Grandmaster
Malayalam Movie Review
Producer- Ronnie Screwwala
and Sidharth Roy Kapoor
Director- B.
Unnikrishnan
Cast- Mohanlal,
Priyamani, Narain, Jagathy Sreekumar, Anoop Menon, Babu Antony
Music- Deepak Dev
Review By : Gooogle
B.Unnikrishnan’s ‘Grandmaster’, if
analysed impartially is a formulaic thriller which somehow lacks the thrill, to
a great extent. No doubt the suspense element is kept intact and the real
villain revealed only at the end of the whole thing. But at the same time, we
should agree to it that the film lacks something vital that takes away from its
‘edge of the seat’ quality, which it should have had, being a thriller. The
pace slackens at times and there are sequences that you won’t want to see,
especially in today’s times, when slick thrillers are no rarity. Despite all
these, ‘Grandmaster’ is no bore; it can be watched, at least for the sake of
Mohanlal, who does the lead role and that too with conviction.
‘Grandmaster’ tells the story of
Chandrasekhar (Mohanlal), who is shrewd and deft with his moves, whether it be
a game of chess or a fight against criminals. He is an officer of the IG rank
with the Metro Crime Stopper Cell. But for the last few years, he has been
indifferent towards his duty as a cop and had hence stayed away from the force,
donning other posts with other departments. This had happened after he got
divorced from his wife Deepthi (Priyamani), a criminal lawyer.
But now, Chandrasekhar is back in form and
fights it out like old times when three young girls are abducted. And
immediately after that, he swings into action when he receives a letter
challenging him and informing beforehand the date and the place where a crime
would be committed. Then follows letters one after the other, and murders one
after the other, in alphabetical order. The first victim has her name beginning
with ‘A’ while the second victim’s name begins with ‘B’. The murderer
challenges Chandrasekhar and goes on doing his deeds. Chandrasekhar has but
little time to stop him and nab him, for he soon gets a clear idea of things
that initiated the murders, but he fails to identify the murderer.
All is well; the storyline seems
impressive, the suspense element is intact, the blend of the professional and
personal lives of the protagonist is done in a rather judicious manner- but
there is something about the flow, something about the treatment that makes it
all go wrong, to an extent at least. You don’t get drawn in totally; you are
able to detach yourself from the flow and watch the goings on in the theatre
and even make a phone call or two. An edge of the seat thriller is one that
captivates you and which is also pacy, in all ways. That’s where ‘Grandmaster’
goes wrong. Another thing that disappoints you is that though there was an
impressive star cast at hand, the director hasn’t been able to make proper use
of them. All others, except Mohanlal, sort of get sidelined, due to a script
wherein characterization could have been done in a better way and all artists
given better scope for performance. The scenes where we have the salesman
(played by Babu Antony) making confessions before a hooded priest too lacks
appeal and seem long drawn out. All I feel is, had it been scripted and
directed better, the film would have been a great thriller. As of now, it’s OK
for a watch and you can afford watching it for Mohanlal.
Performances
Mohanlal is good as Chandrasekhar, though
it certainly wouldn’t be counted among his career best performances. No one
else in the cast gets enough scope for performance, not even Priyamani, Narain
or Anoop Menon.
Technical
aspects
Cinematography by Vinod Illampally is in
tune with the theme of the film while Joseph Nellickal has done a good job of
the art-direction. Manoj the editor did whatever he could with the stuff in
hand, but that doesn’t work.
Music
Background score suits the mood but songs
fail to impress. In fact do we need songs in this film? Maybe not; and if at
all songs are there, they should work towards building up the tempo of the
thriller, which unfortunately is not the case with the songs in ‘Grandmaster’.
Script
B.Unnikrishnan should have done the script
a bit more meticulously. This doesn’t mean the film is too bad or totally
insufferable; it’s watchable stuff. But if the script had been better, the film
would have been a totally different experience. I am of the opinion that
B.Unnikrishnan, who has scripted slick thrillers earlier, should have focused
more on the scripting than the direction.
Direction
Making a film on a script that has many
loose ends is equally the director’s fault as it’s the script-writer’s. Here
both persons being the same (B.Unnikrishnan), I’d say that either
B.Unnikrishnan should have first done the script in a better way and then set
out to direct the film very meticulously or else he should have got someone
else, preferably someone like Shaji Kailas, to direct the movie. That would
have helped do away with the pace-related issues the film now has as its
handicap. If the film had been slick – like ‘Bharath Chandran IPS’, ‘Tiger’ or
‘Baba Kalyani’, it would perhaps have been better and watchable. Anyhow, better
luck next time!
Verdict: Passable fare…watch it for Mohanlal!
Rating: 2/5
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