A larger percentage of the first half of the latest Mammootty movie Dominic and the Ladies’ Purse, which marks the directorial debut of Goutham Menon in Malayalam, focuses on giving us details about what kind of a person Dominic is. GVM has described Dominic in his interviews as a failed person in life, and a lot of the details show the needy, lonely, and egoistic aspect of this character humorously. But as the story starts to leave the fun side and focus on the main case, the generic nature of a whodunit starts to kick in. Even though we may not have guessed the twist in the tale, the structuring of the revealing is done in a way that the much-needed shock value was not there for that moment.
CI Dominic, who used to be a Police officer and is now not a part of the force, has this private detective agency. Most of the cases they handle are stuff like finding the affair of someone or doing background checks on bride and groom, etc. At one point, Dominic’s landlord asks him a favor to find the owner of a Ladies’ Purse she got from a hospital. And in return, she offered to write off his pending rent. How this case of the purse takes Dominic to a much complicated, bigger case is what we see in Dominic and the Ladies’ Purse.
The lack of star vanity is something that immediately makes this movie interesting for the viewer. Even the scenes that have this hero-worshipping tone have a spoofy nature to their credit. From Mammootty trolling himself with that iconic Nasa software and Gokul Suresh taking a jibe at his dad’s film with that “Vaappachiyude Legacy,” the film sort of sets that breezy, quirky mood very comfortably. I was curious to know how Gautham Menon and the writers Neeraj and Sooraj would place such a character in a bigger case. But as the film reaches the main case, the beats are not becoming exciting. In fact, the drama in the story was so low that the film had a very abrupt and flat interval block.
The thing with the twist in the tale is that they are putting a certain character under suspicion, and we are hoping that they are doing it deliberately and something that we never really anticipated would happen. Of late, there have been films that dealt with various iterations of similar themes as the backstory of the bad guy, and hence, when it is revealed to us, it is not much of a surprise. And how visually convincing was the whole plan to believe is a debatable thing. Gautham Menon prefers to have a lighter tone in the film, and we can see that the frames are pretty agile and warm for a major part. It is only in the second half, or whenever the case has that serious tone, that the camera has this settled feel. The action choreography looked weak on screen. Ee Rathri song, which was released before the movie’s release, was placed neatly in the movie, and the other two songs were part of the narrative and never really stood out. For some reason, the sync sound portions during the kitchen conversations towards the end had two styles of sound. I am not sure whether reshoots happened for that scene later.
Mammootty is on an experimenting spree, and even here, when you look at the flawed and silly nature of the character, you can see that he is playing more of a character than a hero. In his case, the sync sound dialogue delivery was actually helping to make the character much more real and raw. Gokul Suresh as Watson to Mammootty’s Sherlock was fine in a role that wasn’t hugely demanding. One thing I need to say is the choice of written lines for certain actors. This is a sync sound cinema, and hence, the actors are not going to dub. So when you know that people like Viji Venkatesh and Sushmitha Bhatt are not comfortable speaking good Malayalam, why can’t you make them speak in simpler Malayalam with a good mix of English or Tamil? The ironic part was that an actor like Vineeth, who is so good at speaking Malayalam, is speaking in English in the most panicked situation. Even though it was a small role in terms of footage, the performance of Veena Nair was very memorable.
During the promotional interviews of the film, Gautham Menon said that Dominic is a character who has the potential to come in a sequel, and when you look at the quirky, shady side of this financially struggling character, it is indeed a possibility to explore. I hope if they do try to make a sequel, they will incorporate more of the shortcomings and limitations of Dominic in that story when the final act unfolds. Even though the thriller beats aren’t that unique, the fun side of the central character makes Dominic and the Ladies’ Purse a comfortable watch with occassional sparks.
Even though the thriller beats aren't that unique, the fun side of the central character makes Dominic and the Ladies' Purse a comfortable watch with occassional sparks.
Green: Recommended Content
Orange: The In-Between Ones
Red: Not Recommended
