Shikkari Shambhu

Director Sugeeth has a style that is quite an orthodox one and these days that style doesn’t appeal to the audience unless the story is that special. Shikkari Shambhu from Sugeeth is a film that has too much of clichés. The style of film making we have seen in Ordinary gets repeated here and this time the script also has the same tone of Ordinary. With only Nishad Koya’s occasional humorous dialogues working in favor of the film, Shikkari Shambhu is a film that won’t stay in your heart.

Philipose aka Peeli is a thief. He has two close friends Achu and Shaji. The three has been living the thief life until one robbery forces them to move away from their actual place. They get to know that a place called Kuruthimalakkavu is under the attack of a Tiger and the people there are looking for a hunter. The film is about what happens in that place when this three decides to go there in the disguise of being hunters.

The two films that will come easily in to your mind while watching this movie are Romans and Ordinary. We have three men coming to a place with only fraud intentions. Then they are becoming a part of the local people there and they are ultimately solving a mystery. The only point where you will feel a little bit of excitement is when the villain gets revealed. But Sugeeth and Nishad Koya adds that usual back story to that element too to make it look ordinary. It is almost like they have tried to recreate an existing successful package, with no real novelty but just some excess emphasis on fun factor.

Kunchako Boban goes back to his safe zone space with no real challenges. Vishnu Unnikrishnan gets a character that looks too typical on screen. The love track featuring Vishnu was really outdated. Hareesh Kanaran as always chips in with his bit of counter dialogue humor. Ssivada’s character has significance, but there is hardly any space for her to perform. Maniyanpilla Raju, Krishnakumar, Johny Antony, Jaise Jose, Aji John, Sadiq, Salim Kumar and a few more are there in the elaborate star cast.

Like I already said, the making style of Sugeeth is very typical. At a time when the grammar of storytelling has changed considerably, having no intention to change the style is an underwhelming thing. The story also has these ingredients that are quite familiar to the audiences. A lot of what happens in this movie is really easy to predict. Faisal Ali is a DOP who is more interested in making things visually beautiful. But this time his efforts to make the visuals beautiful weren’t really working. Again the reason is the repetition in style. Excessive light leak effects and multi colored (reminded me of Puthanpanam) frames weren’t beautifying this film. Music was nice.

The take away from a movie like Shikkari Shambhu is pretty much nothing. Because of its assembled nature, it doesn’t become an annoying film. But beyond the instantaneous fun offered by the dialogue humor, there isn’t much there in this movie to remember.

Rating: 2/5