Onnam Loka Mahayudham

Just like the movie Seventh Day, Onnam Loka Mahayudham is also a conman story that has a drastic twist in the last quarter of the runtime to make it a kind of okay film. But being unnecessarily aggressive throughout majority of its narrative causes a big problem to this thriller which isn’t that fresh in terms of story line.

It is narrated as an episode in the life of an arrogant and egoistic police officer Thara, who is desperate to clear the black marks in her track record by doing something extraordinary. For that she chooses to go after a doctor who was involved in certain illegal dealings of medicines. Her mission to find out the people in this chain is what Onnam Loka Mahayudham trying to show us.

As I said, a majority of the movie is in an unnecessarily eccentric mode. Scene after scene there is this heavy background score with rock music. Honestly by the time you reach almost 3/4^th of the movie, the BGM will start to feel as an annoyance as the events happening on screen doesn’t look like a very necessary and dangerous operation to save the universe. There are a few sequences like the one that has Balu to create some moments of fun. Being a weaker script till the climax is actually the reason why we feel the climax of the movie as a satisfactory one.

Tovino Thomas was convincing as the impatient and crooked doctor. Aparna Gopinath may have tried her best in terms of expressions to make her character look bold and brave, but the visualization hasn’t given much support. The character being an impatient one is an disturbance for the viewer.  Chemban Vinod Jose has portrayed his role in his usual style. Gokulan also did a nice job. I really enjoyed the way Joju George played the role of the antagonist Anirudhan. While all other serious characters had a tint of drama, Joju’s style stood out.

Sree Varun hasn’t tried to do experiments with narrative to make this predictable thriller a unique experience. In these days where the audiences are much exposed to suspense thrillers, only a gripping presentation can keep them interested in the movie. The screenplay fails to give a hint about a possible good climax and the lack of curiosity in the content makes it difficult for the viewers. Some people even went out of the theater because of the missing thrill. Pappinu has invested his time doing certain cinematography experiments, some worked a few didn’t. Edits were fine. Music is kind of okay but the background score was excessive.

Overall Onnam Loka Mahayudham is a onetime watchable average thriller mainly because of its small runtime and kind of pleasing climax. I am giving the movie a generous 2.5/5 star.

By Aswin Bharadwaj

Founder and editor of Lensmen Reviews.

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