betting – Movies of the Soul

Vampire Owl: I remember once playing a game.

Vampire Bat: It was the vampire simulation game. That won’t count.

Vampire Owl: I thought that it was a simulation of human life.

Vampire Bat: No, that would be a pure evil game with complications.

Vampire Owl: So that is why the game felt too easy, as it was not human centered.

Vampire Bat: Why would anyone have anything centered on humans of these days is beyond the understanding of even vampire elders.

Vampire Owl: They have no understanding of the new ways of life.

Vampire Bat: The vampire way of life will always be old enough.

Vampire Owl: Older than oldest human civilization, but younger than all demonic worlds.

Vampire Bat: The demonic immortality is more eternal that we can ever have, and demonic humans can also have a part in it.

[Gets an egg masala dosa and three cups of Darjeeling tea].

What is the movie about? :: Dan (Dulquer Salmaan) is a businessman living in Hyderabad who has an intense gambling addiction which has led to his downfall, with his parents having to come in very often to help him and bail him out of tricky and often terrifying situations. The business which was started in his name is at loss and on the verge of falling into an abyss as he does not really work at the office and uses the funds there for gambling, ending up losing all of his attempts. He is so careless and arrogant that he keeps talking about living life in his terms, but it highly dependent on his parents, especially his mother Mercy (Jayasudha Kapoor) for providing a continuous flow of cash, as he keeps going down into debts above crores of rupees. Balraj (Kalakeya Prabhakar), a brutal underworld don who had lend him crores finds him at his office, and beats him up in front of his employees and gives him twenty-four hours to get him the money, or face the worst consequences. This leads to Dan thinking about taking the biggest risk of his life.

So, what happens with the events here as we just keep looking? :: With the help of his friend Freddy (Vinay Forrt) who has access to all gambling levels, Dan gets to sports betting with the sixty lakhs given to him by his mother against the advice of his father John (Shyamaprasad). He starts betting with small amount for toss and first innings score range, which he wins with ease, but then he calculates a win for Bombay against Madras not considering Freddy’s warnings about the South team’s batting strength, even with Madras captain Jason (Kathir) remaining in consistent form and team’s new addition Vignesh (Antony Varghese) coming up with those big shots again and again, doing the impossible in a repeated manner. Dan calculates that Jason is not a big game finals player and Vignesh’s risk-taking will ultimately claim his wicket due to lack of experience. Despite Jason falling early and others falling cheaply, Vignesh once again leads to his victory, making Dan lose everything. But as he has nothing left in his hands with everything placed in betting, decides to escape with the money, only to be chased by goons and ends up in a car accident.

And what more is to happen with a gambler and his return to form against all odds? :: Injured, he is forced to go through a hand transplant and with the help of the physiotherapist Isha (Kayadu Lohar), his rehab goes successful, and his father pays off his debts. But just days after the rehab, Dan begins to feel that his right hand is not totally in his control with it slapping him at exactly 5 am to wake him up and stopping him from having alcohol. Having fallen in love with Isha, he tells her his feelings, but she replies that he is moving too fast in a relationship and adds that he is only having hallucinations about his hand and there is nothing else happening around. But things get worse when his hand gets into a fight in a casino and even tries to murder David (Mysskin) who is one of the biggest names in the gambling world. Now, with everyone behind him, Dan has to find out why the hand is behaving like this. But nobody seems to believe in him, and this is one journey he has to take all by himself against all odds.

The defence of I’m Game :: The idea of a gambler getting a hand transplant with the organ being possessed with a mind and vendetta of its own becomes a very new idea, and this was surely not something we were expecting. Then we have the stylish action, often one-handed, and in some of the most striking environments; we even see the protagonist fighting with himself to add to the overall action. The music is really good and both the songs and background music are effective for most of the time. Dulquer Salmaan makes a fine impact in the kind of action movie which we do not see that much from him, and this time, even as his character goes away from home, comes back, and it is indeed a great sign for a change. He manages the hand-situations really well, and it is a cake walk for him to go on as an irresponsible youth, a role which he has done so many times. Kayadu Lohar and Samyuktha Viswanathan who plays the main ladies have enough even though its all about the hero, while Mysskin makes a fine antagonist.

The claws of flaw :: The movie seems to have deviated from the gambling idea by a long way after providing that idea before its release. The trailer had provided the viewers with a very different idea than what we saw on the screen – if the movie was to show possession of a part of the body, it had to be cleared in the trailer itself, as it was quite long, and surely not a first-look video or teaser. Everything about the gambling idea and protagonist’s main dialogues about it which are shown in the trailer happens in the very first moments of the movie itself. The journey moving aside right into a conventional, formulaic revenge drama without anything special, can be seen coming from a mile away, with the possible innovation getting into more trouble than gaining enough. The movie is too long when dealing with that, and that long flashback also leaves us the feeling of watching a bloated movie. Antony Varghese’s role is like an extended cameo, and one wonders if one could have done with just the main parts of his presence; nobody knows why Asif Ali cameo was ever required. The movie’s hand-fixation often brings a struggle, and the ups and downs can be clearly seen.

How it finishes :: One can have the feeling that I’m Game could have easily been a lot ahead of Khalifa if the multiple subjects with scope was dealt with well enough with focus, but as the same is not done and due to the decision to go for elongation, diversion and complication has surely cost it the chance to make an impact with innovation – it can still be considered better than the Prithviraj-starrer, but only by a small margin. We have seen many movies missing out on grand opportunities despite being so close to the same, and here is one more to add to that list. I would say that this movie releasing during the first few years of IPL would have also done better, but as of now, we are in that kind of a world where narratives are made and crowd favourites are created through manipulation. All the present scenarios that we see in the leagues are not difficult to create for gambling, as there is just too much of money involved – well, the characters in the film talk about sixty lakh rupees as if it is sixty rupees, and we wonder if some of us cannot even think with ease about sixty lakhs even if the denomination is Indonesian rupiah; yet, we do not get enough of gambling in crores as the hand takes over.

Release date: 3 September 2026
Running time: 173 minutes
Directed by: Nahas Hidhayath
Starring: Dulquer Salmaan, Antony Varghese, Mysskin, Kayadu Lohar, Samyuktha Viswanathan, Kathir, Vinay Forrt, and Parth Tiwari

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

<<< Click here to go to the biggest movie of last year.

<<< Click here to go to the biggest movie of this year.

<<< Click here to go to the most awaited sequel of the year.

@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.

What is the movie about? :: The action takes place at a village called Allimoola which is known for the game of volleyball, and its crazy fans, as well as the players who have dedicated their lives towards the game – but it is all in the past now, with the new generation of youngsters looking only for the easy ways to make money, without doing anything really valuable to the society. The women of the village considers the game to be a big wastage, and the men are no longer interested in it as part of their lives. There are only those players of the past who keep talking about their lost glory. Still, there is a section of people who believes that the game is in the blood of the villagers and they don’t believe that they game can ever disappear suddenly – they are hoping for the emergence of better players from the place who can rise above the best.

So how are things moving forward in this movie? :: It is the richest guy in the village, Vattathil Bosco (Narain) who conducts the tournaments now, in memory of his father who used to do the same years ago. But unlike his father, he has no real interest in the game, and only wishes to show the power of his money and wants to be more and more famous, but gets not much of respect from the villagers. He is in love with Lillykutty (Sija Rose), the sister of Kavalam Jimmy (Asif Ali), who is his major opponent in life, a story of dislike which has been going on for many years. Meanwhile, Jimmy is in love with Jasmine (Anju Kurian), who is the sister of Bosco. Jimmy and his friends, including Karala (Balu Varghese), Dineshan (Sudhi Koppa), Aneesh (Benson), Charles (Abhishek) and Sukoor (Ganapathy) form the better known faces of youth in the village who do simple work to make their living.

So, what happens next? :: With the love story of Jimmy and Jasmine being known to people, things get further complicated. At the meeting where the decision on the tournament was to be made, the two opponents end up betting against each other – what they ask for is the hand of the other person’s sister in marriage. The whole village consider takes this in the sportsman spirit, and decides that time has come to celebrate the tournament this time. Looking for a sponsor, Jimmy and his friends find one in Gladys (Lena) who doesn’t like Bosco’s family. Bosco finds a new ally and the team’s coach in Noble Jacob (Saiju Kurup) who had problems with Jimmy and his friends earlier. Joshy (Bijukuttan) arranges a special coach for Jimmy’s team, Minnal Simon (Biju Menon) who is a drunkard and is ready to lose the game for money. So, where does things go from here?

The defence of Kavi Uddheshichathu? :: You know that there will fun around with this movie as you look at the title itself. There is that nostalgia of those old village movies that runs right through this movie, and there is also that feel-good effect that gets to the highest level in the end – it might be what the movie has been aiming for all the time. The locations are nicely captured, with the movie being shot at Iritty in Kannur district, located on the banks of Valapattanam River. The entertainment is guaranteed here, even though it is not provided without the breaks in between. It is the middle part as well as those moments with Biju Menon that stays the strongest here. There is simplicity all around this movie, and even the bad guys in this movie are not that easy to be hated – this is that kind of a comedy movie which leave one without much to think about, and focuses more on what is there to bring some laughter.

The claws of flaw :: There could have been a more interesting story-line, without doubt – instead, this one goes into the territory which Karinkunnam 6s had explored just a few months earlier. The climax is rather predictable, even with an extra dose of feel-good added in the end – everything gets sorted out in the end, and there are no more enemies. There is a certain amount of emptiness in the movie at times due to the same reason – the effort here seems to be to make the feel-good comedy thing work all the time rather than focusing on anything else. We are also left too far away from the characters – there is no real feeling for the character even in a funny way as they do the predictable on the screen. There is also the lack of a strong enough climax that could have finished this the way it should have done – instead this one floats all the way there.

Performers of the soul :: Even though he arrives late, Biju Menon is the soul and heart of this movie – coming after one and half hours in a movie which has only about forty to forty five more to get to the finish, he raises the level of the comedy in this movie. Asif Ali does his job naturally, and there was nothing huge there for him to perform. Narain looks perfect for this role, but it is not really so when he goes on as the character; there is a consistent struggle with comedy going on here, and it never ends until the movie finishes. Lena plays a strong and admirable character with ease. Anju Kurian makes a beautiful addition to this movie, and even in a movie that focuses more on its male stars, leaves a mark; and also leaves the big smiles behind. Sija Rose is also notable in the small role. Among the supporting cast, Balu Varghese stands out, even though the viewers might have expected more from him. Dinesh Prabhakar and Veena Nair forms a nice combination too.

How it finishes :: Thomas Liju Thomas, the director of this movie had already come up with a short-movie, Ramaniyechiyude Namathil before this. It was a critically acclaimed short-film which had managed to grab a number of awards and honours. It is known for winning the first prize in the “Shoot an Idea” competition which was organised by Kappa TV. In his first full-length movie, he has made sure that it remains a complete entertainer, and finishes with a feel-good effect. It did appeal to the audience with its simple jokes, which is undoubtedly the reason why it ran for quite some time in the local theatres as well as multiplexes. Without too much application of brain, this one can work very well with the comic side, even though not that much as a sports movie – the sporting event is just a reason for things to come together; you know what you are going for in this movie instead. Well, simplicity works and so does feel-good, as already proved this year in Kochavva Paulo Ayyappa Coelho and Oru Muthassi Gadha.

Release date: 8th October 2016
Running time: 137 minutes
Directed by: Thomas Liju Thomas
Starring: Asif Ali, Anju Kurian, Biju Menon, Narain, Lena, Bijukuttan, Balu Varghese, Sija Rose, Sudhi Koppa, Benson, Abhishek, Ganapathy, Bindu Panicker, Sneha, Saiju Kurup, Manoj Guinness, Akku Melparamb, Chithra Shenoy, Dinesh Prabhakar, Veena Nair, Pradeep Kottayam, Sasi Kalinga, Balaji Sharma, Prasanth, Arul Mash, Alleppey Ashraf, Tom Joseph