Strictly for thriller buffs

This is a thriller with just too much happening. It looks a filled refrigerator and therefore you spend more time digging into the compartments and pulling things out than really enjoying the offer. It is a thriller with the protagonist being a tiger killer, then we have the villain and narcotics, we have the lecherous cop ogling at the heroine who could put plain Jane to shame. We also have the brother sentiment in good measure. All this extended for over a period of three hours is a clear indication that the filmmaker simply is out of tune with the demands of the times.

Remember how Salim-Javed burst into our mainstream cinema telling the tale of a lad who is a hiding witness to the killing of his parents. He is thus psyched into having to avenge the tragedy as his life mission. This time around we have dad (Santosh Keezhattoor) in the backyard of God’s own country in some vague illegal activity. Mom (Anjali Upasana) has just delivered her second baby and dies in labour. With the police on the hunt for forest offences, the dad and the two kids are on the run. Big bro Kumar (Ajas) is a witness to a tiger attacking his dad and making a meal of him. He thus vows revenge.

Now, many years later Kumar (Mohanlal) is in the deep forests with an established reputation for being the master tiger killer in the area. People in the nearby villages look up to him to save them from hungry tigers. Bro mani (Vinu Mohan) is in the city looking out for a white-collar job and is with friends Shiva (Bala) and Benny (Nobi). The friends arrive in the forest area to carry forest produce without the authority of law for commercial sale under the leadership of the drug don daddy Girija (Jagapathi Babu).

The non-linear tale told in circles takes you forward and backward with long spells of flashback and sudden thrust into the present. You wonder if even the filmmaker has lost a sense of direction with his narrative. For the romantic angle, we have Kumar in love with Myna (Kamalini Mukherjee – in a woefully ill cast role). The local forest ranger (Kishore) is lecherous and stops at doing nothing to get Myna.

The script dedicates long mileage to the tiger attacks and the fights with the tiger. This part of the film keeps you absorbed and introduces the Telugu audience to a completely different paradigm on how to present the action scenes. For an audience fed on the Rayalaseema dust and stars caged in their images, this is a whiff of fresh air. Our hero is not the quintessential six-pack all talent package. Mohanlal defies all his shortcomings with the superior talent he has as an actor.

Truly gifted and committed, it is he who makes the big difference to the film. As the clumsy lover, as the naïve forest savvy but illiterate person and the doting brother he is just there. Not a moment does he overstate or under perform. In fact, the long boring romantic scenes are a flop not because of him but because of the absolute lack of chemistry with the heroine. However, watch how he injects credibility to the action scenes with his huge weight never an impediment and you know cinema is not just about stars. It is about actors. Remove Mohanlal and the film is a long bore. Otherwise it is a great outing for those who love thrillers.

Manyam Puli
Cast: Mohanlal, Kamalini Mukherjee and Jagapathi Babu
Direction : Vysakh
Genre : Action
Plus points: Mohanlal and thrills
Minus points : Excruciatingly long

- LRC