be it in the visual style or the editing patterns or the background score. With the thriller track losing steam by the halfway mark, the rest of the film plods along with the aid of the emotional drama and a few convenient contrivances. But the dated approach ensures that much of this does not create the intended impact.
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Cast & Crew

Cast

Details

Release Date
23 January 2026
Runtime
2h 5m
Language
Malayalam

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