Alexx O’Nell – Movies of the Soul

Vampire Owl: So, finally we have a sequel to Lucifer.

Vampire Bat: This has surely been the one movie hyped more than any other.

Vampire Owl: Well, I remember waiting for an eternity.

Vampire Bat: When a vampire calls a time period and eternity, that should be long.

Vampire Owl: There has been so much of talk about this that it feels like an eternity.

Vampire Bat: Well, it was the biggest movie of its time, so that is indeed natural.

Vampire Owl: So, are we looking for the biggest grossing Malayalam movie of all-time?

Vampire Bat: I don’t see why not. The movie that holds that position now do not deserve the title.

Vampire Owl: Yes, that was a movie with zero content.

Vampire Bat: We will never understand how that strange movie of jobless youngsters on a trip managed to get that much of attention.

[Gets an egg puffs and three cups of orange tea].

What is the movie about? :: The movie starts in the year 2002, a flashback of events during a communal event where the innocents are killed, and murders happen without remorse. In between, we see a Muslim family taking refuge in the home of Subhadra Ben (Nikhat Khan), a local political activist and member of a royal family. They feel that they are safe when within this stronghold, but it would soon be revealed that they are wrong. The nephews of the same person would take hold of the situation and brutally attack and murder everyone whom she had provided refuge to, also killing her in the process. The two men involved, Munna (Sukant Goel) and Balraj (Abhimanyu Singh) get the crowd support as well as the support of the political party that found its roots stronger with this riot, and they find themselves good enough to be major part of the same political party, while the scars of this situation remain in the minds of everyone.

So, what happens with the events here as we just keep looking? :: Back in Kerala, the Chief Minister and the head of Indian Union Front (IUF) Jathin Ramdas (Tovino Thomas) struggles to keep things going due to him being investigated upon by multiple intelligence agencies for money laundering and financial scams. It is then that a new opposition party, Akhanda Shakthi Morcha (ASM), with its roots in North India, gains prominence in Kerala under the leadership of Sajanachandran (Suraj Venjaramoodu). Jathin seeks the help of the new force in Kerala, as he feels that the central investigative agencies could help him escape from the cases going on against him. At the same time, Priyadarshini Ramdas (Manju Warrier) fights against the dam which has come up at Nedumpilly, from where her family has seen growth within the political party. She sides with the common people there, much to the dismay of Jathin who finds himself on the other side.

And what more happens here to add to the chaos? :: Meanwhile, Stephen Nedumpally (Mohanlal) has not been around in Kerala for quite a long time as he has been focusing on handling the bigger businesses under the name Khureshi Ab’raam, with the help of Zayed Masood (Prithviraj Sukumaran) and other loyal companions. The incidents back in Kerala does not seem to concern him anymore, much to the dismay of Govardhan (Indrajith Sukumaran), Father Nedumpilly (Fazil), Murukan (Baiju Santhosh), Aparna (Shaun Romy), Murukan (Baiju Santhosh), Sanjeev Kumar (Giju John), Arundhathi Sanjeev (Nyla Usha) and others. Meanwhile, MI6 agents like Boris Oliver (Jerome Flynn) and Michele Menuhin (Andrea Tivadar) are on the hunt for the Khureshi gang. But there is another gang from Africa involved, as things get more complicated. But the two gangs might not be all that Stephen should be worried about. Can he handle his multiple problems well enough? Or will God’s Own Country fall to a new world order too?

The defence of L2: Empuraan :: The second part of Lucifer seems to keep a quality in the making that is beyond the usual films that we come across. With Mohanlal and Prithviraj Sukumaran, Tovino Thomas also steals the show, and it is sad that we won’t see his character anymore. Suraj Venjaramood comes with a strong performance and so does Abhimanyu Singh as a villain to be noted, except for the last few minutes. The visuals are just too good to forget, and we will remember a few moments for how well it was shown on the big screen. One would feel that this kind of a spectacle might not be made in Malayalam cinema any time soon, which justifies so many people watching it on the big screen only. Some of the classic shots remind us that we are watching something beyond the usual, showing the quality like never before in Malayalam industry. The stage for sequel is nicely set, and we would feel that it would surely be a better one than this. The feeling that there is something beneath all of these remains around.

The claws of flaw :: The movie often forgets the most important factor, that of telling a story in a believable manner while trying to make it feel bigger and international. In the process, it wastes some of its main characters. Mohanlal arrives rather late, and Prithviraj comes like two hours later. Manju Warrier’s moments would have been better if it was part of the first movie, but in this one, it seems repetitive and forced. The worst part comes when there are so many subordinates with guns and the hero decides to do the fight so many people himself. Almost all the fights are rather too long and slowed down further with slow-motion sequences. Other seemingly important characters like the ones played by Andrea Tivadar just walk around in this movie dominated by male heroes and villains. Indrajith Sukumaran and Saniya Iyappan should have had bigger roles, but that was not to be. The same is the case of Baiju Santhosh. It is to be noted that unlike the first movie, there is no dialogue here that we will remember, and have to look back to the original for the same.

How it finishes :: L2: Empuraan has proven to be strong sequel to a movie which made the difference like no other. It depends on the first film to extend the impact and keeps itself in a struggle to make the canvas a lot bigger. It is successful in making the whole thing feel bigger, but not that bigger in the quality of content. The mystery of the main character has already been revealed, and in this one, he is too powerful to be in any kind of danger and for us to feel for the person. As a treat for the fans, and for the high quality making, this would stay on for longer. The success of this movie is a certainty and we hope that it would get more collections than the movie which leads the list of Malayalam movies which managed to get the highest collections. The effort that has been put in here would need our appreciation, and it deserves to be at its top. We would be waiting to see how far it goes after breaking all records.

Release date: 27th March 2025
Running time: 180 minutes
Directed by: Prithviraj Sukumaran
Starring: Mohanlal, Tovino Thomas, Manju Warrier, Prithviraj Sukumaran, Indrajith Sukumaran, Andrea Tivadar, Saniya Iyappan, Jerome Flynn, Suraj Venjaramoodu, Fazil, Sai Kumar, Sukant Goel, Baiju Santhosh, Nandhu, Nikhat Khan, Sachin Khadekar, Eriq Ebouaney, Shivaji Guruvayoor, Aneesh G. Menon, Manikuttan, Nyla Usha, Giju John, Satyajit Sharma, Oziel Jivani, Aishwarya Ohja, Nayan Bhatt, Shubhangi Latkar, Alexx O’Nell, Mikhail Novikov, Murugan Martin, Behzaad Khan, Sshivada, Jaise Jose, Shaun Romy, Antony Perumbavoor

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

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

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

<<< Click here to go to the previous visual extravaganza.

@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.

Vampire Owl: How many faces do we see here?

Vampire Bat: The faces of humans do not matter at all.

Vampire Owl: I am sure that it would matter to us more at some point.

Vampire Bat: The human identity is no longer significant in a world of chaos.

Vampire Owl: Well, at least we can know the lying faces early.

Vampire Bat: Well, it is the only thing that humans do throughout their lives.

Vampire Owl: I did trust too many humans, and that has made a mess. They are the true villains of all realms.

Vampire Bat: Humans are all about lying, cheating and stealing. Being the villains of the universe comes naturally to them.

Vampire Owl: Well, I would say that demons are better.

Vampire Bat: Let the zombies for eat their brains then.

[Gets an orange cake and three cups of cardamom tea].

What is the movie about? :: Sameer Mehra (Emraan Hashmi) is forced to travel through some strong winter in the mountains. He wishes to go to Delhi, but is forced to stop in the middle of nowhere, as the climate only gets worse, and his car is stuck, with trees right in the front. He searches for a hotel or a guest house to wait until the tree is removed by the authorities. He then comes across Paramjeet Singh Bhullar (Annu Kapoor) who asks him to join come to a friend’s place until things get any better, even though there are not signs of something like that happening. He is taken to the house of Jagdish Acharya (Dhritiman Chatterjee), and he also meets Hariya Jatav (Raghubir Yadav) there. Anna (Rhea Chakraborty) is already present there, helping everyone in the building, who are pretty much old. The mobile phones have no network connection out there, and the landlines also do not work, much to the dismay of Sameer who wishes to connect to his wife.

So, what happens with the events here as we just keep looking? :: The group of old men is also joined by Lateef Zaidi (Amitabh Bachchan), who reaches there despite the snowfall getting much worse. Sameer is surprised to see everything that happens around this house in the middle of nowhere, which is nothing less than a grand mansion of some older time period. They tell Sameer that they meet there and play a strange game in which these retired professionals of law conduct mock trials. They take some very old well known case and go on with the same. In the beginning, they talk about the case of Phoolan Devi, but later chooses Sameer as the accused. Sameer says that he hasn’t committed any crime, and is ready to face anything that is put in front of him. He is confident that he will win the game, and none of these people are good enough to pose any challenge to him. But there is more than what meets the eye to these people in the mansion.

The defence of Chehre :: What works really well for Chehre is its setting in the middle of nowhere, with snow all around, and the building is also a thing of visual splendour which we cannot avoid. Everything is perfectly suited for what is to happen next in the film. It also seems to come up with a message, even though it seems to be confused about where that is leading. But it never leaves the messages behind, that is for sure. The film does stand for the right judgment and the need for justice to be served, even though it seems almost impossible to be done when law has its loopholes. The cast is also nicely selected here, and we see the signs of the same at different moments. It does need some courage and skill to create something like this which go highly unconventional, and one cannot deny the fact that there is some good research done in the background – the risk does have its own effectiveness to go with it.

The claws of flaw :: The initial introductory dialogue by Amitabh Bachchan during the beginning itself is one of the least interesting starts to a film, and it keeps us wishing to fast forward throughout those dialogues. There are many other dialogues which were not necessary, and often goes out of the equation, seemingly just for the sake of bringing them. Too much speech here adds to the struggle, which also lengthens the film too much. When you keep talking too much without coming up with any action, people can only be confused. Preaching doesn’t always get you were you want. It also struggles to use most of its elements in the best possible manner, even though there were indeed the available opportunities. This could have been something like Pink, or something stranger than we could ever imagine, but the same is not done here. There was even scope for bringing something supernatural into the scene.

Performers of the soul :: Amitabh Bachchan controls things around here, and he makes things clear from the beginning itself. We have seen him doing this a lot, in different movies belonging to various decades. The rest of the support including Annu Kapoor, Dhritiman Chatterjee and Raghubir Yadav are very much suitable for how the game moves on. They are all different when we look at them, and have some interesting perspectives. Emraan Hashmi is also pretty much suitable for this kind of role. Siddhanth Kapoor plays a mute role, a notable one indeed. Rhea Chakraborty shows some promise, but the role is not carried on that much, even though the world could have had more for her. Krystle D’Souza makes a bigger impact, as she blends in very well to the character. There is a certain amount of mystery about her character, and even with some predictability, leaves one with more than what originally meets the eye.

How it finishes :: Chehre is a mystery thriller which can surely boast about its moments, and even though known as an uncredited adaptation of a German novel named A Dangerous Game by Friedrich Durrenmatt, makes its point well within its adapted environment. During the days of COVID-19, containment, quarantine and lockdown, we all love to watch movies set in remote worlds. It is a fine decision to release this movie on Amazon Prime Video, some days after its release in the theatres, as we are yet to see the theatres being opened here. We do know that the movie could have been much better, but for now, we adjust with what we have, and enjoy it in moments. After all, the world as we know it also has had its own limitations in the last one and half years. Nothing is the same any more, and we enjoy what we have here, with less than three months to go to end another year of virus and all kinds of terror to behold.

Release date: 30th September 2021 (Amazon), 21st August 2021 (Theatre)
Running time: 139 minutes
Directed by: Rumi Jaffery
Starring: Amitabh Bachchan, Emraan Hashmi, Krystle D’Souza, Rhea Chakraborty, Annu Kapoor, Raghubir Yadav, Alexx O’Nell, Sameer Soni, Dhritiman Chatterjee