Sarvopari Palakkaran

Sarvopari Palakkaran’s pre-release posters had this caption saying “The Best Film of 2017” referring to the preview show response. Well, those who saw the preview show of this film have definitely not seen Angamaly Diaries, Take Off and Thondimuthalum Driksakshiyum. Sarvopari Palakkaran is that tacky preachy movie which is made by assembling a lot of sensational news that happened in the recent past.

Jose is a special branch police officer from Pala. He is a typical orthodox Pala Achayan who is in search of a perfect bride for him. Linta was the one destined for him and while the preparation for the wedding was happening Jose got assigned to capture a criminal who was the mastermind behind a human trafficking case. With an activist named Anupama getting involved in the case, the situation becomes complicated and what we see on screen is the investigation that solves all the mysteries.

Suresh Babu who has written scripts for most of the Padmakumar films is the script writer of Sarvopari Palakkaran. His writing was always dramatic and realness was something that I felt was lacking in his treatment. The problem here is in the development of this thread from a one liner. The film has this thought of confronting the villain by emotionally destroying him. All this Palakkaran elements are just an external glitter to make it look like a commercial mail centric film. In the first half of the film there are some irrelevant subplots involving Jose’s father and cousin (Played by Alencier and Balu) and the plot abruptly jumps in to its main conflict. There is a pointless tussle between Jose and Anupama which looks quite unreal. By the time Anupama starts that monologue in the climax, you can probably guess the conclusion.

Realness in treatment and tidiness in scripting was not there in Sarvopari Palakkaran. Jose’s family, Jose’s relationship, the investigation and his equation with Anupama, all these are in different zones and when the screenplay is constantly shifting from one to another Venu Gopan loses grip over the narrative. One word verdict for the script would be that it is really an old school one. All the characters are the stereo types we have been seeing in Malayalam cinema for a long time. And like I said in the beginning, the film tries to include things like Kiss of Love and the attack against the Bangladeshi girl in its narrative and the chances of those elements causing any emotional impact on you is pretty less. The movie has the worst sound mixing after Team 5. The music and background score from Bijibal sounds half hearted. Alby tries to experiment a bit by using some smooth aerial shots. Edits were cluttered.

Anoop Menon’s typical style suits the Palakkaran orthodox character. There aren’t many challenges here in front of him as an actor. Aparna Balamurali delivers a mature enough performance as activist Anupama. Her dialogue delivery was a bit flawed in the climax. Anu Sithara doesn’t have much of a role here and if it was her own voice we get to hear in this film, I think she should continue dubbing by herself. Alencier and Balu Varghese are the unnecessary comedy components of this movie. TV lady super star Gayathri Arun appears in a cameo role. Apart from these actors there are actors like Nandu, Chali Pala and a few more in the cast.

Sarvopari Palakkaran as a one liner had the scope to be a socially relevant thriller. But with lackluster writing and ordinary making, the end product is a disappointing one.

Rating: 2/5