Circle of life, frustration of minds and the struggle for life, a combination of these emotions expressed in a parallel narrative could be the best way to introduce director Sunil Ibrahim’s venture “Chapters”. Cinema is a medium that has some advantages over normal stories because of its visual side and Chapters definitely tries to do something beyond mere story telling. But the lack of flesh around the bones makes this sincere attempt, an average entertainer.
The plot basically revolves around three stories which are in a way connected. There is a young man and his friends who are on a task of making money in quick time to help the young blood’s family in managing the expenses of his sister’s marriage. There is a family man who is also after money to save the life of his child who is under treatment for cancer. And there is a bunch of youngsters who are trying to help their two friends who ran away from their families to get married. How these three stories are interconnected, how are they related, how everything falls in place correctly is all about the plot of this situational thriller.
The lag in the script, especially in the first half makes the audience restless and the expected thriller mood is missing. Typical family drama is there, but a bit more practical dialogs covers the errors to an extent. The first half of the movie moves in a quite dull speed with predictable narrative. The elements used in Chapter 1 weren’t that impressive. The movie manages to shift gear and pace in the second half with the stories managing to get their identity back. The makers were successful in creating the fun and thrill in the third story which were missing in the first two stories. The character of “Choonda” gave the audience something to cheer about.
On screen, the actors all were kind of satisfying. Nivin Pauly was comfortable as Kichu and Sreenivasan showed his experience as Sethu. Hemanth Menon was half baked as Anwer and Vijeesh was cool as Alexi (I hope the name is correct). Dharman was cool in comical avatar, but his acting in emotional scenes was bizarre. K P A C Lalitha was good as always. Aju, Rajath Menon, Gauthami and Vineeth Kumar were also loyal to their short span roles. A Special mention to Shine Tom Chacko, for making Choonda a memorable character.
In the making, Sunil Ibrahim definitely has a smart future. His direction was impressive in the second half. The long pauses after each dialog in the first half was a disturbing one and I believe the director should have been a bit more careful there. The dialogs are satisfying. The BGM has a key role in keeping the movie alive, but this time Mejjo Joseph couldn’t spark the musical magic. Krish Kymal’s cinematography is impressive in some shots especially the forest shots. But there were a few frames which had too much light. The edits are fine.
On the whole “Chapters” is a sincere attempt to make a smart movie. It will be difficult for most people to digest these kinds of stories as they don’t have clear cut end points. I am giving 2.5/5 for this movie. Watch it with an open heart and less expectation.
Green: Recommended Content
Orange: The In-Between Ones
Red: Not Recommended
