Adam Ayub – Movies of the Soul

Vampire Owl: This man might be familiar to us.

Vampire Bat: I am sure that he is not the kind of night rider whom we can call here.

Vampire Owl: But he is surely an owl like me.

Vampire Bat: Well, you have to check for the meaning which is intended here.

Vampire Owl: I decide the meaning around here for all owls.

Vampire Bat: They belong to a different world though.

Vampire Owl: Yes, the world which goes for terrible evil while pretending to be good.

Vampire Bat: You mean like Mr Frankenstein.

Vampire Owl: Dr Frankenstein has always been a decent man.

Vampire Bat: Chucky has been more decent than him.

[Gets a choco-marble cake and three glasses of orange juice].

What is the movie about? :: Civil Police Officer Giri Shankar (Asif Ali) is a respected member of the police station in the village of Nedumpara who is known for finding those clues to the cases which nobody else is able to find. Circle Inspector Soman Pillai (Renji Panicker) and Sub Inspector Sukumaran (Meghanathan) appreciate his skills as a young detective, but not everyone in the police station likes him showing better skills than the rest. The others feel that all the focus on him means that they mostly go unnoticed, despite doing some good job as expected from them. Despite his skills which can be put to good use, Giri is also an egoistic individual, who becomes angry for simple reasons and holds grudges against people as if his life depends on taking revenge on them. He is that kind of a person who could become a psychotic serial killer bigger than the ones whom he might catch in his long career as the policeman which is to follow. He would get enough advice from his senior officers, but that would not bring that much of a change on him.

So, what happens with the events here as we just keep looking? :: As Soman retires, the new Circle Inspector is Harilal Dev (Baburaj), and the situation becomes tense between him and Giri. As Harilal pushes him into the dirt in front of his childhood friend Lakshmi (Hannah Reji Koshy), Giri becomes really angry, and promises himself that he would have his vengeance against Harilal one way or the other. But that would take some time as his other opponents include Thampi (Baiju) and Suresh (Deepak Parambol) among a few more. To deal with the policemen, he seeks the help of the retired thief Maniyan (Jaffar Idukki). They decide to make the police circle feel the heat by increasing the crime rate. As more and more robberies happen in the area, Harilal feels the pressure, and Giri feels that he can nicely manipulate the situation to get back on his opponents. But as he takes one wrong step due to his ego, things go out of control. He understands that it is not really about him, as there are some other forces at work. There are deaths, and he needs to get to the bottom of a number of deaths which have happened in the last few years.

The defence of Kooman :: The movie works really well with its flawed hero who blends in to the situation with ease. The first half sets up things really well to that the second one which brings the mystery further. The weaknesses of the hero are explored well, but it does not bring the villainy to him, as he walks through the thin bridge that connects the two sides. It reminds one of the films like Salute which moves slowly with the protagonist who finds it difficult to solve cases due to his own limitations. The elements of darkness is nicely used, and there are enough red herrings around here to mislead those who make the guesses. The final twist gets another one attached to it, and the revelation reasserts that there is more than what meets the eye around here. As it points to something which has made the headlines in Kerala, the movie seems to have some prophetic skills too, with a release having a two week gap after the incidents became part of the television discussions.

Positives and negatives :: This movie is not for those people of the mass masala who who wishes to make all the nonsense happen on the big screen in the form action mass masala disguised as thrillers with all the dumbness. But it has managed be of better intellect in comparison. It does makes one feel that there is the need to explore the past of the protagonist further. Maybe, in a distanct future, some of these police officers in Jeethu Joseph’s universe played by Asif Ali, Prithviraj Sukumaran and Suresh Gopi could come together to investigate a case in a realistic manner, unlike the Bollywood cop universes where people fly around for reason and gravity gets no chance to prove its existence – much to the dismay of Newton. It is a fine relief that on this side, we have movies like Kooman which keeps its world realistic. We can always feel safe when a movie like this is taken at this corner of the country, and for those who want such films to happen elsewhere, would have the remake option to mint some money. Still, this might feel a little too lengthy in the absence of humour, and the robbery element gets a little overdose.

The performers of the soul :: Asif Ali gets a much different role to perform, and it can be seen that he embraces the changes to perfection. He was caught on the wrong side in Innale Vare, and this time, he is on that side where he can dictate terms, even though while staying within the struggles of a well-written character, the policeman with flaws, something the director created well with his another classic thriller, Memories. When we look at further performances, Hannah Reji Koshy has been a much underrated actress, someone who is capable of coming up with some big performances – she had supported well in Darvinte Parinamam, Theerpu and Rakshadhikari Baiju Oppu, something which she does nicely in this film too. Renji Panicker plays the likable police officer with ease, and it comes as no problem for someone like him. Jaffar Idukki continues to make an impression in supporting roles, and here we have no exception to him leaving a mark. Baburaj and Meghanathan are not far behind in being part of some moments to remember.

How it finishes :: After 12th Man which did not reach the director’s usual level, Jeethu Joseph gets strong with the genre of thrills and mysteries yet again, outside Drishyam 2 and its remake of Drushyam 2, creating something to remember outside the franchise which created the magic like no other. Kooman is a solid work which gets to the list of interesting investigative thrillers with ease. Even though Jeethu Joseph has not written the script in this case, there are high quality thriller elements still present here. I would feel that there are more indigenous elements elements added here. With its thrills, the movie is close to enough to horror and also connected to some of the incidents which were reported in news recently, making it having further contemporary relevance in this part of the world than one would think about it. There serves the reminder that even in the modern world, there will be people who are rooted in the ancient and the supernatural, which always find a way to reach the present with all the strength.

Release date: 2nd December 2022 (Amazon Prime Video); 4th November 2022 (Theatre)
Running time: 153 minutes
Directed by: Jeethu Joseph
Starring: Asif Ali, Hannah Reji Koshy, Baburaj, Renji Panicker, Baiju, Meghanathan, Pauly Valsan, Nandhu, Rajesh Paravoor, Karate Karthi, Adam Ayub, Deepak Parambol, Jaffar Idukki, Jayan Cherthala, Vinod Bose, Prasant Murali, Riyas Narmakala, Abhiram Pothuval, George Maryan, Ramesh Thilak, Pradeep Kottayam

<<< Click here to go to the previous review.

@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.

What is the movie about? :: Georgekutty (Mohanlal) and Rani (Meena), along with their daughters Anju (Ansiba Hassan) and Anu (Esther Anil) have become richer after those earlier incidents, as the former has now bought some land, and started a film theatre by the name Rani. Their neighbour Saritha (Anjali Nair) is a victim of domestic violence, and her husband is one of the notorious drunkards of the area, Sabu (Sumesh Chandran) – there are some fights happening in the area due to the same. The people in the town don’t really like them anymore, with the exception of Sulaiman (Kozhikode Narayanan Nair). The local people who are not happy with Georgekutty becoming rich, come up with gossips regarding the earlier incident leading to the death of the boy, and police continues to investigate the Varun missing case as it was something which proved to be humiliating for the entire police department. Georgekutty has the dream of making a movie, which he wishes to be perfect, and has left a certain amount of money for the same.

So, what happens with the events to follow? :: Jose George (Ajith Koothattukulam) returns home after finishing his time in the prison, and he had seen something during the night when the boy was murdered. Philip Mathew (Ganesh Kumar) is in charge of the police station along with Antony Joseph (Antony Perumbavoor), and the investigation seems to be gaining some ground. Thomas Bastin IPS (Murali Gopy) is in charge of the case, and he won’t stop pursuing Georgekutty without anybody realizing the same. Advocate Janardhanan (Joy Mathew) and Advocate Renuka (Santhi Mayadevi) are fighting the case with the latter appearing for Georgekutty to dismiss the appeals for taking the case again. Geetha Prabhakar (Asha Sarath) and Prabhakar (Siddique) are having their ways for finding the means to get through Georgekutty. But Georgekutty remains strong, even as there are many twisted ways being followed here, yet it remains to be seen about how long he can stand.

The defence of Drishyam 2 :: In Malayalam movie industry, sequels haven’t been of that much strength, especially with superstars in the lead, as the chance to relegate into a mass movie is always there, and this film does threaten to do so, but never really does that, as it goes back to the original movie’s feeling. Just like this predecessor, this movie also starts with the usual family moments, even with the presence of certain danger always lurking the corner. There is the mention of the same, but the procedure is usual until we get into the last one hour or so, as things begin to provide a feeling of real danger for the protagonist and his family, and the same is at the extreme in the last forty five minutes or so. One has to appreciate the fact that the movie also has a twist in store in the end reminding the viewers of the first film, but still manages to maintain its novelty with multiple elements in store here. The new additions to the cast are highly effective, without doubt.

Positives and negatives of the movie :: The fact that it has released in Amazon Prime surely has its own advantages and disadvantages too, but I have been rarely the person who enjoyed watching superstar films in the local theatres because there has always been too much of noise – for such films I would have preferred multiplexes, and so this release wouldn’t bother me much. I would have still liked this movie to get into action earlier, as the real tension begins rather too late – for the first film, it was okay as the beginner of a franchise, but it is not acceptable in a second entry in a franchise. The pressure that the first film maintained in the audience is lesser too, as things get over rather too quickly. Final few minutes should have surely been extended at the cost of cutting a little bit of those family moments in the beginning, as well as those moments involving talks from the local people. A long thriller needs to work on its lesser elements better.

The performers of the soul :: Mohanlal continues to be the lifeline of the franchise which can have even more movies in the group. The character has undergone some changes from the first movie, but in essence, there is not much of a change, and we understand the same further as the movie nears the finishing point. The veteran actor, the legend as we know him, has no problem with this particular role which seems to work better than any other roles he has done in the last two decades. The next person to stand tall in his performance is Murali Gopy, the police officer who doesn’t make any compromise while trying to bring justice to his co-worker who was forced to retire from the police force. He plays a mastermind here, who seems to be waiting for that one opportunity to make his move, as the case which had a negative impact on his department needs to be brought back to the spotlight and solved, with the best finish being the long presence of the protagonist, his wife and their elder daughter in prison.

Further performers of the soul :: It is still to be said that Kalabhavan Shajohn is being missed – in another adaptation, it would be Kalabhavan Mani who is to be missed, because we know that there will be adaptations in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Hindi, and maybe even in Sinhalese once again. The rest of the characters also do bring some of the red herrings for the audience here and there. Ajith Koothattukulam, the new addition, the surprise character does a fine job along with Sumesh Chandran, while the two children who have changed, played by Ansiba Hassan and Esther Anil are good once again. Meena does almost the same thing as she did in the first movie, and it is to be noted that she, Asha Sharath and Siddique haven’t undergone any changes as far as their characters are concerned. In the franchise, if there is one great righteous character, it is the one played by Siddique. Among all of these characters, Anjali Nair has some of those striking moments too. Santhi Mayadevi, a real life advocate playing a lawyer is also noted for some solid moments.

How it finishes :: Drishyam was once the highest grossing movie of all-time as far as Malayalam film industry is concerned, and it had held that spot valiantly until Pulimurugan and later Lucifer qualified well enough to overtake that status. The one movie which was supposed to be break those box-office records was this one, but we see the release in OTT platform of Amazon Prime getting the release against the wishes of most of the fans and theatre owners. Considering this sequel, it is certainly not that great as the first one, but it is surely better than the two other high grossers of Mohanlal which had overtaken the movie’s predecessor. There was always going to be something about a sequel like this, and that feeling is reflected in the responses to this movie so far. Drishyam 2 is an entertainer of quality, exactly the opposite of what that never ending Annayum Rasoolum-estic borefest which was the first Malayalam movie to be released on Amazon Prime, Sufiyum Sujatayum. Cheers to a sequel done really well, as we await sequels for the other thrillers, Forensic and Anjaam Pathira.

Release date: 19th February 2020
Running time: 153 minutes
Directed by: Jeethu Joseph
Starring: Mohanlal, Meena, Esther Anil, Ansiba Hassan, Asha Sarath, Siddique, Murali Gopy, Sai Kumar, Ganesh Kumar, Anjali Nair, Antony Perumbavoor, Kozhikode Narayanan Nair, Sumesh Chandran, Santhi Mayadevi, Ajith Koothattukulam, Dinesh Prabhakar, Joy Mathew, Rajesh Paravoor, Krishna, Murali Kannur, Boban Samuel, Pauly Valsan, Krishna Prabha, Adam Ayub, Shobha Mohan, Aneesh G Menon, Jayashankar, Mela Reghu