Parole

The central character Alex in the movie Parole is like the epitome of goodness. His whole prison life is almost a sacrifice for many other people’s sin and the sympathy one would feel for that character is the only positive thing one can appreciate in the movie. With a bloated screenplay investing too much time in back stories and hero worshipping, Parole is an example of how less inventive some film makers are.

Alex who is a communist is inside the prison for the past 8 years and because he is a gentleman, everyone including the inmates to the police officers there, has a good relationship with Alex. The film is about the parole Alex gets after 8 years and what he had to witness in that 15 days parole time.

The story by default is not your commercial film and the problem is that debutant director Sharrath Sandith tries to treat it as a commercial movie with heroics and stuff. There are two or three fight sequences in the film and some of them are just pointless inclusions to create whistling moments for the FDFS audience. The script is said to be inspired from a real life story and to be honest you don’t get to feel any sort of uniqueness or excitement in this tale. Every sentimental blockade in the film is predictable and the tail negotiations and other things sound too underwhelming and I feel its high time film makers should try to reinvent the way they present this kind of melodrama.

The older version of Alex has moments that will give you glimpses of the actor in Mammootty rather than the star. Siddique was good (as always) as Alex’s friend. Iniya wasn’t that great as Ani. Miya was convincing as Katrina. Suraj Venjaramood goes back to his old style comedy. Lalu Alex makes a comeback in a 2 scenes role. They have included Baahubali 1 villain Prabhakar as Bullet Raghavan and that role was totally unnecessary. Alencier, Anil Nedumangadu, Sohan Seenulal, Sudheer Karamana and many others are there in the elaborate star cast.

Ad film maker Sharrath Sandith has fewer tools in his armory to showcase his craft. The story here is plunged in melodrama and only the making could have made it any better. But Sharrath has chosen to go with the usual format and the movie just goes on and on with less surprises and more guessable moments. The script lingers around the jail portion with stuff like fight with the Baahubali villain and Aristo Suresh song etc. and when you have so much of unwanted stuff in a movie that is 150 minutes long, it clearly shows the lack of conviction in the script. Even the communist angle is presented in a shallow manner. The cinematography of the film is pretty average and the cuts are also untidy. The music was good, but the background score wasn’t that great. The fights and visual effects were also not that pleasing.

For old school audiences who aren’t that welcoming to subtle ways of storytelling, Parole might work as it has a “goodness” driven story and a selfless hero we have seen many times. On a film making level Parole hardly stays in your mind for its uniqueness or craft.

Rating: 2/5