Even though it comes with the impression of a whodunit, the thing that makes the latest Malayalam movie Golam passable is the “how” part of the mystery. Mounted ambitiously on a conceptual level, the production quality of Golam is high, while the writing is pretty basic for a larger portion. With the convoluted execution of the main act in the story feeling intriguing, Golam is not lingering on any unnecessary things and makes it comfortable for the viewers by sticking to a precise two hours of runtime.
ASP Saneepkrishna is in charge of the investigation of the death of Issac John, the MD of a software firm named V Tech. Issac John was found dead in the washroom of his company, and the crime scene made Sandeep a bit suspicious about the death, and he suspected the possibility of a murder. What we see in Golam is Sandeep’s efforts to find out the culprit of this death and how they pulled it off under such a closely monitored space without any trace.
SPOILERS AHEAD! Some of the CGI-rich action entertainers made in Hollywood have these generic scripts where the antagonist is like the evil guy who wants to spread a dangerous virus and control the whole world. Written by Praveen Vishwanath and director Samjad, Golam is also trying to have an antagonist and a similar story. Conviction in presenting themes of that scale is something that we lack, and we have seen poorly executed versions of similar ideas in Hindi and Tamil. For me, the most underwhelming part of the movie was the lazily written history and ambitions of the antagonists.
As I already mentioned, what works in favor of the movie is how Samjad has captured the behind-the-scenes of a well-orchestrated plan. It is complicated, and some of it has logical flaws as well. But the pacing editor Mahesh Bhuvanend has given to the whole flashback and nuances of some of the limitations of characters are helping the movie to at least look slick on the outside. The build-up of the villain, how Sandeep confronts the doctor, and the story he hears from the doctor are all a bit too much to digest. You sort of feel like forgiving the peripheral exploration because of the way the movie shows how it was executed and that had some popcorn fun value.
In his third outing as a hero, Ranjith Sajeev is still stiff. The stiffness and the chiseled body may have helped him in this movie because the character is a young police officer, but his dialogue delivery is still terrible. In sequences featuring him and veterans like Siddique and Alencier, his struggle becomes even more evident. Siddique was really effective as the doctor who helped Sandeep in solving the case. Dileesh Pothan manages to maintain the same expression as a dead body on all the different takes. Sunny Wayne is just there for the poster value and maybe as a future antagonist. Various actors who played the role of the employees in V Tech were okay in their respective roles, with their share of hits and misses.
Golam ends by teasing the audience with the possibility of a bigger sequel that will have a new antagonist. If you ask me whether I am excited about that sequel, the answer would a no. But it is not a facepalm No, that most people had when they saw the ending of Dileep starrer Bandra. Other than the forcefully included under one minute of Ranjith Sajeev’s chiseled body, everything else in this two-hour-long film is required for the story.
Mounted ambitiously on a conceptual level, the production quality of Golam is high, while the writing is pretty basic for a larger portion.
Green: Recommended Content
Orange: The In-Between Ones
Red: Not Recommended
