Midhun Manuel Thomas’s latest is marred by convoluted storytelling and lacklustre characters, with Mammootty its only saving grace
Assistant Commissioner Abraham Ozler (Jayaram) carries vestiges of a painful past. It’s there in his slouched walk, droopy eyes, and unkept salt-and-pepper beard. He mostly gives blank stares, is under therapy for insomnia and, at other times, he is hallucinating about lizards and cats prowling on bookshelves. Without much ado, you get a hint of what to expect, when the camera unhurriedly looms over the leading man.
His past life is foreseeable even if you don’t watch too many murder mysteries. About losing his family to a vengeful drug addict who was previously arrested by Ozler. And equally foreseeable is how his arc will evolve. We have seen that in Jeethu Joseph’s Memories (2013) and Mohanlal’s Villain (2017) — the broken cop rising from the ashes in search of retribution. Midhun Manuel Thomas, who has built a fan base with his murder mystery, Anjaam Pathiraa (2020), employs familiar techniques to build his serial-killer plotline. Similarities to the Padmarajan-written Joshiy film, Ee Thanutha Veluppan Kalathu (1990) — considered one of the finest murder mysteries in Malayalam cinema — are too obvious to overlook.
Devoid of emotional quotient
When a young IT professional is murdered at a hospital following an accident, it brings Ozler and the team into the picture. Soon, a series of murders occur, and the team is convinced that a serial killer with a medical background is out for vengeance.
Though one gets the feeling that far too much is happening on screen, you don’t feel the urgency to keep track of the events. Ozler and the team are investigating with clinical precision. They are connecting the dots, and yet the plot never gets twisty. It takes a while to invest in the investigation and it is mostly bland. Even during the expose, there is this uneasy anticipation, not about the killer, but about the promised entry of an actor.
The use of heavy medical jargon further convolutes the dialogue. When they pepper the crucial confrontation scenes with English phrases, it diffuses the effect, adding a superficiality to the proceedings — especially the ones featuring the antagonist and Ozler. The flashback scenes required a bit more finesse, especially in how tackily and generically they sketched the antagonists. The production value also left a lot to be desired, including the costumes.
Perhaps one reason why the investigation fails to keep us wrapped up has to be the actors. Take Ozler’s teammates, SI Sijo and SI Divya, played by Senthil Krishna and Arya Salim. They weren’t able to get the meter required for such characters and the overtly expositional dialogues complicate the process.
One felt that the filmmaker was so hell bent on covering all the facts and figures, and medical jargon that most characters ended up being sketchy. It also took away the most crucial element required for such a genre — thrill and suspense. Eventually, it was about somehow reaching that point, leaving aside the “emotional” elements of the plot.
The saving grace
Though the basic structure is interesting, the core idea was poorly executed. Especially in how they tried to merge two casualties of a tragedy to execute the revenge. The possibilities of exploring the dark side of the medical profession were immense.
The characters required better writing. Ozler’s shift from a chronic insomniac to an efficient officer is unconvincing. Especially his tryst with hallucinations is loosely done. And at no point do you feel empathetic about his predicament, even when Alexander connects Ozler’s past with his own. His family’s killer’s sketch lacks nuance. None of the sub-characters make an expression, including Anaswara Rajan, who is wispy and forgettable.
For Jayaram, who has mostly done family /comedy dramas, this is a new space, and it exposes the holes in his craft. Ozler is a man grappling with the loss of his family and during those passages, the actor’s body language and expressions are painfully laboured. Despite how physically he looks the part, he never internalizes Ozler. At work, the struggle is even more evident in his dialogue delivery, replete with jargon. That “efficiency” required for the character never reaches the actor. It is especially evident in the confrontation scenes with Mammootty’s Alexander when Jayaram ends up as a mere spectator.
That the film features Mammootty in an extended cameo was one reason behind the hype. Especially as it comes on the heels of his recent spate of superb films. Ironically, the film starts to pick momentum when Mammootty enters the frame and that’s towards the latter half. For the actor, Alexander is a cakewalk, but he ends up adding the much-needed heft to Abraham Ozler.
