Writer: Murali Gopi
DOP: Sujith Vasudev
Cast: Mohanlal, Vivek Oberoi, Manju Warrier, Tovino Thomas, Sai Kumar
Language: Malayalam
Film follows the events after the death of a chief minister and the succession drama that is precipitated by it.
Trailer of the film pretty much reveals what it is about. It is a mashup of several films from the past like Irupatham Noottandu and Ustad, but in a good way. It is not really about the plot but the quality of making on a technical level, narrative sureity and the performances from the huge ensemble cast whom all have got memorable roles and have been carefully cast. Expositions are cleverly done using the Facebook live from the Indrajith character. Prithviraj is usually one who talks the talk when it comes to his passion for making risky films but that is generally only seen in films he produces. He has been quite upfront about the nature of his feature film debut, stressing the fact that he is a Mohanl fanboy and the film will have things that will please his fans and that is pretty much what we get.
It is a mass commercial film that will please his fans and is a neatly made watchable film for the rest. Prithviraj is said to have ghost directed some of the films he has starred in the past and their shortcomings are also present here- primarily the length of it and a general lack of humour. It is only Baiju and Sai Kumar who provides some humour in it and that is just not enough for a movie of this genre with a running time close to three hours. Ustad, Aaram Thamburan and Big B, only ones that I like among films of these nature from recent times, had ample elements of humour to them. The first two action set pieces are done very well but the final one is bit of a letdown. BGMs work very well in some places and disappointing in the rest. Camerawork is uniformly excellent and specially loved the scale of the crowd scenes and that zoom out scene from that Mumbai slum, Danny Boyle like. It is a pretty good watch and has more nuances than the impression I got from the initial watch. The Russian scene, spectacularly done, adds a lot for the film.
PS: Kids will get the Irupatham Noottandu reference. Adults will get the Pulp Fiction reference. Legends will get the Wire reference.
Rating: 3/5
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