What is the movie about? :: The City Police Commissioner, Sreebala IPS (Manju Warrier) is investigating a case about one missing actress and her old friend; the possibility of a kidnap and a murder is there, and all signs lead to one man only, Melvin Philip (Kunchacko Boban) who claims that he killed both of them and has buried the corpses at a certain location which he cannot remember. Further questions don’t reveal much as he keeps repeating one particular part of his tale. ACP Xylex Abraham (Indrajith Sukumaran) helps Sreebala in the case, and is troubled by his own family problems. The story of Melvin goes back to his own life, and his relationship with his wife Sherin (Kaadhal Sandhya) after an inter-faith marriage and the loss of their daughter, finally leading to the death of her too.
So, where does the investigation go from there? :: Here, during the questioning, Melvin talks to the police officers about trust and its role in life. With the case of Melvin, it is not incident of two people missing that comes to the light, but many facts which were rather hidden. There is the case the accident of Sreebala’s father (Vijayaraghavan), the relationship between Xylex and his wife as well as a lesser known past of Melvin, all coming to light, and each of these being connected to the other, the past to the present and the future, all things being revealed as the story progresses towards the end. So, will Sreebala and Xylex find the missing people, and are they really dead as Melvin says? Is Melvin really the culprit, and has he killed these people or is he just some random person who lost his sanity after the death of his wife and daughter?
The defence of Vettah :: The mind game factor remains the core of the movie, as manipulations make the most impact around here; the intelligent entertainer comes to the picture here. There is nothing of masala here though; for there exists no comedy and no action sequences at all as the brain game keeps going here. The final twist is a working one and does justice to the rest of the movie. The suspense is maintained well throughout the movie and we will keep guessing about how it will go towards the end. As this one released without a trailer, and a lot less known about the flick, there was a certain amount of mystery surrounding this one, and that brings the surprise to light. There are also some messages related to how the world works, as the movie takes one through the darker side where justice is rather difficult, and revenge becomes the more realistic option. The visuals are also very good.
Claws of flaw :: I am pretty much sure that a lot of people will have problems in following this movie due to its choice of following a different and more complex path. Some people would surely ask for more explanations, and if you miss some points, you will miss a lot. The movie also leaves a few occasions without making much impact, even though the moments could have been better. There is also a certain amount of slowness that you feel in here, and the pace could have actually increased better in the earlier stages too. A number of scenes could have been avoided or presented in another way, but it still works in the way that we see them. The story of each main character could have been separately developed, and that of Indrajith’s character could have used a lot more of ideas too. There is nothing much in the music.
Performers of the soul :: We haven’t seen Kunchacko Boban as someone with this much negative shades on that many occasions; and he has managed this one really well – he comes up with the biggest score here. There is a certain amount of wicked beauty about his character on a number of occasions, and it works really well for him. His smile is something that gives you the clue about what you are witnessing, which is part of a bigger plan, and it has the nice dark side waiting to unleash itself. It is a lot his movie rather than of any other. The idea that many people might have had earlier with the investigation belonging to the two police officer characters will take a u-turn related to this one. It is Kunchako’s biggest and the most interesting role in a commercial movie for a long time. He makes a lot happen here in style.
Further performers of the soul :: Manju Warrier has a good run in the first police role in her career, and the one role which remains serious through the run-time – it also becomes her only full serious role during her return, as Vettah allows no comedy as it goes direct and is strictly a serious flick. Coming right out of Rani Padmini and Jo and the Boy which were heavy in messages as well as Paavada which had her in a special appearance, she leaves a mark with the first flick with her as the leading actress. Beginning her second innings with How Old Are You?, I will say that she has had a very good run which continues – there is too much jealousy on the same as far as the fans of the rest are concerned though, which explains a certain amount of dislike or hate. Well, she is surely a lot better than the other other fake lady superstars who claim such a title!
How it finishes :: The final lead here, Indrajith Sukumaran is solid, but the character is left to less importance, and that is a case of something interesting gone missing. The one sad thing here is that with his demise, Vettah will be Rajesh Pillai’s last movie, and it is a terrible loss to the Malayalam movie industry. His Traffic was undoubtedly one of the best with the narrative, and also brought an amazing change at a time when Malayalam movie industry had more terrible movies than the good ones. His Mili was also one of the best of its kind, the only real movie to bring the introvert opinion to light in the right way – it was so good that it bothered a lot of people who couldn’t stand seeing an introvert as the leading character; which is why I consider it as the one righteous movie which gave voice to the lesser shown “others”. We will miss the visionary director.
Release date: 26th February 2016
Running time: 114 minutes
Directed by: Rajesh Pillai
Starring: Kunchacko Boban, Manju Warrier, Indrajith Sukumaran, Sandhya, Deepak Parambol, Rony David Raj, Prem Prakash, Vijayaraghavan, Kottayam Nazir, Baby Akshara Kishore, Baby Nandana Sajan, Akash Keralan, Jith Pirappancode
@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.
Movies of the Soul 