Villain

Villain from B Unnikrishnan is a movie that tries to be intellectual and sophisticated in its presentation. But the film isn’t really trying anything beyond the existing template. More than the content, it is the quality technical backup this film has makes it look like an okay film. With Mohanlal delivering a good performance as the leading man, this thriller is a usual one.

Mathew Manjooran is an efficient police officer in the rank of ADGP. He has taken a break from the duty due to some unfortunate incidents that happened in his family life. After a break of 7 months he comes back for one day before he could opt for voluntary retirement. The film is about one peculiar murder case that comes in front of him on the last day of his duty and how that case proceeds.

I have heard people comparing Memories and Grand Master sighting the similarities. But if you compare Villain and Memories, the similarities are higher. A sharp officer who took a break from duty due to the shock of losing dear ones getting a chance to bounce back by investigating a case that he only can solve is the premise in the case of Villain too. B Unnikrishnan tries to be novel by trying to add layers to the emotional state of antagonist and protagonist. Mathew Manjooran is saying philosophical minimal dialogues about love, truth and many other things and I must say that some of it didn’t make much sense in terms of relevance in that context. The character played by Aju Varghese says he noticed the color of the nail polish, but couldn’t check the vehicle’s number; seriously?

B Unnikrishnan hasn’t changed anything in its writing tactics. The structuring of dialogues to placing of twists, nothing is really new here to make us feel that the director is trying to improve anything in his style, which I personally feel as a slightly outdated one. The alternate justice element needed a better presentation and B Unnikrishnan should find some alternate ways to show villains praising hero. But his decision to make this film with a team of quality technicians really helps it in looking like a fair enough cinema. The cinematography by both Manoj Paramahamsa and N K Ekambaram gives the thriller attire to the film. The best among the technical side in my opinion was the background score from Sushin Shyam. The theme he used for the loneliness of Manjooran was a really catchy one along with the rest. 4 Musics delivers a mixture of traditional and fresh songs.

Mohanlal has given that emotional heft to the character of Mathew Manjooran. Even when some of the philosophical dialogues written by Unnikrishnan didn’t make much sense, the actor’s dialogue delivery made it look relevant.  Vishal gets the role a young Malayalam actor would have got if B Unnikrishnan was not planning to go for a South India market. Vishal is mostly silent in the film and it is only in the climax he speaks (can see that in the trailer). Manju Warrier is there in an extended cameo like role. Hansika Motwani as usual is just there for glamour. Raashi Khanna gets a fair enough character and the decision to make Shwetha Menon dub for her was a good one. For widening the market B Unnikrishnan roped in Telugu actor Srikanth as one of the antagonists. Renji Panicker, Siddique, Chemban Vinod Jose and a few more are there in the star cast who were all fine in their respective roles.

The technical aspects of Villain are appreciable and Mohanlal carries the character very elegantly. But cinema ultimately needs a convincing and fresh story. In my opinion Villain has a template killer vs cop plot which needed a better reconstruction.

Rating: 2.5/5