A movie about a family struggling to own a house? One cannot forget Balu Mahendra’s masterpiece Veedu. The 1988 film placed a magnifying glass on the quiet but crushing struggle of a woman determined to build her own home — a complete soul crusher.

In 3BHK, Sri Ganesh takes a similar thread and weaves it into a linear timeline, chronicling the torment and disheartenment of a family of four trying to buy a house. It plays out like an emotional time capsule.

There’s no fluff here — the film dives straight into the heart of the matter. The family, led by the soft-spoken Vasudevan, played by Sarath Kumar (who, by the way, still has his biceps popping), moves into their next rented home. Before we can even settle in, the family’s ultimate goal is clear. Voila — they’re at the threshold. It’s go time.

We get a montage of sacrifice: coin by coin, every rupee is saved. But then comes a setback. The forever-young Siddharth (Prabhu), playing Vasudevan’s eldest son, performs poorly in his 12th board exams. The money saved for the house is rerouted to cover his education.

But the family is relentless. They begin saving all over again. And then — another setback. And another. And another. It’s a cycle. At one point, yes, it does feel repetitive. Exhaustive, even.

This is something a few reviews picked up on — criticizing the filmmaker for “selling an idea” instead of delivering a tight plot. To be honest, I felt that too in the first hour. But slowly, I began to see it differently. This was intentional. Sri Ganesh wanted the narrative structure itself to mirror the reality of the family — and of so many others like them.

Vasudevan becomes a stand-in for the entire middle class: resilient, duty-bound, and ever-hopeful. He knows only one thing — to rise again after every fall.

To give you some perspective: in Indian 2, Senapathy embarks on a killing spree to eliminate corruption. I get it — it was supposed to be exhaustive. But at some point, he was just getting creative with the kills. It bordered on cringeworthy.

Meanwhile, 3BHK uses its repetitions to reflect truth. The screenplay’s loops and lulls aren’t narrative flaws; they’re deliberate beats, echoing the cyclic grind of life when you’re building from the ground up.

And then comes the final blow. After everything’s set — after all the sweat and sacrifice — Prabhu, who takes over the dream from his father, backs out.

That’s when it hits you. 3BHK isn’t just about building a house. It’s about something far bigger.
It’s about living.