Cowboy

Asif Ali’s new movie Cowboy is an outdated thriller that fails to make the audience keep interested in the content. Amateurish content that lacks sense and reasoning makes this movie a forgettable watch. The required emotional bonding is missing and the usual cat and mouse game has been captured in a uninteresting way.

The film is about a young man Vinay who runs a pub in Malaysia. He is hated by all his family members as they considered his business as a shameful one. His only friend is his sister’s son. One day some thieves attack the small boy and try to take the boy’s chain. Vinay manages to get the chain back after having some serious encounter with the bad guys. An Indian Police officer Xavier who is in Malaysia as the chief security officer of the Indian Foreign Minister notices Vinay during the incident and assigns him a task to kill a VIP. When Vinay disagrees Xavier takes the child as hostage. How Vinay manages to get out from this mess without killing someone, how he manages to save the boy unharmed, how he exposes Xavier and the people behind him is basically the plot of Cowboy.

Well, the key point in the plot is Vinay getting recruited for the task as he was seen by Xavier while he was fighting with some criminals. To imagine Asif Ali in such a character is really a difficult thing as he is well known for his sweet and soft roles. The character does not have any martial arts backdrop to convince us that he can fight with biggies. A guy who was selected for a bold task because of his toughness is pictured as very weak in the rest of the movie. No great charm is there in Vinay’s tactics and the binding among the characters is really weak.

On screen, as I said Asif looked good for the innocent part but the main requirement was a tough attitude where he disappoints. Bala’s as Xavier was good as he showed the right attitude. Mythili does not have much to do and the scene where she gets shot was a technical disaster. Khushbu and Sai Kumar get a chance to show their experience. Among the others Assim Jamal and serial actress Archana gets fair space. Archana’s Tamil was bizarre. The child artist looked cute but dialogs written for him were too serious.  Jagathi Sreekumar was there in just one scene and I believe that he was replaced by Anoop Chandran. Lena and Irashad also makes a breezy appearance.

Direction style of P. Balachandrakumar is old school. Typical song placing and emotional dramas are placed in a predictable manner and the thriller lacks thrill because of its cliché style. Cinematography was impressive in the first half and towards the end it was just about satisfactory. Dialogs are overdramatic and charmless. The coloring for the sky done by the technical team in some of the exterior shots was pathetic. Being considered under the action films category, the stunt choreography was ordinary. Among the songs the one which had Asif and the boy was sweet to hear but never suited the occasion and feel. The bar dance was a forgettable number.

On the whole the so called big budget action film of Asif Ali, Cowboy is a letdown. It will be just about satisfying if you are a diehard Asif Ali fan. I am giving 1.5/5 for this charmless thriller. It’s a risk.