Its neither a director's movie nor a super star movie and unfortunately it ended up in a no mans land zone when it comes to overall experience. Lijo, known for making off beat, crazy themes and sometimes audacious takes, fails to impress this time. His last film was much more accessible and it offered a lot for an actor like Mamooty and at the same time it made us ponder over the story line too. This is a much simpler story line dragged to the core to meet ends.
The standout aspect of the film is cinematography from Madhu Neelakandan. As a passionate photographer, i loved each and every frame. What a way to bring contrast and color palette shades. Its a mesmerizing interplay of light and shadows. Its one of its kind i have seen in Malayalam films. The telephoto lens long shots are just terrific. Its difficult to rate a film high only on the basis of technical aspects. The BGM also offered a lot to bring the scale and action pieces to life.
The story follows an age old era setup and a wandering wrestler travelling across, accepting fight challenges and making a mark. There is no life for him apart from conquering and moving on. He makes some strong enemies on the way. Lijo spend too much of time in first half establishing the whole premise.
The kaliyattam touch towards the end was too late of an entry which did hold some nerves thanks to some wonderful camera work. I would have expected this to be a single part movie of 3 hr long and the ending should have been the interval block for this movie. Lal's towering image , scale and his mannerism stood out but Lijo failed to utilize the full power of his stardom. Some of the fight scenes in second half felt very illogical, the HE-MAN angle did not work for me. When the story gets stuck, you see a song. This definitively is a tolerable and a moderate cinematic experience.
Majority of Lijo's films are box office failures but critics loves his films and he has a niche fan base. But this time i am sure the fans will be divided. I am not that keen for Part 2.
Verdict - 3/5(Fails to Fly)