An expatriate tale would often have a responsible person, who works selflessly for the family he left behind, the kind of struggles he undergoes there, the way people treat him, the constant diasporic tendencies and memories of home. Pathemari has all this and more. There is a kind of cliche in the way certain instances are narrated. But then, expatriate narratives all have a similar kind of aura. Director Salim Ahamed has presented a tale, which is very much familiar. In doing so he might gain the empathy of the audience, but the compromise he makes is with the realism and lack of novelty in the narrative. However, the moments of high emotional drama adds charm to the narrative.