During the promotional interviews for the film Kurukkan, Vineeth Sreenivasan did say that the initial drafts of the script had a very serious tone around a particular murder investigation. But they later decided to make it this loud caricature like a comedy film. Well, thank God they didn’t go with the initial plan, as the investigation part of the film is an unexciting and pretty basic one. I am not saying the movie is excellent. But the eccentric Shikari Shambu kind of humor in the film helps it a lot in holding its wafer-thin plot.
The movie revolves around the murder of a social media influencer. Officer Dinesh is in charge of the investigation, and he is struggling to find the killer. After getting humiliated for another case, Dinesh was very keen on fixing his image, and he plotted against Hari, the only person to be in the locality during the time of the influencer’s death. He uses Krishnan, a man known for saying false alibis in court, to solidify the case. In the film, we see Hari’s counter-reaction to prove his innocence.
Even though the film is driven by a serious murder case, the good thing about the making is that pretty soon into the film, we get a clear signal that this is not the realistic stuff, and you can expect a little bit of CID Moosa zone comedy in the process. The only major demerit of the movie, in my opinion, was the second act that drifted away from this loud comedy template. If you have enjoyed the Thanneer Mathan Dinangal version of Vineeth Sreenivasan, I would say you wouldn’t find Kurukkan difficult to sit through. Because ultimately, Kurukkan is like a full-fledged movie about someone like Ravi Padmanabhan, wicked but stupid.
The film witnesses the comeback of Sreenivasan after a considerable gap in a prominent role. His cheeky humor and delivering style help the film establish its tone. Even though it felt like his own voice in the initial bits (the one that you see in the trailer), later on, the voice sounded different, which was kind of unsettling as his voice is something that every Malayali recognizes easily. The heavy lifting here is done by Vineeth Sreenivasan, and it was really surprising to see him in this kind of character. I am not trying to compare here. But it’s like you would think Vineeth Sreenivasan won’t be able to pull off something like what Cochin Haneefa did in Ee Parakkum Thalika. But then, he surprises you with a performance you don’t expect from him. The whole video call sequence was hilarious. Vineeth had said that Shine Tom Chacko was initially supposed to do the role of Dinesh, and later they swapped it. Even though Shine plays that character with restraint in the first half, the second half has him in the typical style, struggling to pronounce complicated Malayalam words.
Aswath Lal and Sruthy Jayan, the Watsons of Dinesh, were funny. Srikanth Murali, as the cool judge, was also hilarious in the court sequences. Malavika Menon, Gowri Nandha, Sudheer Karamana, etc., are the other major names in the cast. As the prosecution lawyer, Dileep Menon was a bit too dramatic, especially in that first case which served as the introduction scene of Krishnan.
As I said, Jayalal Divakaran gives us the impression of being this caricature comedy from the movie’s early stages. Maybe because of the initial draft that imagined Vineeth as the one playing Hari, the areas of the script that focused on Hari’s history and struggle stood out from the rest of the film because of its sane and soft tone. You could see the struggle of the script written by Manoj Ramsingh to get back to that eccentric comedy space in the film’s second act. But after a considerable slump in the middle portions, the film kind of redeems itself through the climax.
Kurukkan is a tricky film that works entirely based on how the audience will accept its humor pitch. If you are okay with a basic story with a lot of physical and dialogue-oriented humor, Kurukkan has managed to crack it. I found it as a harmless passable loud comedy.
If you are okay with a basic story with a lot of physical and dialogue-oriented humor, Kurukkan has managed to crack it. I found it as a harmless passable loud comedy.
Green: Recommended Content
Orange: The In-Between Ones
Red: Not Recommended
