(Spoiler Free)
•Language: Malayalam.
•Genre: Comedy Action Drama.
•Duration: 02 Hours 10 Minutes.
•Theatre: Dhanya Theatre Kollam.
•Status: 65%.
•REVIEW BY: ARUNJYOTHI. R. VALIYAVEETIL.
•PROS:
1: Direction
2: Story
3: Performance of lead actors.
4: Cinematography.
5: Music and Background Score.
•CONS:
1: Less engaging Screenplay.
2: Slow pace
•ONE WORD: A watchable movie into the life of policemen.
•STORY IDEA:
Unda unfolds the story of nine policemen who travels from Kerala to Chhattisgarh which is also a Maoist affected area for the Parliamentary election duty. Rest of the story describes the various incident happening in their election duties.
•ANALYSIS TO DIRECTION, STORY, SCREENPLAY & DIALOGUES:
The movie is directed by Khalidh Rahman who is well known for this first movie Anuraga Karikkin Vellam which was released in 2016. Thr story works are written by Harshad and also by the director Khalidh Rahman.
Khalidh Rahman’s debutant film ‘Anurag Karikkin Vellam’ was hit and it was also famous for the different way of making. So when he comes to his second movie ‘Unda’ he had made a socially relevant film with the factors of situational humour, struggles, family emotions, teamwork etc to make a quality movie.
Thr direction made by Khalidh Rahman was fine and the way he had written the screenplay with Harshad was good but still resulted out as mediocre because of the slow start. The direction held by Khalidh Rahman was passionate and the story was also superior to show the real-life difficulties in the life of policemen but the screenplay was average which was not ideal as the makers wrote down.
The difficulties, grapples, fight and living conditions faced by the policemen in Kerala was portrayed authentically to show their happenings in their life. The family sentiments, romance, betrayal in their life was also good in the plot but the implementation of the screenplay could have done better to make more thrilling and enjoyable.
Importantly, the story was filled with two crucial things such as who all are targeted as Maoist in our India and why still the people use caste reference, these two elements were shown genuinely to understand its core.
The screenplay was having the combined factors of struggles, fight to survive, protest, emotions, rules to obey from governing bodies, betrayal, teamwork, etc so eventually the writers had written each of these factors with a slow start to a thrilling ending.
The emotional outline in the life of the police officers had worked well in the script and when the movie tracks to the climax both the story and screenplay was exciting. Also, the situational comedies were fun according to the plot.
The entire dialogues lead by the characters had occurred as rigid and powerful because the conversation was having the appropriate momentum especially at the conversation in emotional scenes and also the dialogues in humour were entertaining.
Overall the movie Unda starts with a slow beginning with the incredible performance from the main actors which ends to a thrilling movie
•PERFORMANCE OF ACTORS:
The movie includes the casting of Mega Star Mammootty playing the hero role and along Arjun Ashokan, Shine Tom Chacko, Ranjith, Rony David, Jacob Gregory, Omkar Das Manikpuri, Dileesh Pothan, Kalabhavan Shajon, joins in the casting.
Mammootty who played the lead character S.I. Manikandan did an excellent performance. The qualities of a sincere Sub Inspector was effectively seen in the performance of him. His intensive dialogue delivery at crucial scenes in the movie especially with his colleagues was fantastic. The situational fight scenes were also handled perfectly. The various emotions such as hope, struggle, happiness, sadness, friendship were acted out amazingly. Looking into the recent movies of the actor Mammootty, the S.I Mani is one his best, delivered with incredible acting. His combination scenes with fellow workers were which was a treat to watch and also made a strong impact on the plot. All in all the movie was all about the striking performance of actor Mammootty.
Shine Tom Chacko as Havildar (HDR) Jojo Samson did an upstanding performance. As a police officer, he did his part well and the combination scene with Mammootty was first-rate.
The two directors Ranjith and Dileesh Pothan play an important role as the Sub Inspectors and their performance was notable.
Omkar Das Manikpuri also did a great job as a Chhattisgarh locality and his emotional scene were sentimental. Arjun Ashokan as Gireesh.T.P, Jacob Gregory as Varghese Kuruvilla and Rony David as
Gokulan as Gokulan Balachandran and Lukman Lukku as Biju Kumar, Rony David as Aji Peter had done total justice to their respective supporting characters. The cameo appearance of Asif Ali and Vinay Fort was acceptable.
•MUSIC & TECHNICAL ASPECTS:
The musical work of the film and the Background Score is composed by Prashanth Pillai who is well known for his different musical works. The film doesn’t have songs but the focused worked on making the right background scenes were genuine.
The Background Score tuned by Prashanth Pillai was methodical as per the plot. The right tunes were set by him for each and every scenes. The BGM at the first half on travel scenes were awesome with perfect beats and vocals. The Background Score had really worked well to build the feel of fear and its anxiety on knowing what is next. The BGM tunes at emotional scenes were also good. Also, the background score at the climax part was impressive.
The cinematography by Sajith Purushan was shot in a high-minded manner, what the film demand through its visuals was virtuously given by the cameraman. The sequences captured in the forest was unquestionable because accurate frames were mesmerizing throughout the screen which was a treat to watch for the viewers. The shots inside the forest, night sequences, wide-angle shots, close up frames, naturalistic beauty of the jungle were conquered magically. No doubt, the cinematography work is done by Sajith Purushan deserves a huge applause.
The editing work of Nishad Yusuf was crisp and clear which doesn’t give the mismatched feel, the cuts were proper for the right viewing experience. The entire team behind the Art Direction had also really worked hard for bringing out bona fide sets to authorise the true premise as per the plot.
•CONCLUSION:
So overall ‘Unda’ had given me a satisfactory experience and its a pretty good movie which is good for a one-time watch. The wonderful performance lead by Mammootty and other actors won’t disappoint any type of viewers.
•VERDICT: Above Average.
•RATING: 3.25/5.
